Ola Hassanain leads a critical spatial practice as a visual artist with architecture training. She premised her work on an idea of “space as political discourse", an expanded notion of space, that tries to develop spatial literacy which can aid us to imagine different political ecologies.
Her artistic research moves through architecture, film, and spatial strategies to reflect on how power becomes visible—and felt—through built environments. Her practice engages with places shaped by climate instability, postcolonial legacies, and displacement, thinking through the politics of inhabiting and how ecological and social systems shape one another across time.
Ola's development of critical spatial practice is partly informed by her post-academic training; Mentor at the Building Beyond Program (2021-2025), Core member of Urban Front Consultancy, a Rijksakademie residency 2021-2023, BAK basis voor kunst fellowship 2017-2018, main tutor and co-development of the Blackerblackness Master course at Sandberg Instituut 2021- 2023, Ola’s work has been reviewed in Stir Magazine for her Solo at Kunstinstitutte Melly (2025) and featured in Viewpoint Magazine for her solo ‘Tell The Water What The Clay Kept Secret’ at Buro Stedelijk (2024), with notable works commissioned by Chicago Architecture Biennial 2019 and Sharjah Architecture Triennale 2019.