The venue chosen for this biennale sits in the heart of one of the most remarkable surviving urban landscapes in the Islamic world and the Mediterranean basin, at the centre of vibrant, historical Tunis. It is surrounded by a dense constellation of some of the city's most celebrated monuments, mosques, madrasas, funduqs, baths, markets, palaces, mausoleums, and cafés, spanning various periods and architectural styles ranging from the early medieval and Ottoman eras to French colonial times.

The building is referred to as a “Qishla” (قشلة), a word of Turkish origin meaning “barracks” (Kışla, also spelled Kishle). The origins of these military structures are closely tied to the history of the Ottoman Janissary corps, to the Dervisme system which involved the enslavement of children for military purposes and the Bektashi Sufi order.

The provinces of the Ottoman Empire, like Tunis, retained such barracks and new ones were even built long after the dissolution of the Janissary corps in 1826. They became symbols of state power, housing, often without distinction, the police, the gendarmerie, or the armed forces within cities or in their citadels.

Like Algiers, Jerusalem, Aleppo, Baghdad, Acre, and many other cities, Tunis preserved and transformed its unique set of Quechla structures, all built during the first half of the 19th century and have become part of its urban heritage. Of those structures, Qishlat al-ʿAttārīn is the most impressive example.