VISITORS TO SHARJAH'S FLAGSHIP ART AND CULTURAL FESTIVAL RETURN AGAIN AND AGAIN TO EXPLORE THE UNIVERSE OF ARTISTIC IMAGINATIONOne visit to the Sharjah Biennale 13 (SB13) is not enough. Some works need to be contemplated, discussed and photographed over and over again, requiring several repeated visits to the Emirate's flagship art and cultural festival. Then the visits have to be made with friends, professionals and experts.
This is because SB13, with all its works that reflect the ingenuity of more than 70 artists from across the globe, forms an integrated world a world full of ideas and imagination that soar high in the sky, but land with you in the Biennial, so you may know more, discuss more and sail in a sea of joy and beauty with an imagination that knows no limits.
This is what a visitor to SB13 said as he explored its various venues and sections. How do I organise my schedule to visit the Biennial daily? he asked, explaining: Participating works take us on a long journey of pleasure, research and discussion, which requires frequent visits to enjoy the beauty, imagination and knowledge.
Overview of Selected Works and Artists
One finds a lot of fascinating details and nuggets of information about participating artists and their works in the publications brought out by the Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF). SAF is keen to shed light on the gifted artists and their creations that become part of its journey.
SB13 involves about 70 artists from around the world. These include Polish Monika Sosnowska, who has to her credit the important work Fa ade, 2013.
Questions of renovation, revision, heritage and destruction are addressed in this seven-metre-long steel structure that resembles a maquette of a modernist building. The collapsed edifice appears to drape from the ceiling, creating the illusion of a soft fabric rather than a rigid architectural structure.
The drooping form provokes consideration of Sosnowska's artistic process. She starts by soaking a paper model; once dried, she recreates the shape in steel, collaborating intensely with engineers, welders and other technicians to achieve the desired resemblance to the original. The resulting sculpture reflects the remaking of architectural elements and delineates the collective and virtually alchemical transformations from one material to another.
Zhou Tao
Blue and Red, 2014
Encompassing scenes from metal mines and villages in mountains and valleys to moments during recent anti-government protests in China, this work follows digestive processes', in which society can be seen slowly coming together, thus revealing the requisite elements for the formation of a political community. The video installation features a montage of scenes from various locations including industrial zones in Shaoguan, China and a military coup in Bangkok that chronicle modernity's spatial multiplicity through embodied experience and a process occurring spontaneously and simultaneously in different parts of the world.
Marwan Rechmaoui
Blue Building, 2015
Rechmaoui's work emerged from an experience with Beirut's fast-paced real estate development, which arrived at a plot of land across the river from Rechmaoui's studio. While observing the building's construction, the artist learned that the development existed in a semi-legal, lax state, in which surrounding trees were cleared without permission and recently arrived refugees were employed as low-wage labourers.
As with much new construction in the city, the entire operation was so hastily conceived that when winter rains arrived, the hillside was simply covered with a blue tarp in order to stave off a likely landslide.
The artist references Beirut's new mise en sc ne in his composite work of panels that mimic the ubiquitous steel rebar and concrete construction. A play on the hillside developments that have become common in the city, the work is presented leaning against the wall, featuring an industrial palette of grey and rust accented by a skirt of royal blue.
SB13 School
Sharjah Biennial 13 took off with the launch of the SB13 School in October 2016. The year-long intensive education programme is designed to help local infrastructures in the western, central and eastern regions of the Emirate of Sharjah and empower their various communities. Focusing on crafts, culinary arts, digital arts, farming and music, with a particular emphasis on practical application and active participation, the SB13 School programme supplements and builds upon extensive Sharjah Art Foundation education programming, which seeks to encourage public engagement by cultivating creativity and enriching the cultural experiences of the local community.
Rooted in the four keywords forming the conceptual framework of the biennial (i.e. water, crops, earth and the culinary), SB13 School programmes take place in Al Madam, Al Hamriyah and Kalba and explore the entire Emirate of Sharjah, drawing on the unique topographical features of the two coastlines, as well as the farmland and desert areas in between.
Workshops at Al Madam Art Centre focus on farming the land to create an infrastructure that will lead to self-sufficiency. The programme also explores the existing historical remains and archaeological findings in the region. Courses include pottery and other local crafts to create crockery inspired by the archaeological findings. A series of culinary workshops focus on using local produce to create dishes inspired by local and regional cuisines and their histories. Participants are introduced to Emirati cuisine and its influences from the culinary traditions of India, Persia, Afghanistan, Zanzibar and the Arab world. The programme also included courses on how to make local dairy products and learning about herbs and spices.
Al Hamriyah Art Centre offers courses that explore the el
