March Meeting 2015
May 11–16, 2015
Sharjah
United Arab Emirates
www.sharjahart.org
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) is pleased to announce the schedule for March Meeting 2015.
Monday, May 11
“Metaphors Form a Geography from a Shadow”
Organised by Kristine Khouri and Rasha Salti
The programme explores research around the International Art Exhibition for Palestine, as well as Past Disquiet, the staging of that research into an exhibition.
10am
Presentations by Kristine Khouri and Rasha Salti
Rasha Salti will discuss the process of transforming research into exhibition, while Kristine Khouri will present an overview of SB12 commissioned research on The International Art Exhibition for Palestine conducted in Japan, exploring the engagement of intellectuals, artists and militants in the Palestinian struggle through the activities of art organisations and the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s Tokyo office in the 1970s and 1980s.
Noon
Conversation between May Shigenobu and Mari Oka
Discussing the realms of militants and activists, Mari Oka, a scholar of Modern Arabic Literature and professor at the Graduate School of Human and Integrated Studies, Kyoto University, will disclose a largely unknown history of Japanese solidarity with Palestine in conversation with May Shigenobu, writer and journalist.
3pm
“Salvaging Palestine: Art and the Nation”
Keynote by W.J. Thomas Mitchell
W.J.T. Mitchell proposes to consider recent Palestinian art and archival research in the context of the “salvage art” movement, the art of ruins and recovery, and its relevance for a critical nationalism.
4:45pm
Closing panel discussion
Tuesday, May 12
“The Sharjah Sessions”
Organised by Eric Baudelaire
This programme is conceived as part of “The Secession Sessions” presented in SB12.
10am
“The Anembassy is Open”
Conversation between Maxim Gvinjia and Hassan Khan
Maxim Gvinjia, former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Abkhazia, and currently its Anambassador in the UAE, will meet with SB12 artist Hassan Khan, for a public conversation held in the Anembassy of Abkhazia within Sharjah Biennial 12.
Noon
Screening of Letters to Max, 2014
A film about letters that should never have arrived, followed by a Q&A with Eric Baudelaire moderated by Hassan Khan
3:45pm
“The State of the State”
Presentations by Khaled Hourani and Fawwaz Traboulsi
Khaled Hourani will report on his project Picasso in Palestine, and Fawwaz Traboulsi will discuss the legacy of Sykes-Picot in the age of Da’esh, shifting borders and the evolving forms of nationalism in Europe, the Near East and the Asian subcontinent. The discussion will address the state of the state within an increasingly fragmented context and time.
6pm
Screening
8:30pm
Performance of Souls’ Landscapes: Violence, magical superstructures & invisible guardians by Uriel Barthélémi with Entissar Al Hamdany and Fabrice Taraud
Wednesday, May 13
“The Sharjah Sessions”
Organised by Eric Baudelaire
10am
“A Matter of Practice”
A very short staging by Sarah Rifky
Sarah Rifky reads into select practices of recent contemporary art that render the distinction between reality and fiction increasingly incalculable, while introducing new terms.
11am
“The Architecture of the State”
Presentation and discussion orchestrated by Xavier Wrona
Xavier Wrona will explore how the state can be understood as architecture, i.e. as a designed apparatus, that implies the modalities of its existence can be redefined.
3pm
“In Our Own Backyard”
Conversation between Lala Rukh and Mariah Lookman
Artist, activist and educator Lala Rukh’s practice has been critical of the pan-Islamic identity that is set apart from the larger histories of South Asia. Through a consideration of her work, the conversation explores Lala’s intertwined commitments to art and activism and will revisit key moments that anchor the artistic practice with the political.
4:15pm
“Present Future of Emancipation”
Group discussion with Eric Baudelaire, Maxim Gvinjia, Hassan Khan, Khaled Hourani, Lala Rukh, Mariah Lookman, Sarah Rifky, Fawwaz Traboulsi and Xavier Wrona
How can we be free, living in the community of our choice, according to rules we fashion, in dignity and equality? Nationalism was the 19th-century answer to this question of emancipation, and the paradigm persisted within the 20th century’s post-colonial movements. The result is a world of states today, where the map has been divided up and flagged. What is the present future of emancipation in the 21st century?
8:30pm
Screening event of memories of our underdevelopment, a film by Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri
Thursday, May 14
“memories of our underdevelopment, a symposium”
Organised by Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri
10:30am
The form of the day will take shape like an arabesque—interwoven motifs, which together form a composition. The three motifs are: the arabesque itself (in the shadows of Said’s orientalism), the binary of development/underdevelopment and the past, the present, the potential. Throughout the day, these motifs will emerge from questions formulated by invited contributors, including: Shaina Anand, Youssef Belal, Özge Çelikaslan, Nitasha Dhillon, Laura Diamond Dixit, Miku Dixit, Amin Husain, Aras Özgün, Ashok Sukumaran, Rolando Vázquez Melken and Goksun Yazici.
8:30pm
Performance of Souls’ Landscapes: Earth layers by Uriel Barthélémi with Entissar Al Hamdany, Joel Lokossou and Fabrice Taraud
Friday, May 15
Excursion to The Flying Saucer and Kalba Ice Factory
11am–6pm
View installations by Hassan Khan and Adrián Villar Rojas
Saturday, May 16
View Sharjah Biennial 12: The past, the present, the possible
For registration and more information, visit www.sharjahart.org.
Media contacts:
Sharjah Art Foundation:
Alyazeyah Al Reyaysa: T +971 6 544 4113 ext. 25 / alyazeyah [at] sharjahart.org
FITZ & CO:
Katrina Weber Ashour: T +1 212 627 1455 ext. 1653 / katrina [at] fitzandco.com
