Sharjah Biennial 11: Re:emerge – Towards a New Cultural Cartography
March 13–May 13, 2013
Sharjah, UAE
Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) continues an extensive programme of music, performances, and film screenings as part of Sharjah Biennial 11 (SB11), Re:emerge – Towards a New Cultural Cartography, which opened March 13 and will continue through May 13, 2013.
Film screenings programmed by Tilda Swinton, Jean-Pierre Rehm, Ali Jaafar, Steve Anker, Khavn De La Cruz, Alcino Leite Neto, Mehelli Modi and Apichatpong Weerasethakul take place each weekend at Mirage City Cinema, an open-air architectural space designed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Ole Scheeren for SB11.
On April 18, Tony Chakar‘s performance One Hundred Thousand Solitudes will examine images from the recent Arab revolutions and international Occupy movements. On April 20, his book launch for The Dialogue That Is Us will take place, along with his lecture performance The Space of Nūn that will tell the story of an old woman who walked through Tahrir Square during the siege by the Egyptian army, distributing a message of non-violence to the soldiers.
On April 19, electronic composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda will present an audiovisual concert, datamatics [ver. 2.0]. Using 2D sequences of patterns derived from hard drive errors and studies of software code, imagery transforms into dramatic, rotating views of the universe in 3D. A powerful and hypnotic soundtrack reflects the imagery through a layering of sonic components to produce immense and apparently boundless acoustic spaces.
Tarek Atoui‘s sound composition Within unfolds over the course of SB11 through interrelated movements that build up and feedback on each other. With several performances in each movement, Within progresses spatially from areas around the city to the Biennial sites, taking place in outdoor locations where the audience is close to the performers. The project Tacet, an investigation into how deaf people understand and perceive sound, inspired Atoui to write Within as a chain reaction of rhythmic and plucked pulses, silent and emic ones. On April 19, Charbel Haber performs his composition for Electric guitar and pedals. On April 26, Wu Na will perform a piece that she composed for The Guqin. On May 9, Atoui and students from Al Amal School for the Deaf will perform their composition Below 160. Hassan Hujairi will perform Music for handmade electronics, laptop and electric oud, the final movement of Within, on May 10.
On May 10, during the final week of the Biennial, German-Iraqi chamber music ensemble Lagash will perform music drawn from the centuries-old Maqam tradition, a melodic system in classical Arabic music that is based on specific note combinations. The music of Lagash contains composed as well as improvised elements, complex melodies, melancholic harmonies, and surprising rhythms.
For SB11, Curator Yuko Hasegawa proposes a new cultural cartography that reconsiders the relationships between the Arab world, Asia, the Far East, through North Africa to Latin America. SAF‘s five new multi-functional art spaces in the Sharjah Heritage Area were inaugurated on the opening day. The 2013 Sharjah Biennial Prize was presented on opening night to Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Chai Siri, Tiffany Chung, Wael Shawky, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Magdi Mostafa, and Fumito Urabe.
SB11 opening week events included performances by Işıl Eğrikavuk, Hassan Khan, Otobong Nkanga, Wael Shawky, Tony Chakar, Shahzia Sikander, Tintin Wulia, Tony Chakar, The Brockas, and alva noto with a special appearance by Ryuichi Sakamoto; as well as film screenings, panel discussions, and the annual March Meeting, a symposium of presentations, thematic sessions and panels that contextualised the Biennial’s concept.
A complete list of the more than 100 artists, architects, and musicians participating in SB11 is available here.
For more information about Sharjah Art Foundation and its programmes, visit www.sharjahart.org.