Latest news with #Biennial
Sharjah 24
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sharjah 24
Now streaming: Biennial Bytes season two
Biennial Bytes 2 kicks off with a conversation between the five curators of SB16—Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala and Zeynep Öz. Moderated by Hoor Al Qasimi, President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, the episode explores the synergies between curators' individual projects, the diverse formats in which audiences can experience the art at SB16, and how a Biennial can be a space of encounter and collective processing. Subsequent episodes spotlight specific works and projects presented at SB16 through conversations between individual curators and various participating artists, including Bint Mbareh, an artist and sound researcher working around songs of resistance in relation to land and water sovereignty in Palestine, and Joe Namy who sheds light on his collaborative approach to creating sound installations and performances. Yhonnie Scarce speaks about the historical context of nuclear testing on Aboriginal lands in Australia, and Tabu Osusa, founder of Singing Wells, dives into the group's decolonial mission to platform and preserve East African music, while Citra Sasmita talks about her collaboration with Kamasan maestra Mangku Muriati. Tune in to the podcast to listen to personal anecdotes and the stories behind their artworks. Other SB16 artists featured in the podcast are: Stephanie Comilang, Hellen Ascoli, Ana Iti, Naeem Mohaiemen, Pratchaya Phinthong, Adelita Husni-Bey, Mahmoud Khaled and Kapulani Landgraf. Convening under the title to carry, a multivocal and open-ended proposition, SB16 presents over 650 works by nearly 200 participants, including more than 200 new commissions. Exploring the ever-expanding questions of what to carry and how to carry it, SB16 is an invitation to encounter the different formations and positions of the five curators, as well as the resonances they have gathered. The Biennial runs until 15 June 2025 across several venues in Sharjah City, Al Hamriyah, Al Dhaid, Kalba and other locations in the Emirate of Sharjah. New episodes are released every Monday on Apple, Spotify, Anghami, Google and other podcast platforms.
ABC News
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
TarraWarra Biennial 2025: We Are Eagles is a powerful assertion of cultural strength
There's a quote that has long moved Yorta Yorta curator and artist Kimberley Moulton. It's from elder Aboriginal Australian Pastor Sir Doug Nicholls who, in 1938 during a political movement called The Day of Mourning, told leaders and community gathered that day: 'We do not want chicken-feed … we are not chickens; we are eagles.' "This line has always stayed with me, it's so poetic," Moulton says. Moulton is also the adjunct curator of Indigenous Art at Tate Modern, London, and the senior curator of Rising Festival. ( Supplied: Eugene Hyland ) It's the inspiration for the new Biennial 2025 at regional art gallery TarraWarra Museum of Art, which features new works by 23 contemporary First Nations and other Australian artists. We Are Eagles is a mixture of paintings, sculptural works, ceramics and film made in response to regenerative practices and trans-cultural connections to land. Maree Clarke, whose Wurneet Buath (River Reed) Vessel is one of the works at the Biennial, was the first living Victorian Aboriginal artist to have a solo show featured in the National Gallery of Victoria in 2021. ( Supplied ) "That day [in 1938] Sir Doug asked leaders and the community gathered to come together for a resolution and acknowledge full citizenship and equality of all First Nations people," says Moulton, curator of the Biennial. " It was a gathering about our humanity … It [was] an assertion of cultural strength and power in ancestral knowing. " Now, with the blessing of Yorta Yorta Elder Aunty Pam Pedersen, Moulton has asked artists to make works in response to it. Exploring 'Aboriginal ways of being' We Are Eagles bridges conversations around cultural regeneration, and colonial disruption and its impact on storytelling. Moulton wants to help give a voice to those stories silenced by colonisation. Emerging visual artist Moorina Bonini turns to her Yorta Yorta heritage as a starting point for her new work, a song that pays homage to the skill of canoe making by her elders. It's part of a conceptual film titled Matha, which connects directly to the skill of makers in her First Nations lineage. "My work Matha [Yorta Yorta word for canoe] is an exploration of ceremony and the Aboriginal ways of being," Bonini says. "For me, cultural identity is the foundation from where I make from, and as an Aboriginal woman who also has strong Italian heritage, there is a strong desire in me to explore diversity of culture, and the beautiful layers that find their way in my work. I get to learn about culture through both of my families," she says. In the work Matha (canoe), Bonini is paying homage to her elders' canoe-making skills. ( Supplied: Andrew Curti ) Renowned Australian artist Maree Clarke unveils a new sculpture specifically made for the Biennial titled Waa (crow). Moulton says it's a work that shows Clarke — who has been making work since the 1990s — in a new light, delving into a sculptural direction not seen before until now. Loading Instagram content New-Zealand-born and Sydney-based artist Angela Tiatia has made a new three-channel video work that pays tribute to her Pacific ancestors. Drawn to the idea of regeneration, she focuses on an old Samoan chant that is losing its oral foothold in modern times, while weaving her concern for the environment and its landscape into her digital piece. "This very formal and old language is still spoken by few individuals, but it's certainly losing its place within the Samoan culture," Tiatia says. "It takes a lot of dedicated years of study under a master and, for me as a Samoan, I wanted to explore my connection to the language and its place in our history. Resurrecting the language keeps it a constant talking point," she says. Tiatia's installation is both an audio experience and a visual one; a Samoan chant is part of the art work. ( Supplied: Andrew Curtis ) Tiatia has the chant sung by an actor while imagery of the Pacific Island landscape and sacred sites and Pacific Island performers help tell the story. The Biennial is also a chance to see new works by painter Gunybi Ganambarr, who exhibited for the first time in New York last October. "It's already in there, in the eye, a vision, a dream, it's everything," Ganambarr told the ABC of his creative inspiration in 2021. ( Supplied: Brook James ) Ganambarr is a Yolŋu man who lives and works at Gängän, near Yirrkala in north-east Arnhem Land. Moulton was in New York for the exhibition opening on 73rd Street, and says a work is on loan thanks to a private collector. A beautiful, contemporary space Given the Aboriginal mission Coranderrk was not far from the site of TarraWarra Museum, hosting We Are Eagles feels all the more pertinent to Moulton. TarraWarra was founded by the late philanthropists Eva and Marc Besen, the art-loving couple who purchased the property in 1979 to initially use as a family retreat. Now it's become a cultural institution at the foothills of the Yarra Valley. Photo shows Next to a very large, brightly coloured mural painting, a woman with brown hair and wearing art smock, stands holds paintbrush. A Victorian studio for artists with disabilities is celebrating five decades with its first survey. A new cultural hub has just opened at the site too, where works collected by the couple are on permanent show for visitors to browse. "The Coranderrk mission was so close," Moulton says. "The country out here is magical, from the rolling hills to the Birrarrung river that runs through, it has this special energy. So many First Nations people are connected to Coranderrk. "TarraWarra is a beautiful architecturally designed building and an independent institution that doesn't have these long colonial histories tied to it," she says. "It's a beautiful contemporary space and wonderful to think about it this way." TarraWarra Biennial 2025: We Are Eagles runs until July 20 at TarraWarra Museum of Art (Healesville, Victoria).
Time Out Abu Dhabi
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out Abu Dhabi
Missed April Acts in Sharjah? Here's how the exhibition unfolded
Sharjah Art Foundation's very first edition of April Acts, a jam-packed three-day programme, came to a meaningful end on Sunday April 20. Workshops, conversations and performances at April Acts: to carry new formations nudged audiences to rethink how they engaged with art, ideas and each other. Shaped as a continuation of Sharjah Biennial 16, which remains on view until Sunday June 15, the exhibition took over Africa Hall in Sharjah. Michael Parekōwhai, He Kōrero Pūrākau mo te Awanui o Te Motu: Story of a New Zealand river, 2011. Collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, purchased 2011 with the assistance of the Friends of Te Papa. Installation view: Sharjah Biennial 16, Al Mureijah Art Spaces, Sharjah, 2025. Photo: Motaz Mawid. To carry new formations picked up from the Biennial's overarching concept to carry, diving deeper into how we collectively remember, resist, reimagine and reshape knowledge across borders and generations. It is less about learning in a traditional sense and more about shared reflection – what needs to be reimagined if we're to support each other better. See for yourself Screening of Roy Samaha, LEGACY// Premonition, 2024. Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation. Courtesy of the artist. Sharjah Biennial 16, Mirage City Cinema, Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah, 2025 .Photo: Shanavas Jamaluddin Visitors got to try riso-print workshops, tune into listening sessions, join guided walks and watch films that go beyond storytelling. Sound played a big part in this edition, both as medium and message, with performances closing out each day. One of the evenings featured the now-iconic red Steinway grand piano carved by Māori artist Michael Parekowhai. Dhrupad vocalist Pelva Naik (right) and pakhawaj player Sukhad Munde accompanying dancer Tishani Doshi for her work Nyāsa, 2024. Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation. Performance view: Sharjah Biennial 16, Sharjah Performing Arts Academy, Sharjah, 2025. Image courtesy of Sharjah Art Foundation. Photo: Shafeek Nalakath Kareem Meanwhile, The Farm Project brought sound installations to life with contributions from Başak Günak, Berke Can Özcan, Sandy Chamoun and Hauptmeier I Recker, while poet and theatre-maker Koleka Putuma returned with WATER (reprise) – a performance tracing ancestral memory through bodies of water. There was also a space carved out for young curators from Southeast Asia and the UAE, thanks to an exchange programme led by Alia Swastika and Jo Lene Ong.
Al Etihad
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Al Etihad
Immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of pearl diving heritage along the Corniche
15 Apr 2025 01:30 SARA ALZAABI (ABU DHABI)As part of the first edition of the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial, Farah Al Qasimi's exhibition, entitled "Homesickness", brings together sound, sculpture and memory to honour the legacy of pearl diving in the Emirates - a deeply rooted tradition that has shaped the region's cultural and economic display along the Corniche, the installation features five shimmering oyster forms, each concealing a speaker that plays a layered chorus of synthetic soundscape is based on Tob, Tob Ya Bahar — a chant historically sung by the wives of pearl divers — a choice that carries both emotional and symbolic Biennial showcases site-specific installations and performances across Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, exploring how public spaces, influenced by the environment, architecture and community life, shape the emirate's by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), the initiative, being held under the theme "Public Matter" and with the participation of over 70 UAE-based and international artists, is running until April initiative also aims to enhance cultural infrastructure, community engagement, and wellbeing through large-scale installations, sculptures, and performances across multiple outdoor to Aletihad, Al Qasimi said: "I made this particular piece for Abu Dhabi, and I don't think it would have the same resonance anywhere else. I try to be as conscious as possible of context and location, but more and more, my practice is shifting beyond the hyper-local."The project reflects her cross-cultural perspective, shaped by living between Dubai and New York. "Abu Dhabi was pretty globalised when I was growing up," she said. "But I also spent a lot of time in the US with my mother's family, so my upbringing was naturally informed by many different cultures and social dynamics. I do not think it is a conscious balancing, but rather an extension of my natural worldview."Gender and identity also play an integral role in her art. "Every artist is informed by their identities whether it is foregrounded in the work or not," she noted. "Many of the people I photograph are other women, because there are shared experiences we have that I feel inherently comfortable translating into an artwork. For example, in this biennial piece, I chose to highlight the wives of pearl divers rather than the divers themselves."Although visually striking, the piece remains rooted in the documentary; an approach Al Qasimi feels naturally lends itself to addressing present-day concerns. "My work is rooted in the documentary, so by nature, it is addressing contemporary issues unfolding around me," she too, plays a quiet but essential role. The use of iridescent paint and LED lights adds a modern layer to a traditional subject, while also reflecting shifting modes of visual communication. "I use a digital camera," she said, "and I am very aware of how our relationship to image-making is shifting with social media."Asked about the impact of globalisation in the wider Biennial, she pointed to Lawrence Abu Hamdan's work. "I have not yet seen all the works," she admitted, "but I have really appreciated seeing the general public engage with his rhythmic work."Ultimately, Al Qasimi hopes her practice contributes to a broader conversation around cultural globalisation. "I hope that my work will function in a way that transcends the specificity of a singular place, and that it may contain surprising familiarities to people that will invite them to rethink their relationship to the broader world," she added.
Sharjah 24
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Sharjah 24
April Acts 2025: to carry new formations
How can we reimagine and critically investigate our current situations or positions to construct and manifest new approaches to resistance, reciprocity, communal networks and life-enabling systems and structures? to carry new formations explores this overarching question through the exchange of ideas and practices, bringing together conversations, performance, cultural expression, art and activism. April Acts 2025 takes place as a key extension of Sharjah Biennial 16, which features more than 650 works by nearly 200 participants, including more than 200 new commissions. Curated by Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala and Zeynep Öz, SB16 convenes under the title to carry . A multivocal and open-ended proposition exploring the ever-expanding questions of what to carry and how to carry it, SB16 is an invitation to encounter the different formations and positions of the five curators as well as the resonances they have gathered. Using SB16 as both a platform and an instrument, April Acts 2025 engages with the works at the Biennial to highlight independent and collective dialogues around systemic transition, societal shifts, ruptured and recovered histories, forms of collective organising, leadership (including communal leadership) and old knowledge reimagined in new forms. Encouraging practices of new and experimental methodologies, self-organisation and deep reflection and listening, the programme explores collaborative cultural production, acoustic heritage, creative infrastructures under threat, and the spatial and psychic boundaries that limit the movement of people and ideas. The programme builds off Sharjah's proximity to the sea to bolster discussions on belonging, mobility and marine traffic. Through panel discussions, artist talks, participatory workshops, film screenings and live music performances, April Acts 2025 aims to create a polyphonous space that invites multiple perspectives to co-exist and thrive. Among the offerings are guided walks; a listening session with Singing Wells; Risograph printing workshops; Self-Publishing workshops using several printing techniques such as Risograph, including a workshop led by Bhumika Saraswati and Siddhesh Gautam (founders of the magazine All That Blue ); discussions with artists such as Brian Martin, Yhonnie Scarce and Megan Cope; and a screening of First Horse (2024) by Awanui Simich-Pene. Başak Günak, Berke Can Özcan, Sandy Chamun and Hauptmeier I Recker will collaborate in a performance based on their sound installation in the Biennial; Koleka Putuma will offer a performance titled WATER (reprise) ; and there will also be a series of performances based on the SB16 work He Kōrero Pūrākau mō te Awanui o te Motu: Story of a New Zealand river (2011), the red, fully carved Steinway concert grand by Māori artist Michael Parekōwhai. Additionally, an invitation-only curatorial workshop anchored in the ethos of the Biennial creates space for collective wayfinding, offering a moment to reflect on what we inherit, what we hold, and what we must reimagine in order to carry forward new formations of support, resistance and continuity. For more information on Sharjah Biennial 16, please visit List of Participants Akinbode Akinbiyi, Akram Zaatari, Al MacSween, Albert L Refiti, Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Andrew J. Eisenberg, Avni Sethi, Başak Günak, Berke Can Özcan, Bettina Ng'weno, Bhumika Saraswati, Bint Mbareh, Brian Martin, Caroline Courrioux, Claudia Martinez Garay, Christianna Bonin, Daniela Castro, Dawn Chan, E.N Mirembe, Engseng Ho, Fatma Belkıs, George Jose, Georgina Velasco (The Voice of Domestic Workers), Gita Rani, Grace Hussein Karima and Leah Ndahani Zawose (Zawose Sisters), Hauptmeier I Recker, Hsu Fang-Tze, John Clang, Jo-Lene Ong, Koleka Putuma, Mahmoud Khaled, Marigold Quimoy Balquen (The Voice of Domestic Workers), Mariam M. Alnoaimi, May Adadol Ingawanij, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala, One Sudan One Sound of Solidarity (OSOS), Raafat Majzoub, Red de Reproducción y Distribución (Reproduction and Distribution Network), Rosie Olang' Odhiambo, Sa Tahanan Collective, Sandy Chamoun, Sarathy Korwar, Seema Alavi, Siddhesh Gautam, Sophia Tintori, Tabu Osusa, Taloi Havini, Tara Al Dughaither, Yasmine El Rashidi, Zeynep Öz.
