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| Cory Arcangel's 'Destroyed Jeans' is installed on the facade of the Sharjah Art Museum as part of Omar Kholeif's 'Making New Time' exhibition for the 14th edition of Sharjah Biennial. Courtesy of Sharjah Art Foundation |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
SHARJAH ― As social media prevails in modern society, more people are caught in the "echo chamber," where they communicate with people with similar values and access information only to confirm and strengthen their opinions. Such information circulates and proliferates in a closed system and the homogenized stream of information results in a narrow outlook.
At the 14th edition of Sharjah Biennial (SB14), held in the city of Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates, three curators teamed up to explore the purpose of producing art in an era when fake news is widespread, history is fictionalized and borders fluctuate by cultural, social and political systems, under the theme of "Leaving the Echo Chamber."
"Contemporary life is dominated by competing information and fluctuating histories ― a reality that raises important questions about the trajectory of contemporary art as well as the conditions in which it is made," Hoor Al Qasimi, director of the Sharjah Art Foundation, said.
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| Aline Baiana's 'Jannah Dam or The second murder of Adonis' Courtesy of Sharjah Art Foundation |
This year's biennial is the brainchild of the three different curators ― Australia-born, Vietnam-based Zoe Butt; Egyptian-born Omar Kholeif; and Guadeloupean-born, New Orleans-based Claire Tancon. The three are in charge of bringing a wider range of artists and works, and providing more diverse experiences.
Al Qasimi said different people bring different things to the plate and she wanted certain strengths in each field. "Omar has strength in post-Internet art and new media, Claire's with performance and procession, and Zoe's with her focus on Southeast Asia. So that was an interesting mix for us," she said.
Each curator developed separate exhibitions, but the themes and works intersect with each other, making the biennial more complex and rich. Over 80 established and emerging artists took part in the biennial, ranging from less-noticed, late artist's pieces to never-seen-before and newly commissioned works.
The biennial is held at various venues including the Arts Square, Calligraphy Square and Al Mureijah Square as well as off-site Al Hamriyah Studios and Kalba Ice Factory.
Those who are trapped in the echo chamber can embark on a journey to leave it in search for true things, those not necessarily shown in the news or taught in school at the SB14.
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| A visitor points at Qiu Zhijie's psychogeographical map scrolls on view at the Sharjah Biennial 14. Courtesy of Sharjah Art Foundation |
Journey Beyond Arrow
Zoe Butt's exhibition "Journey Beyond the Arrow" examines the importance of exchange and diversity throughout human history.
"In this exhibition, artists reveal the intergenerational impact of a range of physical and psychological tools, of how the representations and meanings of these tools have shifted as a consequence of colonial exploitation, social and religious conflict or ideological extremism," Butt explains.
On display at the Sharjah Art Museum, Khadim Ali's "Flowers of Evil" deals with the violence in Afghanistan through various media. Starting with the large mural "Standing Flames" on the outer wall of the Emirates Fine Art Society, Ali examines the normalization of violence in Afghanistan through education, propaganda and protests.
The naturalized Australian grew up in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coming from the Afghan Hazara minority ethnic group, the artist fled to Pakistan and later immigrated to Australia. Being an Afghan Hazara refugee is an important part of Ali's identity and his work.
Malaysia artist Roslisham Ismail, also known as Ise, maps the history of his cultural ancestry in "ChronoLOGICal." With a wall full of maps, drawings and objects, Ismail tells the history of the Kingdom of Kelantan told as mythical legends and childhood tales.
Nalini Malani from India examines border conflicts and human migration, which often are not discussed openly, though the 11-panel painting "All We Imagine as Light."
Qiu Zhijie presents a variety of fictional maps inspired by Chinese traditions of ink painting and calligraphy. Some maps explore perceptions on geography, exploring connections between Chinese and Middle Eastern historical exchanges, while others such as "Map of Human Emotions: Both Despair and Hope Are Extinct Volcano" and "Map of Games: Used to Being a Loser" charts focus on the human condition and philosophy.
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| Ahmad Fuad Osman's 'Enrique de Malacca Memorial Project' |
In "Enrique de Malacca Memorial Project," Ahmad Fuad Osman researched Enrique de Malacca, a slave to Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, and created a fictional memorial suggesting that he deserves to be credited as the first person to circumnavigate the globe, not Magellan. Through historical evidence and oral records, Osman reconstructs the identity of a man celebrated in Southeast Asia now.
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| Peter Friedl's 'No prey, no pay' |
Making New Time
Kholeif's "Making New Time" redefines the sense of time in the era of fast-paced creation and consumption.
According to Kholeif, the exhibit "seeks to show how material culture can be reimagined through the lenses of artists whose political agency, activism and astute observations encourage us to extend the limits of our beliefs."
Nigerian artist duo Otobong Nkanga and Emeka Ogboh's installation "Aging Ruins Dreaming Only to Recall the Hard Chisel from the Past" received this year's SB14 prize. The outdoor installation is a nod to the circle of life by imagining that a dead tree in the courtyard of Bait Al Aboudi, a heritage house in Sharjah, died because of its addiction to salt water. They created craters filled with salt water and light boxes in the shades of sunset, accompanied with a recording of an Emirati rain song.
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| Otobong Nkanga and Emeka Ogboh's installation 'Aging Ruins Dreaming Only to Recall the Hard Chisel from the Past' at Bait Al Aboudi |
The judges praised the artists for creating "a garden of love and desperation, which movingly faces the problems of age and desolation, the changing seasons of life, and the passion for survival."
British-Pakistani artist Shezad Dawood used virtual reality to invite visitors to experience remnants of the Cold War era in an immersive installation titled "Encroachments." Viewers visit a bookshop, a secret passageway, a videogame arcade with anti-Soviet propaganda and a proposed building for the U.S. embassy in Karachi, now used as a cultural center.
Lubaina Himid brings out the invisibility of black people in the art world, both institutionally and as artistic subjects. She paints black subjects in European classical style and portraits in drawers reveal black faces.
Kholeif's curation includes a handful of past artists who went unnoticed during their lifetimes. Anwar Jalal Shemza (1928-1985), who was based in Pakistan and the United Kingdom, incorporated Islamic motifs in his work, but he was excluded in the discourse of Western art history.
Semiha Berksoy (1910-2004) was the first female opera singer of Turkey and also a painter, writer and actress. Her self-portraits are displayed with paintings depicting her mother "My Mother Playing Oud" and "My Mother the Painter Fatima Saime," creating a spiritual dialogue.
Alfredo Jaar's "33 Women" pays tribute to the achievements of extraordinary women by literally shooting lights on portraits of those women who have remained nearly invisible from mainstream media.
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| Meschac Gaba's performance 'Perruques Architectures Emirats Arabes Unis' |
Look for Me All Around You
Tancons's curation of "Look For Me All Around You" is centered on performance art, revolving around diaspora and migratory history.
"Look for Me All Around You bears witness to the imperilment of the contemporary within the atomized space between me and you. What is being looked for is not what is being looked at ― if only it could be seen," the curator noted.
At Bait Obaid Al Shamsi, Mexican artist Ulrik Lopez presented "Pataki 1921," a reincarnation of a 1921 chess game performed as a ballet before the inaugural event of the 17th World Chess Olympics in Cuba in 1966, during the opening weekend of the biennial. The artist created chess piece-like costumes with iraca palm and choreographed moves based on traditional Caribbean and African dances. Video documentation of the performance, chessboard and costumes are on view throughout the biennial.
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| Suchitra Mattai's 'Imperfect Isometry' |
Indo-Guyanese artist Suchitra Mattai recreated childhood memories in "Imperfect Isometry," using a playground roundabout, "fiberscape" of vintage saris and a video work on how national and physical borders shape people's identity.
Aline Baiana presented "Alliance for a sunny world or the Rainbow Serpent flows in free rivers" and "Janna Dam or The second murder of Adonis" outside Bait Abdul Raheem Jasim. The works relate to construction of hydroelectric plants in Brazil and Lebanon and the two rivers are connected with a traditional Emirati falaj channel.
Caline Aoun's "Time Travel" is an installation that begins at sunset and livestreams the artist's surroundings in Beirut, Lebanon, luring viewers to leave the echo chamber through the time difference between what is happening and what is streamed.
Peter Friedl's "No prey, no pay" is a playful installation of pirate costumes and plinths, questioning the history of showing off through mythical characters.
The SB14 runs through June 10. Visit sharjahart.org for more information.
