Ep 4: John Akomfrah — Memory and Terrain

04/18/23 • 31 min

How is the social sphere linked to the ecological? What are the ways in which radical politics can be expressed in cinematic language?

To find out, listen to this episode, recorded on the occasion of Sharjah Biennial 15, where John Akomfrah is in conversation with SB15 curator Hoor Al Qasimi.

In Sharjah, Akomfrah installed three works (all 2023) —Arcadia, a multi-screen film about the violence of historical and economic systems, Becoming Wind, a five-channel video called that references the myth of the garden of Eden, and Wounding Light a series of images called that combines landscape photography with historical painting.

All works are on view in Al Mureijah Square till 11 June 2023.

Click here to view them online.

Press play to learn more about Akomfrah’s practice, process and SB15 project as well as what makes his work speak to our current time and place.

To receive updates about the 15th Sharjah Biennial and the Sharjah Art Foundation’s year-round programme, follow us on Instagram @sharjahart.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How is the social sphere linked to the ecological? What are the ways in which radical politics can be expressed in cinematic language?

To find out, listen to this episode, recorded on the occasion of Sharjah Biennial 15, where John Akomfrah is in conversation with SB15 curator Hoor Al Qasimi.

All works are on view in Al Mureijah Square till 11 June 2023.

Click here to view them online.

Press play to learn more about Akomfrah’s practice, process and SB15 project as well as what makes his work speak to our current time and place.

To receive updates about the 15th Sharjah Biennial and the Sharjah Art Foundation’s year-round programme, follow us on Instagram @sharjahart.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Previous Episode

Ep 3: Hassan Hajjaj - Music and Ritual

What are the ways in which identity gets stereotyped and commodified in visual media? Can art draw on diverse histories to express solidarities in the present?

To find out, listen this episode, recorded before Sharjah Biennial 15 opened, where Hassan Hajjaj is in conversation with SB15 curator Hoor Al Qasimi.

At Sharjah, Hajjaj shows a documentary film called Gnawa Capoeira Brothahood (2022). Tracing the historical similarities between a Moroccan performance art called Gnawa and a Brazilian martial art called Capoeira, the film is on view at Bait Al Serkal, Sharjah till 11 June 2023. Click here to view it online.

Press play to learn more about Hajjaj’s practice, process and SB15 project as well as what makes his work speak to our current time and place.

To receive updates about the 15th Sharjah Biennial and the Sharjah Art Foundation’s year-round programme, follow us on Instagram @sharjahart.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Next Episode

Ep 5: Joiri Minaya — Satire and Camouflage

How does the use of irony undermine oppressive modes of representation? How can art draw attention to the ways in which historical ways of seeing continue into the present?

To find out, listen to this episode recorded on the occasion of Sharjah Biennial 15, where Joiri Minaya is in conversation with SB15 curator Hoor Al Qasimi.

In Sharjah, Joiri presented multiple works — a series called Redecode comprising patterned wallpapers showing pixelated colonial representations of the tropics (2015, 2018); Spandex Installations (2022-2023) that organises space in a way that makes it difficult for viewers to move around, and Labadee (2017), a film that explores how the Caribbean tourism industry operates in ways that continue colonial exploitation.

All works are on view at Old Al Jubail Vegetable Market till 11 June 2023.

Click here to view them online.

Press play to learn more about Minaya’s practice, process and SB15 project as well as what makes his work speak to our current time and place.

To receive updates about the 15th Sharjah Biennial and the Sharjah Art Foundation’s year-round programme, follow us on Instagram @sharjahart.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.