Overview
Sharjah Art Foundation’s biannual event Re|sound returns for its fifth edition on Friday, 18 December 2020, in the contemporary open-air Mirage City Cinema. Re|sound invites locally and regionally based musicians to prepare and perform original live sets in conversation with a projected film. The fifth edition of Re|sound features Rouzbeh Rashidi's film Homo Sapiens Project: There Is No Escape from the Terrors of the Mind (2013), which will be screened in tandem with live music from sound artist Safeya Alblooshi, experimental musician Mckie Alvarez and percussionist Colin James Gordon.
There Is No Escape from the Terrors of the Mind is one episode of a larger film by Rashidi titled Homo Sapiens Project. The experimental film follows a man on a three-part adventure through a series of uncanny surrealistic landscapes. The film compares the strange qualities of different landscapes and interposes characters within them, thus elaborating on the Homo Sapiens Project’s ongoing preoccupation with extracting sinister moods from ordinary settings. In a way, the films in the project can be seen as experimental horror films, in which an atmosphere of dread is evoked and sustained without the expected narrative trappings.
Re|sound V also features original live sets by UAE-based musicians. Currently completing her fourth year at New York University Abu Dhabi, where she is studying for a Bachelor of Art in Music (expected 2021), Safeya Alblooshi experiments with sound in the realms of manipulated field recordings, experimental composition and participatory performance. Musician, songwriter, dub-reggae producer, sound designer and DJ Mckie Alvarez is the other half of the dream pop/ethereal wave duo WYWY and front man of the post-punk band LORD FUZZ GZAZ. Percussionist and producer Colin James Gordon, who has shared the stage with Kendrick Lamar, Bastille, Liam Payne, Sean Kuti, The Supremes and many others, is trained as a drummer and studied ethnomusicology at UCLA under such jazz luminaries as Kenny Burrell, James Newton and Delbert Bump.
Also taking place this weekend is the third edition of FOCAL POINT, the Foundation’s annual art book fair, which runs from 16 to 19 December 2020 in the heritage house Bait Obaid Al Shamsi, Arts Square. The four-day fair presents a wide selection of artist books, zines, journals, prints, posters and other printed matter by artists, writers and publishers from around the world. A number of creative workshops, suitable for children and families, as well as live music performances by local bands will also take place.
Re|sound is free and open to all. Audiences are encouraged to book their attendance online in advance to ensure the comfort and safety of our community.
To book, visit ticket.sharjahart.org.
For more information, visit sharjahart.org.
About Sharjah Art Foundation
Sharjah Art Foundation is an advocate, catalyst and producer of contemporary art within the Emirate of Sharjah and the surrounding region, in dialogue with the international arts community. Under the leadership of founder Hoor Al Qasimi, a curator and artist, the Foundation advances an experimental and wide-ranging programmatic model that supports the production and presentation of contemporary art, preserves and celebrates the distinct culture of the region and encourages a shared understanding of the transformational role of art. The Foundation’s core initiatives include the long-running Sharjah Biennial, featuring contemporary artists from around the world; the annual March Meeting, a convening of international arts professionals and artists; grants and residencies for artists, curators and cultural producers; ambitious and experimental commissions; and a range of travelling exhibitions and scholarly publications.
Established in 2009 to expand programmes beyond the Sharjah Biennial, which launched in 1993, the Foundation is a critical resource for artists and cultural organisations in the Gulf and a conduit for local, regional and international developments in contemporary art. The Foundation’s deep commitment to developing and sustaining the cultural life and heritage of Sharjah is reflected through year-round exhibitions, performances, screenings and educational programmes in the city of Sharjah and across the Emirate, often hosted in historic buildings that have been repurposed as cultural and community centres. A growing collection reflects the Foundation’s support of contemporary artists in the realisation of new work and its recognition of the contributions made by pioneering modern artists from the region and around the world. Sharjah Art Foundation is a legally independent public body established by Emiri Decree and supported by government funding, grants from national and international nonprofits and cultural organisations, corporate sponsors and individual patrons. All exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.
About Sharjah
Sharjah is the third-largest of the seven United Arab Emirates, and the only one bridging the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Reflecting the deep commitment to the arts, architectural preservation and cultural education embraced by its ruler, Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Sharjah is home to more than 20 museums and has long been known as the cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates. It was named UNESCO's Arab Capital of Culture for 1998 and the UNESCO World Book Capital for 2019.
Media Contacts
Sharjah Art Foundation:
Alyazeyah Al Reyaysa, alyazeyah@sharjahart.org, +971(0)65444113