April Acts 2025: to carry new formations

18–20 April 2025

Programme

Friday, 18 April 2025

Tours: Sharjah Biennial 16

Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah

11:00 am–12:30 pm

Tour: Al Mureijah Square

*Shuttles will depart for Al Mureijah Square at 10:30 am. Click here to view the transportation schedule.

April Acts 2025 Programme

Africa Hall, Al Manakh, Sharjah

*Shuttles will depart for Africa Hall at 12:30 pm. Click here to view the transportation schedule.

01:00 pm - 01:30 pm

Registration

01:30 pm - 01:45 pm

Welcome Remarks

Hoor Al Qasimi (President and Director, Sharjah Art Foundation)

Noora Al Mualla (Director of Learning and Research, Sharjah Art Foundation)

01:45 pm - 02:30 pm

Archeology: The Burden of Extraction

Dialogue

Akram Zaatari (artist); Claudia Martínez Garay (artist)

Moderator: Zeynep Öz (Independent curator, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)

02:30 pm - 03:30 pm

Women’s Knowledge as Source of Activism

Dialogue

May Adadol Ingawanij (Professor of Cinematic Arts; Co-director, Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media, CREAM, University of Westminster); Avni Sethi (interdisciplinary practitioner)

Moderator: Alia Swastika (Director, Biennale Jogja Foundation, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)

03:30 pm - 05:00 pm

Lunch

04:30 pm - 05:30 pm

Lyrical Assembly

Performance

One Sudan One Sound of Solidarity (OSOS)

05:30 pm - 06:15 pm

Physical and Spiritual Geographies

Dialogue

Megan Cope (artist); Yhonnie Scarce (artist)

Moderator: Megan Tamati-Quennell (Curator of modern and contemporary Maori and Indigenous art, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)

06:15 pm - 07:15 pm

Water Songs

Dialogue

Caroline Courrioux (curator, Head of exhibitions and programs at Villa Medici, Rome); Hsu Fang-Tze (curator); Bint Mbareh (sound artist and musician).

Moderator: Amal Khalaf (Director, Cubitt, and Curator at Large, Serpentine, both London, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)

07:15 pm - 07:45 pm

Perspectives in (Art) History

Dialogue

Mahmoud Khaled (artist); Yasmine El Rashidi (writer and critic)

*Shuttles will depart for Al Mureijah Square at 7:45 pm. Click here to view the transportation schedule.

08:30 pm - 09:15 pm

Farm Project activation

Performance

Mirage City Cinema, Al Mureijah Square

Başak Günak (artist); Berke Can Özcan (artist); Sandy Chamoun (artist); Haupmeier I Recker (artist duo)

09:30 pm - 10:15 pm

Confluence of Rivers in E Minor

Performance

Gallery 3, Al Mureijah Art Spaces

Tara Al Dugaither (vocalist, shruti box, piano); Ziaire Trinidad Sherman (flute, sax, electronics); Chatori Shimizu (sho, piano) Sponsored by Gyomu-Super Japan Dream Foundation; Arwa Alobaid (violin, vocals)


*Please note that spaces in Gallery 3 are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Saturday, 19 April 2025

Tours: Sharjah Biennial 16

Calligraphy Square and Bank Street Building, Sharjah

10:00 am–12:00 pm

Tour: Calligraphy Square and Bank Street Building

*Shuttles will depart for Calligraphy Square at 09:30 am. Click here to view the transportation schedule.

April Acts 2025 Programme

Africa Hall, Al Manakh, Sharjah

*Shuttles will depart for Africa Hall at 12:00 pm. Click here to view the transportation schedule.

12:30 pm - 01:00 pm

Registration

01:00 pm - 01:30 pm

Choreographies of Proposal

Dialogue (YAZ Publications Activation)

Daniela Castro (experimental artist-curator, writer, researcher); Raafat Majzoub (artist)

Moderator: Zeynep Öz (Independent curator, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)

01:30 pm - 02:30 pm

Publishing as Part of Political Movements

Dialogue

RRD (Reproduction and Distribution Network); Bhumika Saraswati (journalist, filmmaker, photographer, educator); Siddhesh Gautam (artist)

Moderator: Krystie NG (curator; co-founder, Inter-Asia Woodcut Mapping (IAWM) research collective)

02:30 pm - 03:00 pm

Life after Loss

Dialogue (YAZ Publications Activation)

Sophia Tintori (biologist); Fatma Belkıs (artist)

Moderator: Zeynep Öz (independent curator, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)

03:00 pm - 04:00 pm

Lunch

04:00 pm - 05:00 pm

Sa Ating Pag-tahan / In Our Stillness

Performance and Conversation

Sa Tahanan Co. (art collective)

05:00 pm - 05:30 pm

The Water that Asked for a Fish

Dialogue

Mariam M. Alnoaimi (artist); Abbas AlShajjar (researcher and fisherman)

*In Arabic

05:30 pm - 06:30 pm

A body in Fukushima

Film Screening and Recorded Dialogue

Eiko Otake (artist); Alia Swastika (Director, Biennale Jogja Foundation, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)

06:30 pm - 07:00 pm

The Voice of Domestic Workers: Labour, Visibility and Art for Social Movements

Dialogue

Marigold Quimoy Balquen (The Voice of Domestic Workers); Georgina Velasco (The Voice of Domestic Workers)

Moderator: Amal Khalaf (Director, Cubitt, and Curator at Large, Serpentine, both London, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)

07:00 pm - 07:30 pm

Break

07:30 pm - 08:15 pm

The Flood of Rites

Performance

Bint Mbareh (sound artist and musician)

*Shuttles will depart for Al Mureijah Square at 8:15 pm. Click here to view the transportation schedule.

09:00 pm - 10:30 pm

Pulse to Terrain

Vinyl Launch and Music Performance

Gallery 3, Al Mureijah Art Spaces

Sarathy Korwar (musician, composer); Deepak Unnikrishnan (Associate Professor of Literature and Creative Writing, NYUAD); Al MacSween (musician); Zawose Sisters (music duo)

Introduced by Natasha Ginwala and Hasan Hujairi


*Please note that spaces in Gallery 3 are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Sunday, 20 April 2025

Tours: Sharjah Biennial 16

Bait Al Serkal, Bait Obaid Al Shamsi and Sharjah Art Museum, Arts Square, Sharjah

10:00 am–12:00 pm

Tour: Bait Al Serkal, Bait Al Obaid Shamsi and Sharjah Art Museum

*Shuttles will depart for Arts Square at 09:30 am. Click here to view the transportation schedule.

April Acts 2025 Programme

Africa Hall, Al Manakh, Sharjah

*Shuttles will depart for Africa Hall at 12:00 pm. Click here to view the transportation schedule.

12:30 pm - 01:00 pm

Registration

01:00 pm - 02:30 pm

Coastal Remembrance and Oceanic Belonging

Dialogue

Seema Alavi (professor of History); Bettina Ng'weno (Associate Professor, University of California, Davis); Engseng HO (Professor of Anthropology and History, Duke University, USA)

Moderator: George Jose (Visiting Associate Professor of Anthropology, NYUAD)

02:30 pm - 03:00 pm

Break

03:00 pm – 03:30 pm

WATER (reprise)

Performance

Koleka Putuma (writer, theatre maker and cultural worker)

Introduced by Natasha Ginwala (Artistic Director, Colomboscope and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)

03:30 pm - 04:30 pm

Lunch

04:30 pm - 05:15 pm

Time, Space and Relationships

Dialogue

Albert L Refiti (architect and academic); John Clang (artist)

Moderators: Amal Khalaf (Director, Cubitt, and Curator at Large, Serpentine, both London, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator); Megan Tamati-Quennell (Curator of modern and contemporary Maori and Indigenous art, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)

05:15 pm - 05:45 pm

Mediums of Exchange

Dialogue (YAZ Publications Activation)

Taloi Havini (artist); Zeynep Öz (independent curator, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)

05:45 pm - 06:30 pm

Physical and Spiritual Geographies

Dialogue

Brian Martin (artist); Kaili Chun (artist)

Moderator: Megan Tamati-Quennell (Curator of modern and contemporary Maori and Indigenous art, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)

06:30 pm - 07:00 pm

From Commons to Chaos: Art in the Age of Speculation

Dialogue (YAZ Publications Activation)

Dawn Chan (Senior Lecturer, Bard's Center for Curatorial Studies); Christianna Bonin (Assistant Professor of Art History and Theory, American University of Sharjah; curator; critic)

07:00 pm - 07:30 pm

Reversal

Film Screening

Timoteus Anggawan Kusno (artist)

*Shuttles will depart for Al Mureijah Square at 7:30 pm. Click here to view the transportation schedule.

08:30 pm - 08:45 pm

First Horse

Film Screening

Awanui Simich-Pene (director)

09:00 pm - 09:45 pm

Ihi: Awa Herea (Braided Rivers)

Performance

Mere Boynton (soprano), Liam Wooding (pianist)

Introduced by Megan Tamati-Quennell (Curator of modern and contemporary Maori and Indigenous art, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)


*Please note that spaces in Gallery 3 are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.