Fig. 1. The desert encroaching on modern buildings in Akram Zaatari’s The Landing (2019)

Overview

In his essay ‘Holding Time: On Aesthetics of Survival’, Tarek El-Ariss, Professor and Chair of Middle Eastern Studies at Dartmouth College, explores how history is made and takes a close look at Akram Zaatari’s film The Landing (2019), commissioned for Sharjah Biennial 14 and now part of the Foundation’s permanent collection. This essay is part of Creating Dangerously, a forthcoming Sharjah Art Foundation publication that will feature texts by leading writers, thinkers and artists who participated in the 2019 edition of the annual March Meeting. Edited by Sharjah Biennial 14 (SB14) co-curator Omar Kholeif, the publication will expand on the SB14 themes and will consider the role of artists and cultural practitioners in an age when the echo chamber of social and news media has become all consuming.

To download the full essay, please click here

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Holding Time: On Aesthetics of Survival

The Landing (2019)

Akram Zaatari’s videos, films, photographic installations and publications excavate past landscapes and reorganise the finds in his own present narratives.

Holding Time: On Aesthetics of Survival

El-Ariss, Tarek

Spanning disciplines and languages, Tarek El-Ariss’ research interests include contemporary Arabic culture, literature and art; new media and cyber culture; and digital humanities.