What are the ways through which cinema can seek the truth and respond to the times? In a world where evidence has ceased to matter, what is the role of the documentary?

To find out, listen to Amar Kanwar in conversation with SB15  curator Hoor Al Qasimi.

For SB15, Kanwar installed a seven-channel film installation called The Peacock’s Graveyard. The project turns to folklore and traditional forms of storytelling and comments on the current climate of totalitarianism and violence. 

Kanwar’s film is on view at till 11 June 2023.

Click here to view it online.

Press play to learn more about Kanwar’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 can artistic techniques capture invisible phenomena such as movement and magic? What are the ways in which can traditional practices be reinterpreted within contemporary art?

To find out, listen to Abdulrahim Salem in conversation with SB15  curator Hoor Al Qasimi.

At SB15, Salem presented a live painting performance called An Unknown Sailor set to a traditional Emirati sea shanty sung by singers who accompanied pearl divers. The work acknowledges how during the colonial period, the sea was also occupied, as trade routes and supply chains came under foreign control. The painting Salem made during the performance now is on view in Kalba.

Salem’s work is on view at till 11 June 2023.

Click here to view it online.

Press play to learn more about Salem’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 can the distortion of language resist oppressive power structures? In what ways can depicting the body reveal and defy social strictures?

To find out, listen to Mithu Sen in conversation with SB15  curator Hoor Al Qasimi.

At Sharjah, Sen installed a mixed-media installation called I am from there. I am from here (2023) at the Calligraphy Square.

The work takes the form of a poem, in a script that resembles Arabic calligraphic forms but is in fact entirely fictional. Made using a combination of synthetic hair as well as Sen’s own, the text also includes emojis - and seems to allude at once to the expectations, possibilities and limits of communication. 

Sen’s work is on view at till 11 June 2023.

Click here to view it online.

Press play to learn more about Sen’s practice, process and SB15 project as well as what makes her 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.