Hope, the magical wold which makes us all go round and round till we read there. It is to see the fine ray of light even in darkness.
“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us. And the world will live as one.”
John Lennon
Sheikha Hoor bint Sultan Al Qasimi and her Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) does fantastic broad range of contemporary art and cultural programmes to the communities of Sharjah and UAE in general. If you are visiting UAE, please make time to head down to SAF buildings in Sharjah to see their current installations.
Back in 1978, a new ‘shopping complex’ opened up in Sharjah in the shape of a flying saucer. The premises had a restaurant with a drugstore, pharmacy, newsagent, tobacconist, gift shop, patisserie and delicatessen together in a one-stop-shop.
For a relatively young country, Sharjah, whose history dates back to 60s and 70s, this is an important building. It was Sheikha Hoor’s decision to renovate and convert it into a temperary exhibition space for exhibits showcased as part of the UAE pavilion at the 56th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale 2015.
The exhibition had a diverse collection of artworks from to different era. A brief look into the history of the artist community in Sharjah and UAE. Once could see selected work of Emirati artists, namely: Ahmed Al Ansari, Mousa Al Halyan, Abdul Qadel Al Rayyis, Abdullah Al Saadi, Mohammed Al Qassab, Mohammed Abdullah Bou Lehya, Salem Johar, Abdul Rahman Zeinel, Abdul Raheem Salem, Obaid Suroor, Hassan Sharif, Mohammed Kadhem, Dr. Najat Makki and Dr. Mohammed Yousef.
It also had one of the oldest painting made in this region back in 1968, “Al Fareej” by artist Ahmed Al Ansari, and he used wood and oil colors, while the second painting, “Al Intithar” (Waiting) by artist Abdul Qader Al Rayyis, who used oil colors on canvas.
Unfortunately the exhibition got over on 14th of May 2016 and I could only find time to post this now.
The space inside with its very high dome ceiling, exposed concrete along with the dominating column does give the feeling of a futuristic space. Unfortunately no one seems to know who the architect for this building was.
The interiors space transforms into a stage where the dominating cloums and sunlight playes hide and seek. This made me think of Louis Kahn’s famous quote “The Sun does not realise how wonderful it is until after a room is made.”
“I sense Light as the giver of all presences, and material as spent Light. What is made by Light casts a shadow, and the shadow belongs to Light.” Louis Kahn
The Museum für Moderne Kunst (English: Museum of Modern Art), or short MMK, popular known as the ‘piece of cake’ in Frankfurt, Germany. This was founded in 1981 and designed by the . The museum was designed Viennese architect Hans Hollein.
Hollein molded a building to the three-sided space, so that the large rooms at the narrow end are wedge-shaped, producing 4,000 square meters (43,000 square feet) of exhibition space.
Hollein was born in Vienna, and graduated in 1956 from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where he studied in the master class of Clemens Holzmeister. During 1959 he attended the Illinois Institute of Technology and then in 1960, the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed his Master of Architecture degree. During these years he met Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra. Afterwards, he worked for various architectural firms in Sweden and the United States before returning to Vienna, founding his own office in 1964.
Very minimalistic design with strong presence column and light slicing through the triangular structure. That is the kind of feeling one gets when you are in the building. This was the essence I wanted to capture in my images. This was also the reason the whole series was documented in B&W.
Even if your interest is in art, you can’t fail to notice the strong presence of the space Hans created there.
Critics are welcome.
Art installation in Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF)
A clean backboard, few pieces of white, colored chalk, arty crowd in Dubai can produce a result like this. Yes, it also had a title on top which said – “What Dubai Inspire you to…”
This was part of the art day organized by Alserkal Avenue
Sharjah Art Foundation recently commissioned series of art spaces as part of the Sharjah Biennial which is in its 11th edition. These gallery space is in a way a modern interpretation of the architectural language in Sharjah. The first frame, I have documented the typical view one can expect there and in the second frame, its relationship with the new gallery space.
