April Diary: New Formations in Our Journeys" Launching on April 18
April 10, 2025, 10:48 am

مفكّرة أبريل

The Sharjah Art Foundation, as part of the Sharjah Biennial 16, is organizing a new program titled "April Diary: New Formations in Our Journeys," taking place from April 18 to 20, 2025, across the biennial locations in Sharjah.

The program presents a variety of events and discussion sessions that explore multiple perspectives and community participatory experiences on how to reimagine or investigate our current situations from a critical standpoint, in order to build and embody new approaches to resistance, exchange, community networks, systems, and structures that enhance life. It seeks to explore this through shared ideas and practices that combine dialogues, performance presentations, cultural expression, and community activism.

April Diary 2025 aligns with the works featured in the biennial to highlight independent and collective dialogues around systemic transformation, social changes, fragmented and reclaimed histories, forms of collective organization, leadership (including community leadership), and ancestral knowledge in its new guise. The program delves into cooperative cultural production, auditory heritage, threatened creative infrastructures, and the spatial and psychological boundaries limiting the movement of people and ideas, encouraging new and experimental methodologies, self-organization, deep reflection, and listening, while also leveraging Sharjah's proximity to the sea to enhance discussions about belonging, mobility, and maritime navigation.

Events will include guided tours, a listening session with Singing Wheels, risograph printing workshops, self-publishing workshops using various printing techniques such as risography, including a workshop led by Bomika Saraswati and Sidhesh Gautam (founders of "All That Blue" magazine), and discussion sessions with artists like Bryan Martin, Youni Scarsi, and Megan Tamati-Quennell, as well as a screening of the film "The First Horse" (2024) by Owain Simich-Bin. Bashak Gunak, Berke Can Ozkan, Sandy Shamoun, and Haubtmeier Ricker will collaborate on a performance inspired by their audio installation featured in the biennial, while Kolika Potuma will present a performance titled "Water (Re)" and a series of performances based on the work "He Koru Pōrakau mo te Oanowi o te Motu: A New Zealand River Story" (2011) featured in the Sharjah Biennial 16, which is a massive piano entirely carved in the style of Steinway by Maori artist Michael Parekowhai. Additionally, a reflective workshop for invited guests will focus on the spirit of the biennial, creating space for collective reasoning, giving us the opportunity to contemplate what we inherit, what we carry, and what we must reimagine in order to foster new formations of support, resistance, and continuity.

The April Diary 2025 events serve as a primary extension of Sharjah Biennial 16, which presents over 650 artworks from nearly 200 participating artists, including 200 new commissions. The Sharjah Biennial 16, titled "Our Journeys," is curated by Aliya Souvastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Gienwala, and Zainab Oz. It represents a multi-voiced proposal to explore the ever-growing questions surrounding what we carry and how we carry it, serving as a call to confront the diverse formations and positions of the five curators and review the echoes and impact of the biennial.

Participants in this program include:
Akinbode Akinbiyi, Akram Zaatari, Al Maxwain, Albert L. Riveiti, Aliya Souvastika, Amal Khalaf, Andrew G. Eisenberg, Avni Sethi, Bashak Gunak, Berke Can Ozkan, Bettina Nguyeño, Bomika Saraswati, Bint Mbarak, Bryan Martin, Caroline Coriu, Claudia Martinez Garay, Cristiana Bonin, Daniela Castro, Dawn Chan, E. N. Merimbe, Ingxing Ho, Fatma Balqis, Jorge Jose, Georgina Velasco (voices of domestic workers), Geeta Rani, Grace Hussain Krima, Haubtmeier Ricker, Shou Fang-Zi, John Klang, Jo Lin Ong, Kolika Potuma, Leah Ndahani Zawosi, Liam Wooding, Mahmoud Khalid, Marigold Kuimooi Palkuin (voices of domestic workers), Mariam M. Al-Naimi, Mai Adadol Ingwangi, Mir Boynton, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Gienwala, "Sudan One Voice Solidarity," Raefat Majdoub, Reproction & Distribution Network, Rosie Olang Odhiambo, the Tehanaana Co. Group, Sandy Shamoun, Sarathi Korwar, Seema Alavi, Sidhesh Gautam, Sofia Tintori, Tabo Os

Lams Shamsiya Barcelona Moves Closer to the Semifinals After Big Victory Over Borussia Dortmund

BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has announced its sponsorship of the “Innovation and Sustainable Technology Solutions Competition (GU - IST Solutions), hosted by Gulf University at its main campus.
This strategic sponsorship reflects BENEFIT’s active role in advancing technological innovation and fostering sustainable solutions to future challenges. It also seeks to empower Bahraini youth by enhancing their skills, capabilities, and competitiveness in innovation and solution development—contributing meaningfully to the broader goals of sustainable development across all sectors.
As part of BENEFIT’s active involvement in the competition, the company has announced that Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager of Public Relations and Communication, will serve on the competition’s supervisory committee. Her upcoming participation reflects BENEFIT’s forward-looking commitment to championing academic and professional excellence.
Commenting on the occasion, Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager of Public Relations and Communication at BENEFIT, said, “We are privileged to support this pioneering initiative, which aligns seamlessly with BENEFIT’s enduring commitment to fostering innovation and nurturing the potential of Bahrain’s youth. Our participation is rooted in a deep sense of social responsibility and a firm belief in the pivotal role of innovation in shaping a sustainable future. Through such platforms, we seek to empower the next generation with the knowledge, skills, and foresight required to develop impactful solutions that address future challenges, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030.”
Dr. Aseel Al Ayash Dean of the College of Engineering in Gulf University commented, “We extend our sincere gratitude to BENEFIT for their generous sponsorship and support of the Innovation and Sustainable Technology Solutions Competition. This contribution plays an instrumental role in helping us achieve the strategic goals of this initiative, namely, cultivating a culture of innovation and sustainability, encouraging efforts that address the imperatives of sustainable development, and enhancing the practical and professional capabilities of our students and participants.”
The event will bring together a diverse spectrum of participants, including secondary school students, university undergraduates, engineers, industry professionals, entrepreneurs, academic researchers, and subject matter experts representing a wide range of disciplines.
The competition seeks to inspire participants to develop and present innovative, sustainable technologies aimed at addressing pressing environmental, social, and economic challenges. It encourages the formulation of business models that integrate advanced technological solutions with core principles of sustainability. Moreover, it serves as a platform for emerging leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators to contribute to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals, promote the ethos of responsible technology, and demonstrate its transformative potential across various sectors.
Attendees will have the opportunity to view a series of project presentations submitted by participants, covering diverse areas such as eco-friendly product design, smart and sustainable innovations, renewable energy technologies, water conservation and management, waste minimisation and recycling, green architectural solutions, and sustainable transportation systems. Outstanding projects will be formally recognised and awarded at the conclusion of the event.