@ sharjah soon

Sharjah Hosts 3rd Edition of the March Meeting
13 - 15 March 2010

Sharjah, UAE
http://www.sharjahart.org

The Sharjah Art Foundation, in collaboration with ArteEast, presents the third edition of the March Meeting, an annual gathering of art professionals and institutions from the Arab world and beyond, from 13-15 March 2010. Nearly 50 art institutions based or active in the Middle East, North Africa and the region, as well as artists and independent curators will take part in the 3-day programme. The symposium will feature presentations by key speakers, colloquia, seminars and public talks. Since 2008, the March Meeting has provided a unique platform for institutions and individuals to present current and future projects, to network and seek out collaboration opportunities.

This year's edition takes a new and somewhat more experimental format. The emphasis over the last few years has been to bring practitioners in the Arab World together, with a view to encouraging greater connectivity, synergy and linking; this year's event seeks to anchor the growing web of relations to create more solid networks for partnership and collaboration. The programme for the March Meeting 2010 will allow participants to present projects, ideas, dilemmas and plans, with a view to developing a strong foundation for future collaborative ventures as well as mapping the cultural calendar for the coming years.

The programme will feature a series of public talks by distinguished speakers, including the Moroccan scholar, art critic and author Abdelfattah Kilito and internationally celebrated curator and art critic Okwui Enwezor. For the first time this year, "Dardashat" - informal project discussions - will run alongside more formal presentations by institutions and art professionals. In addition, a newly commissioned film about the Sharjah Biennial 9, which traces a visual itinerary through the various projects, installations and activities of the past edition of the Biennial, will be screened during the opening. The main venue for this year's event is the Al Qasba, Sharjah, which encompasses both the Multaqa, a conference venue, as well as Shelter Maraya, a meeting point for creatives across all disciplines.

To coincide with the March Meeting, the Sharjah Art Foundation, in collaboration with the Sharjah Art Museum and the Directorate of Arts, Sharjah Department of Culture and Information, will be hosting a retrospective of acclaimed artist Tarek Al-Ghoussein, featuring both well-known works as well as a new photographic series.

Programme Participants
Day 1, Saturday 13 March

Institutions
Desire Machine Collective, Mriganka Madhukaillya (India)
Khoj Workshop, Swapna Tamhane (India)
Medrar for Contemporary Art, Mohamed Allam (Egypt)
artellewa, Hamdi Reda (Egypt)
Theatre Painted Bird [Tiyatro Boyalı Kuş], Rustem Ertug Alinay (Turkey)
Contemporary Image Collective (CIC), Mia Jankowiczbot (Egypt)
BotTala, Saleque Khanhou (Bangladesh)

Artists & Curators
Khaled Hourani, Picasso in Palestine
Ebtisam Abdulaziz, Mapping Art
Tarek Atoui, Arab Platform for Art and Technology (APAT)
Jananne Al-Ani, The Aesthetics of Disappearance: A Land Without People

Day 2, Sunday 14 March
Institutions
Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Antawan I. Byrd (Nigeria)
Maqamat Theatre Dance, Omar Rajeh (Lebanon)
Dutch Art Institute ArtEZ Masters Programme, Gabriëlle Schleijpen (The Netherlands)
Al Ma'mal Foundation for Contemporary Art (Palestine)
Al Riwaq Art Space, Maha Al Sahaf (Bahrein)
Tashkeel, Jill Hoyle (UAE)
The International Academy of Art, Palestine, Tina Sherwell (Palestine)

Artists & Curators
Jumana Emil Abboud, The Invisible Still Sees Itself Passing
Basma Al-Sharif, Milk and Honey
Hrayr Eulmessekian, Blind Dates
Toleen Touq, Towards Analysis, An Educational Workshop Series
Shahram Karimi, 1-remembrance 2-look
Reem Khatib, Jadal

Day 3, Monday 15 March
Institutions
98weeks, Mirene Arsanios and Marwa Arsanios (Lebanon)
Iraqi Arts Project, Rijin Sahakian (Iraq)
Townhouse Gallery, Laura Carderera, ArAbArch (Egypt)
Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute (CAMCSI), Nada Shabout (USA)
Darat al Funun – The Khalid Shoman Foundation, Ala' Younis, (Jordan)
Jadmur Collective, Ghassan Maasri (Lebanon)
Zico House, Rola Kobeissi (Lebanon)
Delfina Foundation, Aaron Cezar (United Kingdom)
ArtSchool Palestine, Samar Martha (Palestine)
Arabic Arts Center-Directorate of Arts-Department of Culture & Information, Talal Jaodat Moualla (UAE)

Artists & Curators
Sarah Rifky, Diary of a Bad Year
Sulayman Al-Bassam, Speaker's Progress
Ovul Durmusoglu, Another Country
Alia Rayyan Following Karimeh
Bouchra Khalili, The Cartographer
Rana ElNemr, Giza Series
Jeannette Gaussi and Youmna Chlala, Home Sweet Home
Yasmina Reggad, Photo-Festivals
Adel Abidin, Memorial

For further information and programme details, please visit our website: http://www.sharjahart.org/