Biennial Bytes

Natasha Ginwala and Tabu Osusa, Nairobi-based producer, composer and founder of Singing Wells, dive into the group’s decolonial mission to platform and preserve East African music. Committed to safeguarding cultural heritage and sound-based storytelling traditions, they travel to remote villages with a mobile recording studio. Their SB16 commission titled 'Sonic Inheritances' (2025) gives a glimpse into a vast archive of rare interviews and performance videos. Listen to an excerpt of the Benga song ‘Flora’ by the Sega Sega band and experience the sound of the nyatiti, an instrument from Western Kenya, in ‘Ukalo Matek’ by Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno. 

'Sonic Inheritances' is on view at Bait Al Serkal from 6 February until 15 June 2025. 

CREDITS 

Host: Natasha Ginwala 

 

Guest: Tabu Osusa 

 

Editorial and Content Strategy: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei

 

Podcast Producer: Kamayani Sharma

 

Sound Engineer: Basil Kisswani 

 

Shownotes: Rajwant Sandhu and Suguna Sridhar

 

Music and Sound: Excerpts from 'Flora' by the Sega Sega band and 'Ukalo Matek' by Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno 

 

Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Jiwon Lee, Amal Al Ali and Osemudiamen Ekore 

 

© Sharjah Art Foundation, 2025 

 

This episode was recorded on 19 November 2024.

Sonic Inheritances is commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation and Bergen Assembly.

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Megan Tamati-Quennell and artist Yhonnie Scarce shed light on the historical context of nuclear testing on Aboriginal lands in Australia. Her installation 'Orford Ness' (2022) comprises 1000 hand-blown glass yams, which are the food of Scarce’s people. Commissioned for SB16, 'Operation Buffalo '(2024) similarly probes into untold narratives surrounding nuclear testing. Their discussion draws parallels between the desert landscapes of Sharjah and Australia. Tune in to engage with the artist’s sense of materiality and reflections on Country, fragility, resilience and collective memory. 

'Orford Ness' is on view at Kalba Ice Factory and 'Operation Buffalo' is on view at Al Hamriyah Studios from 6 February until 15 June 2025. 

CREDITS 

Host: Megan Tamati-Quennell 

 

Guest: Yhonnie Scarce 

 

Editorial and Content Strategy: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei

 

Podcast Producer: Kamayani Sharma

 

Sound Engineer: Basil Kisswani 

 

Shownotes: Rajwant Sandhu and Suguna Sridhar

 

 

Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Jiwon Lee, Amal Alkhaja and Reem Sawan

 

© Sharjah Art Foundation, 2025 

 

This episode was recorded on 29 October 2024.

 

 

 

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Zeynep Öz speaks with artist, composer and educator Joe Namy about his sound installations that use samples from loud sound systems in cars, glitchy computer-generated noises and sounds converted from the molecular data of plants. His work for SB16 titled 'Dub Plants' (2024-2025) is inspired by Egyptian-American agricultural engineer and pioneer of electronic music, Halim El Dabh. Discover his unique process that blends radio culture and experimental agricultural practices, allowing the grit, uncertainty and chance in nature, urban and public spaces to infiltrate his works.

'Dub Plants' is on view at Al Dhaid from 6 February until 15 June 2025.

 

CREDITS 

 

Host: Zeynep Öz 

 

Guest: Joe Namy 

 

Editorial and Content Strategy: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei

 

Podcast Producer: Kamayani Sharma

 

Sound Engineer: Basil Kisswani 

 

Shownotes: Rajwant Sandhu and Suguna Sridhar

 

Music and Sound: 

Music and Sound: Excerpt from ‘Ta’abir al-Zar’ (1944) by Halim El-Dabh and field recordings by Joe Namy (2024–2025)

 

Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Jiwon Lee, May Rashid and Meera Madhu 

 

© Sharjah Art Foundation, 2025 

 

This episode was recorded on 15 October 2024.

'Dub Plants' is commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation with Busan Biennale Organising Committee.

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Amal Khalaf speaks with artist and sound researcher Bint Mbareh about her work around songs of resistance in relation to land and water sovereignty in Palestine. Learn more about Bint Mbareh’s SB16 project, 'What’s Left?' (2025), where she works with a choir in Sharjah on songs of revolution and collective action.  Recalling practices such as throwing shells and rain summoning, they discuss their mutual awe of water bodies as sites of resistance and ancestry. Tune in to hear a deeply personal rendition of the revolutionary song 'Saat el Tahrir Dakkat' (1974).

'What’s Left' is on view at Al Qasimiyah School from 6 February to 15 June 2025. 

 

CREDITS 

 

Host: Amal Khalaf 

 

Guest: Bint Mbareh 

 

Editorial and Content Strategy: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei

 

Podcast Producer: Kamayani Sharma

 

Sound Engineer: Basil Kisswani 

 

Shownotes: Rajwant Sandhu and Suguna Sridhar

 

Music and Sound: 'Saat el Tahrir Dakkat' (1974), sung by Bint Mbareh and Zeina Amro.

 

Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Jiwon Lee, Abdulla Aljanahi and Raja’a Khalid 

 

© Sharjah Art Foundation, 2025 

 

This episode was recorded on 8 October 2024.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Biennial Bytes Season 2 kicks off with a roundtable between the five curators of Sharjah Biennial 16: Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala and Zeynep Öz. During the conversation, moderated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, the curators discuss their individual projects and the synergies between their distinct curatorial approaches to the Biennial, expressed in the title “to carry”. They also speak about the diverse forms in which viewers can expect to experience the art at SB16 and how a Biennial can be a space of encounter and collective processing.

Sharjah Biennial 16 runs from 6 February to 15 June 2025, across venues in Sharjah City, Al Hamriyah, Al Dhaid, Kalba and other locations in the Emirate of Sharjah. 

CREDITS

 

Host: Hoor Al Qasimi 

 

Guests: Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala and Zeynep Öz

 

Editorial and Content Strategy: Jyoti Dhar, Kamayani Sharma and Mahshid Rafiei

 

Podcast Producer: Kamayani Sharma

 

Sound Engineer: Basil Kisswani 

 

Shownotes: Rajwant Sandhu and Suguna Sridhar

 

Special Thanks: Nawar Al Qassimi, Jiwon Lee, Amal Al Ali, Abdulla Aljanahi, Sara Al Mheiri, May Alqaydi, Osemudiamen Ekore, Raja’a Khalid, Meera Madhu and Khalid Mohammed

 

© Sharjah Art Foundation, 2025 

 

This episode was recorded in three parts—with Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell and Natasha Ginwala on 4 September 2024, Alia Swastika on 10 October 2024 and Zeynep Öz on 12 November 2024. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does it mean to carry? What does it entail to carry a home, ancestors and political formations with you? How do themes of care, grief, history and memory speak to the times we live in? 

Find out on Biennial Bytes, the official podcast of Sharjah Biennial 16, titled "to carry".

Join the five curators of SB16 as they speak to artists about their practice and projects here at SB16, on view from 6 Feb to 15 Jun 2025.

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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.

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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.

How can gardens become spaces for healing and community? Can plantations become sites for challenging exploitation and the vestiges of colonialism? 

To find out, listen to Annalee Davis in conversation with SB15 curator Hoor Al Qasimi.
 
At Sharjah, Davis grew a medicinal garden made using plants, herbal knowledge and gardening practices from around the world. The work, called Pray to Flowers — A Plot of Disalienation (2023) and made in collaboration with artist and gardener Yoeri Guépin, critiques colonial cultivation as well as the misuse of land due to globalisation.

Davis’ work is on view at Bait Al Hurma courtyard in Al Mureijah Square till 11 June 2023.
Click here to view it online.

Press play to learn more about Davis’ 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.