The Sharjah Art Foundation has announced the second season of Perform Sharjah, which invites the community to experience new performances across the city’s heritage houses and art spaces. The programme is set to begin on October 19, 2023, and run until February 11, 2024. Perform Sharjah’s second season features eight performances curated by Tarek Abou El Fetouh, the Director of Performance and Senior Curator, encompassing a diverse range of artistic disciplines.
The second season is a follow-up to the inaugural season and marks an extension of Sharjah’s urban development project initiated three decades ago. This project aimed to restore, rehabilitate, and rebuild the historical area of Sharjah, with art and culture at its core. As part of this initiative, various heritage houses and spaces were repurposed as venues for intellectual, artistic, and cultural activities, enriching the cultural landscape of the city.
The programme for the second season features performances that engage with transmitted heritage and modern archives from the past few decades. These performances delve into their role in the contemporary imagination and explore themes related to identity, cultural particulars, epistemology, and alternative histories.
The performances scheduled for the second season include:
- Metamorphosis #2 by Essia Jaïbi and Jalila Baccar (October 19–22, 2023, at Dar Al Nadwa, Calligraphy Square): In this performance, Essia Jaïbi revisits her childhood memories and subjects her mother, Jalila Baccar, to a confrontational dialogue locked in the glass-walled dressing room of an imagined theatre. The performance critically addresses Tunisia’s political, cultural, economic, environmental, and healthcare systems, as well as the rights of minorities and people with disabilities. It offers a platform for a masterclass by Jalila Baccar.
- The Return by Rayyane Tabet (Multiple dates in October, November, and February at The Flying Saucer): The Return traces the 50-year journey of a marble sculpture depicting a bull’s head, with evidence collected from interviews, inventory lists, photographs, and legal documents presented to the New York Supreme Court. The sculpture, eventually restituted to Lebanon, is now displayed at the National Museum in Beirut.
- Hunkaro by Mohit Takalkar (November 4 and 5, 2023, at Calligraphy Square): Hunkaro invites the audience to engage in active, participatory listening in a world often dominated by visual media. The performance interweaves three stories that emphasize the importance of hope and the spoken word in human trials and tribulations.
- Singing Youth by Judit Böröcz, Bence György Pálinkás, and Máté Szigeti (January 5 and 6, 2024, at Bait Al Serkal, Arts Square): Singing Youth is a performance that brings to life the larger-than-life memorial statue by Greek sculptor Memos Makris, known as Singing Youth. The performance explores the statue’s role as a witness to political upheaval, current affairs, and the use of arts and sports for political purposes.
- 4 by Tao Ye (January 7, 2024, at Sharjah Performing Arts Academy): Tao Ye’s performance titled 4 explores the potential of the human body beyond representational or narrative limitations. It features a quartet of fluid bodies in abstract choreography, expressing pure phenomenal movement and creating a trance-like experience.
- Perhaps all the dragons (January 13–February 4, 2024, at Bait Al Serkal, Arts Square): Perhaps All the Dragons presents stories narrated in filmed monologues that explore an eclectic range of themes. Spectators are seated at an oval table, each facing a single screen, and are presented with true stories in a deeply intimate setting, challenging the boundaries of belief.
- Libya by Radouan Mriziga (January 27, 2024, at Bait Obaid Al Shamsi, Arts Square): Libya is a choreographic collaboration between Radouan Mriziga and dancers that explores shared histories and epistemologies from an amazigh perspective. The performance incorporates North African music, dance, landscapes, and cave paintings, unveiling layers of meaning from an amazigh viewpoint.
- Perhaps Here (February 9–11, 2024, at Bait Al Serkal, Arts Square): Perhaps Here borrows its title from Khulood Al Mualla’s book of poetry, “Rubbama Huna,” and features a variety of live performances by artists from diverse disciplines. Over three days, theatre makers, contemporary dancers, installation and video artists, poets, and writers will present their works simultaneously in a marathon of artistic productions, offering audiences intellectual, emotional, and aesthetic experiences.
The performances will be complemented by workshops and talks, providing learning opportunities in theatre and performance through the engagement of participating artists with local partners and cultural practitioners.
All performances are free to attend, but booking in advance is required and can be done at the box office in Al Mureijah Square, performance venues, or on the website. Sharjah’s Perform Sharjah promises a season full of artistic exploration and engagement, inviting the public to experience and participate in a wide range of performances and discussions.
