Biennial Bytes

Kapulani Landgraf is a Kānaka Maoli artist from Pūʻahuʻula, Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu. In this episode, she speaks about the responsibility to engage in creative forms of resistance against the destruction and erosion of the ‘āina’—which encompasses her peoples’ land and its living entities, spiritual world, oral and written traditions, ancestry and future. 

She talks to Megan Tamati-Quennell about embracing the ...

In a wide-ranging conversation with Zeynep Öz, artist Mahmoud Khaled reflects on artistic solitude, futurity and ceremonies that accompany the unveiling of mega architectural projects. Khaled discusses the conceptual origins of his Sharjah Biennial 16 commission: 'Pool of Perspectives – 2030’ (2025), which was drawn from a nineteenth century ‘orientalist’ painting, modern poetry and classical Portuguese...

Amal Khalaf and Adelita Husni-Bey discuss climate crisis, critical pedagogy and what it means to learn with one’s body. Together they reflect on Husni-Bey's SB16 projects—the film installation ‘Like A Flood’ (2025) and the sculptures ‘Hunger Stones’ (2025). The artist and educator shares insights on working through colonial archives, radical theatre and poetry workshops, as well as addressing the...

Artist Pratchaya Phinthong speaks to Alia Swastika about his interest in mitigating the impact of the global climate crisis and the generative possibilities of research-based, contextual practice. Tune in to hear more about his collaborative project ‘We are lived by powers we pretend to understand’ (2024), commissioned for Sharjah Biennial 16 which included hand-carved granite stones bearing the patterns of solar p...

Natasha Ginwala speaks with filmmaker Naeem Mohaiemen about themes such as death, displacement and cinematic time.  Mohaiemen discusses his multilayered practice across photography, drawing and essays intertwining historical archives, political and personal stories spanning multiple geographies, from Bangladesh to Libya and Greece. In particular, he recalls a Bengali phrase by Nirmal Sen that translates to ‘we want the guaran...

Megan Tamati-Quennell speaks with Māori artist Ana Iti about the environments, sites and structures—such as Hokianga, the artist’s tribal landscape—evoked in her sonic and sculptural installations. Text and language run through her practice, including her Sharjah Biennial 16 commission ‘A hybrid made of both’ (2025), an installation that explores the historical and technological transition of te reo Mā...

Zeynep Öz, along with artist, educator and weaver Hellen Ascoli, delves into the textile traditions of Guatemala. They discuss Ascoli’s contributions to SB16 — a combination of collage, writing and weaving for the YAZ publication series, as well as a commissioned site-specific work using brick moulds, called 'The World Upside Down' (2024). Ascoli’s work with the backstrap loom, along with her translation prac...

Amal Khalaf and Stephanie Comilang discuss her SB16 film installation 'Search for Life II', investigating socio-cultural and technological influences on migration, labour and ideas of belonging. Working in a genre she refers to as science fiction documentary, Comilang layers places and timelines, alongside human and non-human characters such as seafarers and monarch butterflies, to tell multifaceted migration stories. Their convers...

Alia Swastika and Citra Sasmita talk about her collaboration with Kamasan maestra Mangku Muriati for their SB16 project 'Timur Merah Project XV: Poetry of the Sea,Vow of the Sun' (2024), unravelling female figures and narratives in Balinese history and mythology. They reinterpret the historical form of Kamasan painting through a feminist perspective, dismantling binaries such as traditional ritual...

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...

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 lands...

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 &ldquo...

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...

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 ...

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.

See omnys...

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 t...

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. T...

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 f...

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) ...