The Time is Out of Joint

Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE and Asia Culture Center – Theater, Korea present The Time is Out of Joint, an exhibition curated by Tarek Abou El Fetouh.

The Time is Out of Joint is on view at Sharjah Art Foundation, in Sharjah from March 12 through June 12, 2016 and will open at the Asia Culture Center, in Gwangju starting April 8, through April 17, 2016.

A continuation of the exhibition programme for Home Works 6, Beirut (2013), The Time is Out of Joint is inspired by Andalusian philosopher Ibn Arabi’s concept of time as a fluid place and place as a frozen time. The project challenges the constraints of time and place by suggesting leaps across temporal and geographic boundaries, deliberately confusing times, places, cities and artistic events that took place in the past or will take place in the future. It reenacts two pivotal exhibitions that took place during key transitional moments in history—the First Arab Art Biennale in Baghdad (1974) and the China/Avant-Garde exhibition in Beijing (1989)—and pre-enacts a future event—the “Equator Conference 2022” in Yogyakarta (2022).

Audiences are invited to engage with different platforms: an exhibition including video works, installations, photography and a series of performances; a reading room with a discursive programme; and a conference, “Equator Conference Yogyakarta 2022 - Held in Sharjah 2016,” which took place on March 14.

The Time is Out of Joint features work by: Zeinab Al Hashemi, Basma Alsharif, Hicham Benohoud, Ali Cherri, Venzha Christ, Cao Fei, Ho Tzu-Nyen, Hassan Khan, Meiro Koizumi, Park Chang–Kyong, Maha Maamoun, Basim Magdy, Seo Min Jeong, Radouan Mriziga, Joe Namy, Wang Ningde, Khalil Rabah, Kyohei Sakaguchi, Tita Salina, Wael Shawky, Konrad Smoleński, Song Ta, Jalal Toufic, Mark Teh, Aleksandra Waliszewska and Raed Yassin.

Four new commissions are presented as part of this project, by the artists Venzha Christ (Commissioned by SAF), Maha Maamoun (Commissioned by SAF and Asia Culture Center and co-produced by Academy of Arts of the World, Cologne) Kyohei Sakaguchi (Commissioned by SAF) and Raed Yassin (Commissioned by SAF and Asia Culture Center)

Another essential component of the project, The Time is Out of Joint Reading Room, conceptualised by Marwa Arsanios and Samer Frangie presents platforms for books that expand on the themes in the exhibition, in Sharjah and in Gwangju. In addition to books from across cultures, the project includes a programme of talks that started this week in Sharjah with Earth Democracy, a presentation and reading group session by Dr. Vandana Shiva, Founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in Navdanya, India. In Gwangju, a series of programmes involving a local reading group, activists, and academics will also be presented as part of The Time is Out of Joint Reading Room.

In Sharjah, an archive room hosts the special digital library in collaboration with Asia Art Archive (Hong Kong), which includes selections of archival material of the China/Avant-Garde exhibition and the Indonesia Visual Art Archive. Next to it is a station for the Modern Art Iraq Archive as well as an active digitising station to be used to collect data from the UAE, while enabling local researchers and thinkers to engage with the growing archive.

A two-volume publication co-edited by Ala Younis was developed as part of project. The first volume of The Time is Out of Joint features new text and images, while the second reproduces archival material and/or reflections on such material. More than fourty pieces were commissioned and republished by writers, artists and researchers, including Tarek Abou El Fetouh, Sohyun Ahn, John Akomfrah, Kwame Appiah, Jee-sook Beck, Judith Butler, Park Chan-kyong, Faisal Darraj, Nick Denes, Fan Di’an, Cevdet Erek, Hilmar Farid, Samer Frangie, Alexander Gall, Ho Tzu Nyen, Niu Kecheng, Chen Kezhi, Kristine Khouri, Chan Koonchung, Maha Maamoun, Toni Maraini, Mohamed Melehi, You Mi, Gao Minglu, Mostafa Nissabory, Otobong Nkanga, Nikos Papastergiadis, Ismail Shammout, Ships on Stamps, Koh Seung-wook, Vandana Shiva, Sohl Lee, Sung Wan-kyung, Ahdaf Soueif, Enin Supriyanto, Tang Qingnian, Jalal Toufic, Oraib Toukan, Daniella Trimboli, Haytham El Wardany, Li Xianting, Mao Xuhui, Zhou Yan, Jeon Yong-Seok and Anthony Yung.

For the complete list of events and information on The Time is Out of Joint, please visit sharjahart.org.

The Time Out of Joint is commissioned by Asia Culture Center – Theater and Sharjah Art Foundation and is supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Republic of Korea and Sharjah Department of Culture and Information. 

Media contacts:

Sharjah Art Foundation:
SAF: Alyazeyah Al Reyaysa: T +971 6 544 4113 ext. 25 / alyazeyah [​at​] sharjahart.org 
FITZ & CO: Katrina Weber Ashour: T +1 212 627 1455 ext. 1653 / kweber [​at​] fitzandco.com

Asia Culture Center – Theater
Sungho Park: T +82 62 601 4617 / international.aat [​at​] gmail.com