April Diary: New Formations in Our Journeys" Launching on April 18
April 10, 2025, 10:48 am

مفكّرة أبريل

The Sharjah Art Foundation, as part of the Sharjah Biennial 16, is organizing a new program titled "April Diary: New Formations in Our Journeys," taking place from April 18 to 20, 2025, across the biennial locations in Sharjah.

The program presents a variety of events and discussion sessions that explore multiple perspectives and community participatory experiences on how to reimagine or investigate our current situations from a critical standpoint, in order to build and embody new approaches to resistance, exchange, community networks, systems, and structures that enhance life. It seeks to explore this through shared ideas and practices that combine dialogues, performance presentations, cultural expression, and community activism.

April Diary 2025 aligns with the works featured in the biennial to highlight independent and collective dialogues around systemic transformation, social changes, fragmented and reclaimed histories, forms of collective organization, leadership (including community leadership), and ancestral knowledge in its new guise. The program delves into cooperative cultural production, auditory heritage, threatened creative infrastructures, and the spatial and psychological boundaries limiting the movement of people and ideas, encouraging new and experimental methodologies, self-organization, deep reflection, and listening, while also leveraging Sharjah's proximity to the sea to enhance discussions about belonging, mobility, and maritime navigation.

Events will include guided tours, a listening session with Singing Wheels, risograph printing workshops, self-publishing workshops using various printing techniques such as risography, including a workshop led by Bomika Saraswati and Sidhesh Gautam (founders of "All That Blue" magazine), and discussion sessions with artists like Bryan Martin, Youni Scarsi, and Megan Tamati-Quennell, as well as a screening of the film "The First Horse" (2024) by Owain Simich-Bin. Bashak Gunak, Berke Can Ozkan, Sandy Shamoun, and Haubtmeier Ricker will collaborate on a performance inspired by their audio installation featured in the biennial, while Kolika Potuma will present a performance titled "Water (Re)" and a series of performances based on the work "He Koru Pōrakau mo te Oanowi o te Motu: A New Zealand River Story" (2011) featured in the Sharjah Biennial 16, which is a massive piano entirely carved in the style of Steinway by Maori artist Michael Parekowhai. Additionally, a reflective workshop for invited guests will focus on the spirit of the biennial, creating space for collective reasoning, giving us the opportunity to contemplate what we inherit, what we carry, and what we must reimagine in order to foster new formations of support, resistance, and continuity.

The April Diary 2025 events serve as a primary extension of Sharjah Biennial 16, which presents over 650 artworks from nearly 200 participating artists, including 200 new commissions. The Sharjah Biennial 16, titled "Our Journeys," is curated by Aliya Souvastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Gienwala, and Zainab Oz. It represents a multi-voiced proposal to explore the ever-growing questions surrounding what we carry and how we carry it, serving as a call to confront the diverse formations and positions of the five curators and review the echoes and impact of the biennial.

Participants in this program include:
Akinbode Akinbiyi, Akram Zaatari, Al Maxwain, Albert L. Riveiti, Aliya Souvastika, Amal Khalaf, Andrew G. Eisenberg, Avni Sethi, Bashak Gunak, Berke Can Ozkan, Bettina Nguyeño, Bomika Saraswati, Bint Mbarak, Bryan Martin, Caroline Coriu, Claudia Martinez Garay, Cristiana Bonin, Daniela Castro, Dawn Chan, E. N. Merimbe, Ingxing Ho, Fatma Balqis, Jorge Jose, Georgina Velasco (voices of domestic workers), Geeta Rani, Grace Hussain Krima, Haubtmeier Ricker, Shou Fang-Zi, John Klang, Jo Lin Ong, Kolika Potuma, Leah Ndahani Zawosi, Liam Wooding, Mahmoud Khalid, Marigold Kuimooi Palkuin (voices of domestic workers), Mariam M. Al-Naimi, Mai Adadol Ingwangi, Mir Boynton, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Gienwala, "Sudan One Voice Solidarity," Raefat Majdoub, Reproction & Distribution Network, Rosie Olang Odhiambo, the Tehanaana Co. Group, Sandy Shamoun, Sarathi Korwar, Seema Alavi, Sidhesh Gautam, Sofia Tintori, Tabo Os

Lams Shamsiya Barcelona Moves Closer to the Semifinals After Big Victory Over Borussia Dortmund

BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”