Posted 20 November, 2019

Against the backdrop of long-standing commercial and cross-cultural exchange between the two metropolitan centres of Karachi and Sharjah, Bani Abidi: Funland offers an opportunity to consider the enduring presence and promise of cosmopolitanism today.

The show is ongoing until the 12th of January 2020 at Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, Memorial to Lost Words, 2016. 8-channel sound installation; 25 marble slabs with text; wooden shelving; 12 minutes 7 seconds; 80 x 50 x 1.5 cm each; dimensions variable. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Commissioned by Edinburgh Art Festival 2016. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, ‘The Boy Who Got Tired of Posing’, 2006. 3 c-prints; 8 framed inkjet prints; 3 inket prints on diasec; single channel video; 103 x 78 cm each; 56 x 71 cm each; 28 x 44 cm each; looped. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, Karachi Series I, 2009. 6 duratrans light boxes; 50.8 x 76.2 cm each. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, Searching for stars amongst the crescents, 2015. 3-channel video; 10 minutes each (looped). Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, A Proposal for a Man in the Sea, 2012. 23 photographs; framed text; found frames; dimensions variable. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

- Adeela Suleman, Lotus Helmet, 2007. Aluminium cooking utensil, steel Tiffin box (hand painted), inside padded with foam and cloth; 58.4 x 25.4 x 27.9 cm. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Collection of Taimur Hassan. Courtesy of Taimur Hassan. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

- Adeela Suleman, Moor (Peacock), 2008. Funnel, motorcycle gear stick cover, local toaster, bicycle peacock ornament, powder coating and enamel paint, padded inside with foam and cloth; 35.5 x 22.8 x 22.8 cm. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Collection of Taimur Hassan. Courtesy of Taimur Hassan. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Left: Roohi Ahmed, Karachi I: Dekh Bhaal Kay Jaana, 1999. Colour pencils, inks, bitumen, paper and Xerox transfer on gypsum board; 70 x 52 cm. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Collection of Durriya Kazi. Courtesy of Durriya Kazi. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation Right: Roohi Ahmed, Karachi IV: Diya Jalae Rakhna, 1999. Colour pencils, inks, bitumen, paper and Xerox transfer on gypsum board; 70 x 52 cm. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Collection of Durriya Kazi. Courtesy of Durriya Kazi. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

- Durriya Kazi & David Alesworth with Shah Steel Works, Sarfaraz Electrician and Pervez Cinema Painter, Very Very Sweet Medina, 1999. Stainless steel, enamel on medium-density fibreboard, Perspex, lights, florescent stickers, sound sensor, sound recording, hub caps, aeriels, cloth, folders and paper Cabinet: 146 x 46 x 46 cm; painting: 183 x 183 cm. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Courtesy of Durriya Kazi. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, The News, 2001. 2-channel video; 4 minutes 24 seconds. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, various works. Mixed media installation; dimensions variable. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, Memorial to Lost Words (detail), 2016. 8-channel sound installation; 25 marble slabs with text; wooden shelving; 12 minutes 7 seconds; 80 x 50 x 1.5 cm each; dimensions variable. Commissioned by Edinburgh Art Festival 2016. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, Shan Pipe Band Learns The Star Spangled Banner, 2004. 2-channel video; 7 minutes 42 seconds. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, ‘Funland’ - Karachi Series II, 2014. 6-channel video installation; photo prints; duration variable; dimensions variable. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Commissioned by the 8th Berlin Biennale. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, various works. Watercolours on paper; dimensions variable. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, An Unforeseen Situation, 2015. Single-channel video; 6 minutes 52 seconds. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Commissioned by Dallas Contemporary. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, The Address, 2007. Photo prints; image on TV monitor; 76 x 101 cm each; overall dimensions variable. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, A Table Wide Country, 2012. Slides, text; collected objects; dimensions variable. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Huma Mulji, Memory of a Pink, 2012. Mixed media and enamel on canvas; 182.8 x 213.3 cm. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, Exercise in Redirecting Lines, 2010 – 2019. From ‘Section Yellow’. Floor drawing with chalk powder; dimensions Variable. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, The Lost Procession, 2019. Single-channel video; 17 minutes. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

: Bani Abidi, Death at a 30 Degree Angle, 2012. 2-channel video installation; 15 minutes; dimensions variable. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019. Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, I Love you, 2016. 10 flipbooks in wooden vitrine box; 33 x 20.3 x 5 cm. Installation view: Bani Abidi: Funland, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019 Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Bani Abidi, Security Barriers A – Z (Detail), 2008–2018. 26 inkjet prints; 28 x 44 cm each. Courtesy of the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

december, 2019

29augallday04janLawrence Abu Hamdan | Natq

19sepallday27decPaola Yacoub | Radical Grounds

27sepallday06janPicasso et la famille

Pablo Picasso, Mère et enfants jouant, Vallauris, 14 juin 1951. Huile sur panneau de contreplaqué, 73 x 91,5 cm. Musée national Picasso-Paris. Dation Jacqueline Picasso, 1990. MP1990-24. © RMN-Grand Palais © Succession Picasso 2019

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Event Details

This exhibition is organized with the exceptional support of the Musée national Picasso-Paris in the framework of “Picasso-Méditerranée,” and with the collaboration of the Lebanese Ministry of Culture.

With the generous contribution of Danièle Edgar de Picciotto and the support of Cyril Karaoglan.

Picasso et la famille explores Pablo Picasso’s (1881-1973) relationship to the notion of the family nucleus, encompassing everything from motherhood to children’s games, from the representation of conceptual intimacy to the numerous experiences of a fatherhood spent under the spotlight. Bringing together drawings, etchings, paintings, and sculptures, the exhibition spans seventy-seven years of creation, from 1895 to 1972, through a selection of works marking notable moments in the artist’s long emotional and family life, whose variety of forms illustrates the constant reinvention of his artistic vocabulary. For Picasso, the word “family” evokes, first and foremost, its Spanish meaning of a restricted, intimate and discreet circle, and a fertile source of inspiration for developing themes such as the love of femininity, the image of the couple, the mysteries of childhood, the simple pleasure of sharing, and the solemnity of private moments. Yet the family is also a means to explore even more universal themes such as the cruelty of war and the passing of time, and to reflect on the history of art and its motifs. Through this lens, theoeuvre of the Spanish master appears in a particular light, independent of periods and styles, rather evoking an immediacy of creation.

Picasso et la famille is curated by Camille Frasca and Yasmine Chemali.

Courtesy of Sursock Museum.