Exploring Scarcity in Global South: Sharjah Architecture Triennial 2023 Announces Full List of Participants

Written by Nour Fakharany
Published on June 30, 2023

A group of 31 architects, studios, and designers have been invited to participate in the Sharjah Architecture Triennial from 11 November to 10 March 2024. For its second edition, the Triennial aims to explore innovative design solutions emerging from conditions of scarcity in the Global South. The participants, representing 27 countries, offer a diverse and international response to the theme, addressing its implications for the future of architecture. The Triennial is curated by Tosin Oshinowo and revolves around the theme "The Beauty of Impermanence: An Architecture of Adaptability."

+ 2

In response from the Sharjah perspective, RUÍNA intends to restore a view of the city that recent construction has obscured. The relationship between construction and demolition will be highlighted through their project's use of architectural components related to the building process. Similarly, Olalekan Jeyifous will reimagine the effects of oil discovery and the emirate's subsequent development boom in order to investigate Sharjah's evolving national identity. Natura Futura will present community-based design solutions, showcasing a floating housing community project in Ecuador's Babahoyo River that was built during the planning and production of the Triennial. Meanwhile, the Hunnarshala Foundation, with Aabhat, Aina, and Sankalan, he Hunnarshala Foundation will showcase the work of their non-profit organization based in Bhuj, Gujarat, which focuses on sustainable habitats and empowers regional people and craftsmen.

Several projects will investigate how resource sharing, water reuse, and material recycling might offer contextual and creative answers to shortages. By demonstrating this abundant building material's ecological and aesthetically pleasing properties, Hive Earth Studio will dispel the myth that building with Earth has limitations. Sumaya Dabbagh will use a mud installation representing the cycle of life and death, growth and decay, to investigate the connection between memory and materiality. Thomas Egoumenides will build architectural settings that whimsically and artistically attack the culture of waste using ignored and abandoned materials. In addition to discussing the effects of used clothing on Uganda's textile sector, BUZIGAHILL will highlight Sharjah's position in the worldwide supply chain.

First Participants Announced for 2023 Sharjah Architecture Triennial

In light of the theme's political implications, Formafantasma will screen three films examining the relationship between industry, governmental regulations, and environmental damage. Additionally, Adrian Pepe, a fiber artist, will study the beginnings and evolution of shelter by contrasting modernity and tradition, providing insights into the historical and present narratives that emerge when industrial capitalism and nomadic independence are combined. In response to the growing climate crisis, Asif Khan will showcase a new version of their short film 'Kalpa,' visually depicting the consequences of extraction on the planet. Henry Glogau & Aleksander Kongshaug will address global desalination and air purification concerns, creating learning and gathering spaces promoting climate-conscious practices.

In order to reclaim the intimacy and knowledge lost in modern production methods, Abeer Seikaly will combine contemporary design methodologies with Bedouin tent-making traditions. She will also investigate how mechanization and advancement have affected ancient practices and aesthetics. The Art and Culture Development Foundation of the Republic of Uzbekistan (ACDF) will explore the architectural history of Tashkent's multiethnic typology, reinterpreting modernism as a varied and universally relevant movement rather than a static one.