ABOUT SHARJAH ARCHITECTURE TRIENNIAL
Sharjah Architecture Triennial (SAT) is a platform for architecture and urbanism in a region that extends from West Asia to South Asia and the African continent. Physically anchored in Sharjah and the United Arab Emirates, SAT aims to engage diverse audiences and stakeholders in a collective conversation on architecture at the neighbourhood, city, and regional levels. Led by a guest curator selected by Sharjah Architecture Triennial, each edition runs for four months every three years. Local, regional, and international architects and researchers are invited to participate in an exciting calendar of exhibitions, conferences, and publications. The Triennial editions seek to highlight topical aspects of architecture and urbanism that have local relevance and to engage Sharjah's existing built environment and social fabric.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Sharjah Architecture Triennial 2023 curator Tosin Oshinowo is inviting practitioners from around the globe to submit proposals for the exhibition design of the second edition of Sharjah Architecture Triennial. The curatorial title and theme The Beauty of Impermanence: An Architecture of Adaptability reflects on how issues of scarcity present in the Global South have created an enterprising culture of re-use, re-appropriation, innovation, collaboration and adaptation. This edition will explore design solutions that illuminate a pathway towards reorienting our conversation on sustainability and prioritise contextual solutions, resource sharing, and waste reuse. Exhibited work will highlight an understanding of circularity that has been with us for generations, and embrace the idea that everything is impermanent and subject to evolution and repair.
SAT02 VENUES
Sharjah Architecture Triennial second edition (SAT02) will mainly occupy two repurposed historical buildings in Sharjah, in an effort to preserve the modern heritage of Sharjah, and celebrate the merit of adaptive reuse of existing buildings.
- The first venue is a renovated abandoned school, tucked in Al Manakh neighbourhood of Sharjah and designed by a regional firm Khatib and Alami. It serves as the headquarters of Sharjah Architecture Triennial, housing the Triennial offices and the institution’s main exhibition spaces, with a lecture hall, library, workshop, multi-purpose room, design shop and cafe. The institution's programming extends to the building’s six courtyards of various scales and to the open site to the back of the school.
- The second venue is a disaffected old vegetable market that is closer to the city creek within a nodal transportation and food market urban fragment. It is a more visible venue characterised by a covered curved arcade flanked by shops on each side. Designed by the British engineering consultancy Halcrow Group - a firm that has played a significant role in the development of the region’s civil infrastructure - it was part of the city’s old Jubail Souk complex.
- SAT02 will also extend to the city at large with a couple of projected site specific installations that will engage with aspects of the social and urban fabric of neighbourhoods that are adjacent to the two venues described above.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
We are seeking an exhibition designer who is adaptable, dynamic, and forward-thinking, with the below criteria taking precedence:
- Experience in large-scale exhibition projects and preferably Architecture Biennials or Triennials
- Exposure to contemporary Architecture and preferably Architecture in a region extending from West Asia to Africa and South Asia
- Experience of working in the Gulf region and the United Arab Emirates
- On-site availability for an extended period for production and set-up as needed for the timely completion of the exhibition
- Commitment to sustainable practices in terms of exhibition elements materiality and design processes
- Lighting design experience preferred
- Knowledge of a regional language (Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Swahili etc.) is desirable for coordination with on-site contractors
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Please submit your application consisting of a CV, cover letter and a portfolio (pdf or link to online portfolio) to info@sharjaharchitecture.org with ‘Exhibition Designer: Submission’ in the subject heading and to the attention of Human Resources, Sharjah Architecture Triennial.
QUERIES
Queries can be submitted via email to info@sharjaharchitecture.org with ‘Exhibition Designer: Query’ in the subject heading and to the attention of Human Resources, Sharjah Architecture Triennial.
DEADLINE
Submissions should be sent via email to info@sharjaharchitecture.org by December 22, 2022.
