The Beauty of Impermanence: An Architecture of Adaptability at SAT

Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

The President of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial (SAT), Hoor Al Qasimi, and the Curator of its second edition, Tosin Oshinowo, have announced the title and theme of the 2023 Triennial as The Beauty of Impermanence: An Architecture of Adaptability.

It will explore links between scarcity, creativity and design; the title refers to how issues of scarcity in the Global South have created a culture of re-use, re-appropriation, innovation, collaboration and adaptation. Oshinowo says it “embraces the undercelebrated traditions of the region.”

The Triennial will examine how to reorient global conversations, to create a more sustainable, resilient and equitable future. Elaborating on the relevance of the theme for Sharjah, Oshinowo said: “Sharjah is an incredible venue to explore impermanence, adaptability, and scarcity as they relate to the future of architecture - both because of the natural extreme climate conditions, and because of the overwhelming presence of impermanence in civic status.

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“It confronts head-on the challenge of extreme climate within its traditional architecture, and the inevitability of human transience, that is easily ignored in many other areas of the world. A study of Sharjah provides the foundation to explore approaches to architecture that prioritise an understanding of impermanence, an embrace of the inevitability of scarcity, and a psychology of the collective that is essential for our shared future globally.” Bringing together a range of voices and perspectives, Oshinowo — a Lagos-based Nigerian architect and founder of cmDesign Atelier — has put together a curatorial advisory board of international architects, artists and designers, to propel her curatorial vision.

The board includes Hoor Al Qasimi, who is also President & Director of Sharjah Art Foundation; Beatrice Galilee, Co-Founder and executive director of a new platform for architecture and design discourse, The World Around; Mariam Kamara, Founder of architecture and research firm Atelier Masomi in Niger; Rahul Mehrotra, Founder of architecture firm RMA Architects of Mumbai + Boston and Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design; Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, British-Nigerian artist; and Paulo Tavares, Brazilian architect and urbanist.

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SAT, founded in 2018 by Khalid Al Qasimi, is a platform for architecture and urbanism in the region that extends from West Asia to South Asia and the African continent. Anchored in Sharjah and the United Arab Emirates, it aims to engage diverse audiences and stakeholders in a collective conversation on architecture at the neighbourhood, city and regional levels.

Al Qasimi has continuously expanded the scope of the Sharjah Art Foundation over its 10-year history, to include major exhibitions that have toured internationally. In 2003, she co-curated Sharjah Biennial 6, and has since continued as Biennial Director. Under her leadership, the Sharjah Biennial has become an internationally recognised platform for contemporary artists, curators and cultural producers.

She was elected as President of the International Biennial Association (IBA) in 2017, an appointment that transferred IBA’s headquarters to Sharjah. She also serves as the President of The Africa Institute, Sharjah.

Oshinowo has worked on a number of civic, commercial and residential projects in Nigeria. She is renowned for her insights into socially responsive approaches to architecture, design and urbanism.

Her key designs include a project with the United Nations Development Programme to build an entirely new community in northern Nigeria for a village displaced by Boko Haram, and the Maryland Mall in Lagos.

She partnered with Lexus on conceptual design explorations for Design Miami/2020 and co-curated the second Lagos Biennial in 2019. Oshinowo is a registered architect in Nigeria and a member of the Royal Institute of the British Architects.

Galilee is a London-born curator, writer and cultural advisor who is internationally recognised for her expertise in global contemporary architecture and design. She is the author of Radical Architecture of the Future and served as the first curator of contemporary architecture and design at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Kamara is an architect from Niger. She studied architecture at the University of Washington and in 2014, founded atelier masōmī, an architecture and research practice that tackles public, cultural, residential, commercial and urban design projects.

The firm is headquarted in Niamey, with a design studio in New York. Its completed projects include the Hikma Community Complex, a library and mosque complex, which won two Global LafargeHolcim Awards for sustainable architecture.

Mehrotra is an architect, urbanist and educator and is the Founder Principal of RMA Architects. He has written and lectured extensively on issues to do with architecture, conservation and urban planning and design in Mumbai and India.

In 2015, RMA Architects completed the ‘Lab of the Future’ on the Novartis Campus in Basel, Switzerland, and were finalist in an international design competition for the Museum of Modern Art in Sydney.

Shonibare is a British-Nigerian artist based in London. His interdisciplinary practice interprets Western art history and literature to question the validity of contemporary cultural and national identities in the context of globalisation.

His works are in notable museum collections, including the Tate Collection, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Tavares’ practice dwells at the frontiers between architecture, visual cultures and advocacy. His work strives for environmental justice and counter-hegemony narratives. He is the author of several books questioning the colonial legacies of modernity, most recently Des-Habitat (2019) and Lucio Costa era Racista? (2022).

Photos courtesy Sharjah Architecture Triennial