Bahrain 2018

Title: “Friday Sermon”
Commissioner: her Excellency Sheikha Mai Bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, Minister of Culture of the Kingdom of Bahrain
Curators: Nora Akawi and Noura Al Sayeh
Exhibitors: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Khyam Allami, Batool Al Shaikh, Matilde Cassani, Jawad Dukhgan, Sarah Faruki, Hasan Hujairi, Giuseppe Ielasi, Maryam Jomairi, Mezna Qato, Sadia Shirazi, Gizem Sivri, Apparata – Nicolas Lobo Brennan and Astrid Smithson

The pavilion, located in the Arsenale Artiglierie, is commissioned by her Excellency Sheikha Mai Bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, Minister of Culture of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The curatorial team is composed of Nora Akawi, an architect and researcher based in New York, USA and Amman, Jordan and Noura Al Sayeh an architect based in Bahrain.
The pavilion features an installation and research on the ritual of the Friday Sermon and its influence on public space and public opinion. When thinking about free space, and by extension free speech for Arab and Muslim communities, the Friday khuṭbah becomes a key protagonist, especially as state, law, and religion remain as entangled as ever.

The exhibition is designed by Apparata Studio and consists of a large-scale structure that hosts a sound installation by Giuseppe Ielasi and Khyam Alami based on recordings of Friday Sermons in Bahrain as well as other installations and works by Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Matilde Cassani, Mezna Qato and Sadia Shirazi, Camille Zakharia.