FOCAL POINT: The Sharjah Art Foundation Book Fair Is Right Around The Corner
It’s time for the Sharjah Art Foundation annual book fair! The event, called ‘FOCAL POINT’, was launched in 2018, and has been held annually since then. The 4th edition will take place from the 9th of December to the 11th of December, at Bait Obaid Al Shamsi, Sharjah, UAE.
Just because the event is held in the UAE, it doesn’t mean that it’s only local. The book fair supports not only art practices across the region but around the world as well. Its mission is to spread awareness about the art history of the region and its relationship to the world. FOCAL POINT’s aims to advocate artistic books, academic volumes, journals, and experimental publications; it even features music events and workshops!
FOCAL POINT is all about diversity, as it hosts interdisciplinary art publications, independent artists, and academic works on the history of art. Additionally, the event features many artists, publishers, and authors from different cultures and backgrounds. There will be more than 500 titles from Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, South Africa, Pakistan, and more. The fair is bringing you more than 120 magazines, publishers, artists, editors, authors, and makers from all over the globe.
On a local level, the book fair celebrates all kinds of published works of art that were created locally or by global artists who are presented by UAE galleries. Moreover, FOCAL POINT will introduce a variety of emerging creative individuals from the Emirates including illustrators, cartoonists, zine makers, and product designers.
Furthermore, Sharjah Art Foundation provides an opportunity to rising artists to get funding for their works, and that could be done through the Publishing Grant.
Publishing Grant
This is actually the 3rd edition of the Publishing Grant, through which artists of all kinds can submit proposals for their projects and original ideas. When selecting the winners, it’s taken into account whether the project would have an impact on the broad discourse of art and culture or not. The applications for submissions have already been sent and the 2021 winners will be announced Thursday, the 9th of December. The Foundation gives a total of $30,000 to all winners to help them with publishing and distribution.
The book fair includes many releases and a talks programme!
Released art pieces include The Moment of Tarab and Omissions in the Official Narrative, Ahmed Morsi: A Dialogic Imagination, Creating Dangerously: A Postscript to Sharjah Biennial 14, Beirut Bereft: The Architecture of the Forsaken, and Map of the Derelict and Corniche 3.
The talks program will be on the first day, and it includes a discussion by Ala Youniss about editing the foundation’s recent monograph on late Palestinian artist Abdul Hay Mosallam Zarara. Moreover, Omar Kholeif will talk about his experience putting together the three exhibitions for the event, while Ali Essafi, the renowned filmmaker, Editors Noopur Desai and Ashutosh Podar, and Curator Gabriella Nugent will talk about their research for their 2020 Focal Point Publishing Grant.
Get ready for the book fair, because it’s right around the corner!
