OVER 80 artists, one theme — Still Life: Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change. Sharjah Biennial 8, kicked off on April 4 with this avowed mission. The event that will run till June 4 hopes to use artistic expression as a tool to bring about change.

Bright Ugochukwu Eke, Marjolijn Dijkman and Tue Greenfort — three participating artists have chosen to express the theme in different ways.

Eke from Nigeria is perched on a ladder, giving finishing touches to his work outside the Sharjah Art Museum. He is one of the 80 artists from around the world participating in the Sharjah Biennial 8. He calls his installation “Holes”. The theme is holes in the ozone layer caused by a highly industrial society.

His work is a tent of sorts made of old plastic petrol cans strung together around an iron frame. The roof of the tent is a tattered piece of styrofoam.

“Do we ever stop to think how the products we use affect our environment?” he asks. “The point I’m trying to make with my art is that Man has mercilessly used the resources of nature and created havoc with Earth’s ecology.”

Eke has used discarded gasoline cans to show how we consume fossil fuels. And they are plastic cans. So not only the content, but also the container is harmful. That is another point he is trying to make. “Human activities spew CFC (Chlorofluorocarbons) into the environment, which causes holes in the ozone layer. Even one atom of this chemical causes destruction. And again, Styrofoam causes great harm to the environment. We have caused global warming, depletion of the ozone layer. So my art installation is like a shield with gaps in it. It symbolises the ozone layer.”

Eke is a man with a mission. His art is his message. And the message is a layered one. It works at several levels.

Marjolijn Dijkman is from Netherlands. Her art is site-specific. She visited the UAE several times before she set up her art works at different places in Sharjah. The most incisive one is an hour-long film she has made which she plans to run outside the Heritage area. She also has slideshows and posters outside the Sharjah Expo Centre.

Her film about the future of Man and the planet is a blend of snippets from sci-fi films. It is an eclectic bunch that includes Hollywood blockbuster Apocalypse Now and the recent Bollywood flick, Kkrish.

But the selection and sequencing are not random. It depicts a timeline of the future starting from 2008 through 802.701 AD. The movie clips meld into one another to create a new film, a new work of art. The timeline is created using the film taglines or slogans. They all are negative — the worst-case scenarios.

“I couldn’t find a single positive scene in all these films. Is there nothing positive we can think of about the future?” Dijkman asks. “Are we individually and as a species thinking only negative things about what is going to happen to us and the planet?”

Dijkman would like to stimulate people into giving this poser a thought.

“I want people to think of individual small-scale scenarios instead of big world scenarios. I’m curious about what the youth of the UAE think about the future of the Heritage area. What will it look like in 50 years? And in 1,000 years, and beyond that?”

Using chroma key technique (See Box: What is chroma key) and adapting to the natural architectural space of Sharjah, Dijkman has created another installation. Her subject is water leaking from air-conditioners.

“I found it ironic and fascinating that tiny plants have started to grow in small areas where water from ACs drips down,” she says. “Everything here in the UAE seems so controlled that we hardly see anything natural. But here is a bit of nature — plants growing uncontrolled, on their own, without human intervention, because of an error in the system, and that too because of something harmful to the environment — ACs.”

Art here is not static. It probes and questions.

And in the case of Tue Greenfort, it goes beyond that. It is activism.

Tue, also from Netherlands, is in Sharjah to prove a point. He is interested in climate change and change in eco-systems. By increasing the temperature of the air-conditioner of the Art Museum, which is one of the key areas of the Biennial, he wants people to literally feel the heat. He is passionate about the issue of global warming. He plans to adopt a piece of rainforest with the money saved by adjusting the temperature.

Yes, this is also art. Contemporary art. No garish sunsets and pretty maidens and glossed over rural idylls here. This is 21st century and art takes the pressing issues of the planet head on.

But the question is, why does it need an artist to travel half way round the globe to adjust the temperature in a building? An AC mechanic could do it. And isn’t it in a way “dematerialising” art?

And isn’t it ironic that Tue’s project costs a big chunk of change? Isn’t the money spent on his travel here and his upkeep wasteful?

“It’s architectural art,” says Tue. “I’m really concerned about global warming. And don’t forget the rainforest bit.”

Probably turning the heat on is art — individually and collectively experienced. Tue, as an artist, has adopting an evangelical role.

Gustav Metzer’s vision of the installation of cars is realised for the very first time in the world outside the Sharjah Expo covering an area of 3,600. His monumental installation proposal in 1972 was to have 120 cars arranged in a cubic glass case filled with their exhaust fumes.

The effect of the various exhibits is cumulative. But is this art? Perhaps, we need to stretch the definition of art or redefine it altogether. And can art really create a revolution, either social or political?

“No, not really,” admits Jonathan Watkins, one of the curators of the Biennial. “But perhaps, we can make a difference.”

He admits that when you talk about the global environment, it is like the butterfly effect. You never know where it will make a mark.

“It is difficult today not to be interested in ecology, the environment and issues like global warming. So the underlying idea behind the Biennial is ecology. But it’s not a collection of “believers” who have come together. We have tried to have an artistic conversation around the theme. It is not without humour, without scepticism, without contradiction, and maybe irony.”

He confesses that in such matters, it is easy to lose perspective and become fanatical about the mission statement. The artists have, therefore, been chosen to portray various aspects of the theme. It is not monochromatic.

“The artists were chosen with the idea of bringing variety to the event,” says Eva Scharrer, another curator of the Biennial. “A lot of research has gone into the selection of artists so that there is a balance. We want different voices to speak about the theme.”

“We don’t want the exhibition to be preachy, with a loud message. That could be boring. We want people to think about the issues, and each artist has an interesting way of dealing with the subject. We want the exhibition to be dramatic, exciting and participatory,” adds Watkins.

“The works are of different kinds and some are directly and some others are elliptically connected with the theme. What the exhibition wants to convey to visitors is very subtle. We don’t want to adopt a militant tone. It is another language or medium through which people are communicating. You can’t expect art to have that profound an impact. It’s not going to change the world, but it is not without its impact.”

Ecology is getting politicised, with the issue of global warming making headlines. While a section of experts think it is directly connected to human activities and tampering and twisting laws of nature. Another section admits that while global warming is a reality, one cannot be sure who the culprit is. The jury is still out on that one.

Surely, a rainforest worth of papers would be used up to put together a two-month-long exhibition of this magnitude. Isn’t it a clash of interests, given the theme? The underlying irony is not lost on the organisers.

Says Scharrer, “At no point do we say that all that is used for the exhibition, including all the paper, comes from recycled material. And also, it may cost far more to get eco-friendly material especially shipped here. If one goes to great lengths to save something, one may end up wasting a lot more than what is saved. That is not the purpose behind the event. It is pre-eminently art. We don’t want to be openly didactic or dogmatic. We want people to come and enjoy the exhibition and become aware of contemporary art. We want them to participate.”

“If the exhibition tries to be eco-friendly, it will only be a token gesture,” says Watkins. “We don’t want to be viewed as a bunch of hypocrites who don’t practise what they preach because we are not really advocating anything here. We have been asked to come to the table to put the exhibition together because we are art experts, not because we are eco-warriors.

“But having said that, I must add that there is a significant interest in this theme in the world of art. And it’s not as if they are all young artists who have stumbled upon this issue. Artists have been looking at it for years and years. Metzer, with his idea of capturing car fumes had it years ago. The work itself makes a statement about contemporary life. Some of the artists who are participating have very strong views about it and think that global politics is almost in conspiracy against ecology, particularly certain governments.”

Scharrer adds, “Sure, there are artists who believe in what they stand for. But I mean, how can we adopt a priest-like role? There are so many theories about global warming. How can we be sure? Suppose we came here by ship instead of by plane and discover that ships cause more harm? We still know too little about global warming. So the works have to be seen from a symbolic level. Maybe not all works are direct statements. Some are oblique. But we hope that the event itself will make people think.”

SHARJAH BIENNIAL 8 will run from April 4 to June 4. The programme includes exhibitions, performances, film shows and a symposium. There will be site-specific works displayed all over Sharjah, including the island in Khaled Lagoon, with events and exhibitions taking place mainly at the Sharjah Art Museum, the Expo Centre and the Heritage area.

Different strokes for different folks

Over 80 artists from 40 countries are taking part in the event. Fifty six new works have been specially commissioned to express the context, the place and theme. “The Biennial is expected to attract visitors from the region and from the subcontinent and beyond, including invited guests,” says the Artistic Director, Jack Persekian, who is in-charge of executing the event.

“The theme was chosen by the Director of the event, Shaikha Hoor Al Qasimi because it is a pressing issue, which has gained immediacy and urgency. Our role in the Biennial is to create the means and a platform for the issue to be addressed.”

A team of over 150 people are working behind the scenes, apart from several sub-contractors in different fields.

“It is a huge undertaking,” says Persekian. “Works have been shipped and installed everywhere. The cost runs into over three million dollars. The government of Sharjah is footing the bill, with support from several sponsors.”

Why is Sharjah spending this kind of money?

“Art culture, knowledge and education are important,” replies Persekian. We wanted to bring this huge body of knowledge, art, artists and creativity and people from all around the world to Sharjah. We wanted others to get to see what the Emirates is all about and the Emirates to see what the rest of the world is all about and exchange views on important issues. “People who visit the event will become ambassadors of Sharjah and talk about it. We want to project the image of Sharjah as a cultural hub.”

What is Chroma key?

Chroma key is a concept where the general public can add, edit or create its own scenarios using collage or 3-D modelling. The interactive chroma key corners in the Heritage and the Expo areas will act as platforms, especially for students to get involved.