The Flying Saucer in Sharjah
The Flying Saucer, Sharjah, UAE, 2020. Image courtesy Sharjah Art Foundation.
The Flying Saucer, a well known and beloved architectural landmark in Sharjah was acquired by Sharjah Art Foundation in 2012. It underwent a renovation project and re-opened on September 26 as a new art space that will host multiple programmes and activities, including film screenings, workshops and readings. The revamped building features these new additions:
Platform: an open public space designed to host social events, performances and outdoor art installations
Launch Pad: a community space located underground that houses Fen Café, screening walls, and a public art library (the first in Sharjah) offering reading materials and publications for readers, researchers and art history enthusiasts
The Green Crater: a sunken circular courtyard filled with lush vegetation and natural light
The Pods: multi-purpose activity rooms for meetings, workshops and other activities
“The Flying Saucer has been beloved by generations of Sharjah residents since its opening in the late 1970s. It was important that we not only preserve its characteristic structure but also restore it for our community as a space for convening, learning and creating, while preserving the original building’s distinctive qualities, the project also adds a new layer of vibrancy to the space and allows us to better engage with communities across the emirate—an ethos that guides all of the Foundation’s architectural and historic preservation work.”
Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation.
From the press release:
Used as a Sharjah Art Foundation venue since 2015, the futuristic, Brutalist structure was constructed in the mid-1970s in the heart of downtown Sharjah. Modified over the decades to house various businesses, starting as a one-stop-shop restaurant, newsstand, tobacconist, gift shop, patisserie and delicatessen, the renovation, led by SAF and SpaceContinuum Design Studio has restored the original character of the building, while also introducing a new outdoor public space and lower-level community space with a café, library, sunken courtyard and activity spaces.
An urban nodal space for the Foundation and the emirate at large, the preserved and adapted building and site will serve as a place for community gathering around art, public programmes and events.
The Flying Saucer is free to visit. It is open between 9.00am and midnight from Saturday-Thursday and between 3.00pm and midnight on Friday.
I visited a few days ago, and it is no doubt a great and important addition to its surrounding residential community. I spent an enjoyable afternoon exploring the building and the current exhibition which is on until December, a site-specific multimedia installation exhibition Nowhere Less Now3[flying saucer] by Lindsay Seers and Keith Sargent. The multi-video piece is 15 minutes long and worth watching more than once. Due to the COVID-19 situation, you will need to register in advance before visiting the exhibition.
These are photos I took from my visit.
The Flying Saucer - Exteriors
Nowhere Less Now3[flying saucer] by Lindsay Seers and Keith Sargent
Nowhere Less Now3 [flying saucer], a new multimedia installation by Lindsay Seers and Keith Sargent which responds to the building’s architecture. The work is the third iteration of the episodic work Nowhere Less Now, and addresses British colonialism and the artist’s journey through history in search of (the) truth.
Nowhere Less Now3 [flying saucer] uses the architectural elements of The Flying Saucer to narrate an alien’s landing on Earth and subsequent attempts at understanding human patterns through geometry, gestures and movements.
The Sharjah iteration of this work significantly differs from the previous episodes in that it is embedded in a building of Googie architecture. Built next to a British military encampment in the mid-1970s and acquired by Sharjah Art Foundation in 2012 (it became an official venue in 2015), the futuristic structure is known as The Flying Saucer because of its shape. Basing her work on the Gulf Weekly Mirror’s 1978 report about the sighting of a flying saucer hovering over Dubai, Seers uses the unique architectural elements of the building to narrate an alien tourist’s landing and its fascination with the forces impelling humans to move to a pulse, a rhythm.
The exhibition is on until December 26. You will need to register in advance before visiting.
The Library
The Green Crater and Fen Cafe
Signs and Fonts
