#shubbak

Shubbak Festival 2021

Shubbak Festival is the UK’s premier festival of contemporary Arab arts and culture.

This year’s ambitious programme connects you to the very best contemporary Arab art and culture and includes marathon DJ sets, Hip Hop, rap and trap legends, re-imagined classics, installations in iconic settings, and audio guided tours of an imaginary city.

Shubbak is live in London, online and broadcasting from Beirut, Gaza, Marrakech, Slemani, Riyadh, Khartoum and Doha. Join artists, audiences and communities locally and globally through a festival programme that has been conceived especially for this year’s exceptional conditions.

Launching Manara: a ‘MENA Theatre Invasion of the United Kingdom’

The brand new Manara Theatre — brainchild of award-winning playwrights Hassan Abdulrazzak and Hannah Khalil — will launch, as part of London’s Shubbak Festival, with a series of readings July 13. The readings will be of new works by Ahlam, Zoukak, Sahar Assaf & Wael Kadour:

As the launch approached, director and co-founder Hannah Khalil answered a few questions about the project for ArabLit.

I’d…

Shubbak Festival

Join the fourth edition of this biennial festival, which has become one of London's largest celebrations of contemporary Arabic culture. Shubbak grew out of the emergence of the ‘Arab Spring’ in 2011 and hopes to engage with hopes, ambitions and artistic excellence from across the Arab world. This year's festival will see art, music, theatre, film, literature, debates, dance and spoken word from over 150 artists originating from 14 Arab countries taking place at a whole host of venues across London, including the Barbican and British Museum. 

Where: Various Venues

Join us on Friday 17 July for an evening of short satirical films from the Gulf, curated by artist Monira Al Qadiri, as part of Shubbak Festival.

This screening will include exciting new satirical shorts from groups such as Meqdad Al-Kout (Kuwait) and Misfitz Comedy (Bahrain).

Following the screening, there will be a Q+A with the series' curator Monira Al Qadiri and Crossway Foundation Trustee Amal Khalaf.

A Stage for Any Revolution is an open modular ‘stage’ by artist Alia Farid based on an architectural model from 1929 by constructivist set designer, Victor Shestakov. The stage, re-envisaged for Edgware Road will be used by the public in different ways; for long-distance participation in events happening across the Arab world, for sitting together to share discussions, for making declarations or speeches, for convening groups of people, and hosting events.

Alia Farid will take up residence on the Edgware Road, and over the course of the Shubbak festival the ‘stage’ will come to life from 11-20 July, with a series of performances, reading groups, and the launch of Bright Echo, a sound commission by Sophia Al-Maria.

On 11 July, Alia Farid will launch the stage with a performance of Zoe Leonard’s I want a President… in Arabic and English. This collective reading is part of an ongoing project initiated by artists Malin Arnell, Kajsa Dahlberg, Johanna Gustavsson and Fia-Stina Sandlund in collaboration with artist Zoe Leonard. On July 18, Sophia Al-Maria organises Acts of Memory – Tyburnia, a performance of Monica Ross’ original piece Anniversary – an act of memory which is a collective, multilingual recitation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

A Stage for Any Revolution will be running from 15.00-19.00 on the following dates with performances at the indicated times below:

Saturday 11 July – 15.30: a collective reading of Zoe Leonard's I want a president… in English and Arabic

Sunday 12 July – 16.00: a performance by dancer Kiani del Valle; 6pm ... not a luxury a performance-reading by diásporas críticas

Monday 13 July: Closed

Tuesday 14 July: Open stage

Wednesday 15 July: Open stage

Thursday 16 July: Open stage

Friday 17 July: Open stage

Saturday 18 July – 15.30: Acts of Memory – Tyburnia performance of Monica Ross’ original piece Anniversary - an act of memory, a collective, multilingual recitation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Organised by Sophia Al-Maria. To coincide with the launch of sound commission Bright Echo by Sophia Al-Maria, available on the Serpentine Galleries and Shubbak website.

Sunday 19 July – 16.00: performance workshop by Implicated Theatre

Monday 20 July - 18.00: a series of performances by Colette Dalal Tchantcho and Balquis Duval

A Stage for Any Revolution is the result of six months’ research as part of the residency programme From Neighbourhood to Neighbourhoods. Alia Farid undertook this residency with the Serpentine Galleries’ Edgware Road Project in Summer 2013 and at Mathaf Museum of Modern Arab Art, Doha in Spring 2014. The resident artists investigated the possibilities for public life by generating interest in shared spaces, values, and responsibilities over the development of these neighbourhoods that shape our cities.

Commissioned by Serpentine Galleries, Shubbak and the British Council.

Nuqta will be at 'Hafla on the Square', organised by Arts Canteen. Nuqta will be offering free calligraphy workshops and providing live demonstration of Nuqta App. This will also give an opportunity for any Nuqta fans to hang out and chat with core team members.  Just two minutes from Hammersmith station, Hafla takes over one of London's popular squares for a fresh look at the culture of the Arab World. So come along and join in Shubbak Festival's opening weekend for a free family-friendly celebration of music, stories, film and activities.