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The 3rd Sharjah International Biennial for Children's Art 25 November 2012 -- 25 January 2013
The biennial is titled "ReSTART"
When a schoolteacher used to dictate: "full stop, start a new line"
that did not mean to cancel all that came before But, it was a new addition to what has been done
The artworks shown at the biennial emphasize the spirit of group work, teamwork
We find that 50 or even 100 children of different nationalities worked together
to create a beautiful, visual, expressive work
that reflects their reality and time in different ways and available materials
We are proud of the third edition of the biennial in which 61 countries took part
Among its goals is creating a space for learning about cultures and bridging gaps between children of different cultures
whether the children live in their native country or reside in different ones
This edition of the biennial is very different from the previous two
The concept was very exciting and we worked on it in a large number of countries
I had a big team working with me
We communicated with most countries of the world, and succeeded in inviting 61 countries to participate
Among the organizations that worked with us on this edition
was SOS Children's Villages in Lebanon and Palestine
A group of street children from Argentina also took part in a pioneering project that received one of the biennial's prizes
For this project, the mentor gave a digital camera to a group of street children
to be able to see what they see
This was an expressive leeway into the child's psychology
and it shows what captures their eyes in daily life
Video art fell into two categories at the biennial: in-competition and out of competition
In the latter, we hosted an international festival from Croatia
which showed the most important artistic experiences in video art and animation made by children in Europe and Asia
When we installed the print works from India with those from Germany and China
we reached our objective: communication
The biennial's concept was very important
in that we were able to attract children falling between two cultures
and we developed this concept through workshops and projects
More than 5000 works applied for the biennial
We shortlisted 3350 works
from which we curated the exhibition
We also included 127 works by children with special needs This was to emphasize children's rights
Honestly these works are on par with the art produced by other children in the biennial
We have put together an interactive program
We left some empty walls at the end of the museum galleries for children to draw on
We also put up a 3D puzzle in the shape of a camel that can be dismantled into parts which children draw on
Then we put it back together and see the results which are fascinating
because the children drew on the parts spontaneously without imagining that they make up a camel
We then document it and repaint the camel so other children can start over
Throughout the two-month period of the biennial, we are having such interactive activities
We can support children a lot through the various workshops we organize
For instance, we sent a selected group of girls to the City Beautification Center in Alexandria
There, Dr. Medhat Nasr organized a workshop about using photography and 3D technologies
It was a great experience And when the girls came back, they taught their colleagues here
This mural was created by children at the Children and Girls Centers in Sharjah
It took seven months to complete They made 600 tiles
responding to the theme, "My Family" The tiles as we see represent the family: the father, mother, son or daughter
It received the jury's prize
We also notice here that the flags and posters used to publicize the biennial were selected from all countries
We did not focus on a particular country or region
The works were selected whether they had received awards or not
Director Mohamed Allam
Videography Esraa El Fekky Mohamed Helmy
Editing Esraa El Fekky
Subtitles Mai Elwakil
Music Oblique -- Simple Indie Wells -- Deuce Ta-Ku Remix All music works in this video are under a Creative Commons License
Special thanks to the 3rd Sharjah Biennial for Children's Art