sharjah infocart: mapping the personal history of a city

in the city of sharjah, united arab emirates, many people do not use maps to navigate.
instead, they rely on visual clues, word-of-mouth, and draw upon their own or their community’s
past experience to know where to go and what to do. maps are mostly used by tourists and by
professionals involved in producing and maintaining the built environment. so the new york based
artists alexis bhagat and lize mogel got involved in the 'sharjah infocart' project where they asked
residents of the region for their assistance in creating a map that is very different from the one
made for non-locals. the cart traveled to various public locations throughout the city in january
and will be compiled by and for residents of sharjah, adding a layer of personal history
and memory over a base map of the city.

in late 2010, the new york duo contacted kevin mitchell to discuss the design of
a cart to assist in the collection of data for the mapping project that would exhibited at the
sharjah biennial during the spring of 2011. kevin mitchell assembled a team of present and former students
from the american university of sharjah including wasib mahmood (team coordinator); enayatollah
javad ghaedi; heba helmy hammad; saeid abdolaziz khezri; and naji muneer. mogel and bhagat
charged the team with designing a product that would attract attention, be readily identifiable,
and facilitate the distribution and collection of data in the form of paper-based surveys.

the sharjah biennial, organized by the sharjah art foundation, has been a highly celebrated
cultural event in the united arab emirates since 1993 and has worked to build bridges
between artists, art institutions, and organizations locally, regionally, and internationally.
the sharjah biennial has enriched the cultural landscape of the persian gulf by commissioning,
producing and presenting innovative and challenging art experiences while offering an
internationally recognized platform for artists from the region.