ARTS & CULTURE
C A N VA S T O C A N VA S :
MALJA - A RED BULL SPACE BY NOOR NOORUDDIN
I
t was just a warehouse, a big white space. Every week, the construction and design team met with us, a group of creative minds, to go over the birth of Malja. I remember the overpowering smell of paint and having to slowly walk over the rubble to say hi to the mixture of talent in the building, from music producers, visual artists, and comedians, to art curators, DJs, and photographers. It was the same construction and conversation every week, but it was robust with an undertone of apprehension, a sense of disbelief that this place was actually going to exist: Malja Bahrain. When opening day finally came, there was no coming out of its surreal energy. The team had invited all kinds of artists from 56
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all over the region to check out the space before the ceremony that night, and it was an overwhelming realisation of how much energy the region has been harboring for so long. There were graffiti artists working together outside to create Malja’s firstever graffiti piece, while Saudi rappers make conversation with an Omani painter in the gallery space. The curators were finalising Malja’s maiden exhibition, while interviews were being conducted at the QTF Sound Space for the first time ever. The possibilities were endless, and we were all bursting at the seams with emotion. Now, almost two years in, everything is different and yet still the same. The space’s vision has taken shape, and we know now the real potential here. We have our regulars: a new art exhibition every
few weeks, major annual events like the BC One Bahrain Cypher, and the newly added Open Mic nights. These are the events we’ve developed a groove for, and look forward to throughout the year to celebrate the showcase of art, music, dance, and raw talent. Underneath the major showcases, we focus on development, so we leave a lot of wiggle room for the strange and the creative, like workshops that haven’t been offered in the kingdom before, including music production, fashion, visual art portfolios, jewellery-making and songwriting. In the quiet moments in between showcases and the hands-on development, artists just need to connect and share their stories. This is where all the intimate info sessions come in, where we get to learn