"Museums Express" Participates In UAE Innovation Month

Sharjah Museums Authority’s latest initiative “Museums Express” took part in the innovation week held at Sharjah University City as part of the UAE innovation month.
 
The “Museums Express”, which is targeting 14 schools located in the eastern central region in the emirate of Sharjah, has been designed to provoke creative thinking amongst pupils in areas far from city center.
 
The first phase of the 47-passenger bus that has been fitted with specially curated exhibition of replica objects from different Sharjah museums, kicked off last month in Wadi Al Hilo near Kalba.
 
Manal Ataya, Director-General of SMA explained that one cannot have innovation without the creative process first, as creative thinking leads to new ideas and unique solutions while innovation is how they are implemented.
 
“Learning from diverse objects whether a painting or a compass, children will know that creativity involves analyzing and restructuring our knowledge about a subject in order to gain new insights,” said Ataya.
 
“Objects can tell unbelievable stories and demonstrate new ideas at specific periods in history. However, children should know that all of these ideas were built on and developed over time until the present day and that we learn so much from the past as it helps us shape the future,” she added.
 
SMA’s initiative has three distinct sections on board, namely innovation, exploration and expression where objects on display include a replica Astrolabe, which is an instrument used by astronomers and navigators in the 10th century to measure altitude above the horizon.
 
Other exhibits also include a model of a compass that once belonged to the Arab cartographer Ahmad bin Majid in the mid-15th Century, a model replica of a glider designed and built by the German aviation pioneer, Otto Lilienthal in 1894; and a model of a pearl necklace that dates back to 7,000 years and is considered the oldest necklace ever discovered in the UAE.
 
Artworks also showcased paintings by a number of artists, including the Iraqi artist Jamil Hammoudi’s” Baghdad and the Mosque," which spreads a message of love and tolerance, while “Abandoned Books” painting by Emirati artist Dr Najat Makki where colors emanating from the culture of the UAE harmonize.