Gardens of Care
Spore hosts
Save the Date
Spaces That Matter
Care, Knowledge, and Community in Karail – a Screening and Conversation Program
5. June 2026
19.00-21.00
19.00-21.00
Save the Date
For free
All ages welcome
in English
This public screening and conversation brings together artists, filmmakers, and researchers whose work engages Karail, one of the largest informal settlements in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The event is open to audiences interested in socially engaged art, architecture, urban research, and community-led cultural initiatives, as well as anyone curious about how spaces for learning and exchange emerge and persist under challenging conditions.
A split-screen still from the video Amader Pathagar (A Library of Our Own) (2021).
At the center of the evening is the Shaheed Rumi Memorial Library, an independently run learning space in Karail that has grown from a small reading room into an ongoing practice of collective learning, discussion, and cultural work. Following the devastating fire that affected large parts of the neighborhood in November 2025, the program brings together artistic and research-based perspectives on Karail as a whole—highlighting the networks of care, labor, and everyday infrastructures that shape life in the area.
The program unfolds through short presentations, film screenings, and a moderated conversation. Artists Roshanak Amini and Gary Schultz will introduce excerpts from their moving-image works, and Bilge Emine Arslan will present research from her installation project on Karail. The evening includes a screening of Amader Pathagar (A Library of Our Own) (2021) by Benjamin Busch and Sadia Sharmin, portraying the Rumi Library and the people who sustain it as a shared space for learning and exchange, followed by a conversation with the participating artists, with Sadia Sharmin joining remotely. The program concludes with Szuwei Wu’s documentary Workers Around the Castle (2021), which examines the brick manufacturing industry connected to Dhaka’s rapid urban expansion.
