The collaborative practice of Laila Al Shaikh and Abdulla Janahi, Office for Applied Histories is a research and experimental development studio focused on alternative facets of Bahraini cultural history with the aim of reintegrating these into the mainstream national consciousness.

Applied Histories’ core team and residents collaborate on LONG-TERM research initiatives that engage with cultural histories within their local context and their wider disciplinary boundaries. It advocates for the peripheral material, oral and spatial manifestations which may constitute tangible or intangible heritage, sidelined on aesthetic grounds and their demographic associations. It prioritizes areas of research characterized by an absence or limitation of existing documentation and discourse, utilizing original primary research, including conventional and experimental methods. The office disseminates its arguments, which serve as the basis of its practice, through exhibitions and publications.


Encouraging collaboration and cross-disciplinary working, Applied Histories actively supports the preservation of the histories it engages with, variably, in tandem, in absence or in opposition to existing conceptual and methodological frameworks.




Collaborators 

Anastasiia Noga, Associate Researcher
Alawi Alsari, Design and Research Assistant
Melad Alfulaij, Design and Research Assistant




Research Initiatives

The Modern Souk (2018-19)
Off-Grid Architectures (2020-22)







69B, Road 1501. Suq al-Qaisariya. Muharraq
info@appliedhistories.com