Our present is troubled by what remains of unlived pasts, of the defeated yet undead projects of a modernity premised on universal emancipation. Rather than passive and dormant, these remainders continue to animate the present with their restive rhythms, shaping the politics of time and space. Histories resurface and endure, not as pure recurrence but as residues and morphed processes actively informing the now. Grounded in this common theme, Sharjah Biennial 17: What remains, sits restive brings together two different approaches, each articulated by one of the two curators: Angela Harutyunyan and Paula Nascimento.