Overview
Artist and curator Jack Persekian is the founder and director of Al Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem. He previously held the position of Director and Head Curator of the Palestinian Museum (2012–2015); Director of Sharjah Art Foundation (2009–2011); Artistic Director of the Sharjah Biennial (2007–2011); and Head Curator of the Sharjah Biennial (2004–2007).
Selected curatorial projects include Knowledge, Place …and Time, Khalidi Library, Jerusalem (2018); Jerusalem Show IX: Jerusalem Actual and Possible, (co-curated with Kirsten Scheid), Jerusalem (2017); The Discord (solo exhibition of works by Benji Boyadgian), Al Ma’mal Foundation and Gallery Anadiel, Jerusalem (2016); Sharjah Biennial 9: Provisions for the Future and Past of the Coming Days (2009); Sharjah Biennial 8: Still Life (2007); and Sharjah Biennial 7: Belonging (2005).
He has contributed to publications such as Sharjah Biennial 10: Plot for a Biennial (Ghalya Saadawi and Ismail Al Rifai, eds, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2011); Provisions I, Sharjah Biennial 9 (Sharjah Art Foundation and Bidoun, 2009); and Sharjah Biennial 8: Still Life – Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change (Sharjah Art Foundation, 2007).
He is the recipient of the Order of Culture, Science and Arts, Innovation Level, from the State of Palestine (2016). He participated in a residency at the Helsinki International Artist Programme (2009).
Persekian earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Bethlehem University, West Bank (1985). He was born in 1962 in Jerusalem, where he continues to live and work.
SAF participation:
Sharjah Biennial 7, 8, 9, 10