Following a successful spring 2024 programme, including the annual March Meeting, major presentations in Sharjah and tours of international exhibitions, Sharjah Art Foundation announces a dynamic and diverse programme for autumn 2024, featuring works by acclaimed artists and the return of annual highlights.

Featured this autumn are the first survey exhibition of Māori artist Emily Karaka, a travelling exhibition of deeply poetic works by French-Moroccan artist Bouchra Khalili, the first solo exhibition focusing on the theatre practice of renowned South African artist William Kentridge and a retrospective of works by Brazilian artist Antonio Dias. 

The season will also see the 2024 editions of Sharjah Film Platform, Perform Sharjah, Focal Point and Vantage Point Sharjah, the Foundation’s annual events for film, performance, art publications and photography. 

Emily Karaka: Ka Awatea, A New Dawn
7 September–1 December 2024
Galleries 1, 2 and 3, Al Mureijah Art Spaces, Sharjah

Ka Awatea, A New Dawn is a survey of the work and practice of artist Emily Karaka. Karaka is a largely self-taught painter, an abstract expressionist, a colourist and an occasional assemblage artist. Her work is personal, passionate and anchored in the politics of the culture clash within Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as the legacy of colonialism and its ongoing impact on Māori people and culture. Ka Awatea, A New Dawn, the first major exhibition of the artist’s oeuvre, brings together a selection sampled from her 47-year career alongside new work commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation. 

The exhibition is curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, and Megan Tamati-Quennell, co-curator of Sharjah Biennial 16, with Amal Alkhaja, Assistant Curator, Sharjah Art Foundation.

Bouchra Khalili: Between Circles and Constellations
7 September–1 December 2024
Galleries 4, 5 and 6, Al Mureijah Art Spaces, and Bait Habib Yousef, Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah

Following its 2023 presentation at MACBA Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona co-produced with Sharjah Art Foundation, Bouchra Khalili: Between Circles and Constellations opens in Sharjah this September. Amplifying the voices of migrant and disenfranchised communities, Khalili makes manifest micro-histories erased by the nation-state. Featuring a selection of her most significant projects over the last two decades, including the regional premiere of The Public Storyteller (2024), the exhibition highlights the urgency of documenting stories of collective emancipation and advocates for what the artist calls 'radical citizenship'. 

Organised by Sharjah Art Foundation and MACBA, the exhibition is curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, with Amal Al Ali and Meera Madhu, Curatorial Assistants, Sharjah Art Foundation. The presentation at MACBA was curated by Elvira Dyangani Ose and Hiuwai Chu.

William Kentridge: A Shadow of a Shadow
28 September–8 December 2024
Bait Al Serkal, Arts Square, Sharjah

A master draughtsman, illustrator, filmmaker and sculptor, William Kentridge is also a prolific theatre-maker who has collaborated with local theatre groups and world-renowned opera houses. The first exhibition to focus solely on Kentridge’s theatre practice, A Shadow of a Shadow surveys 23 performances created by Kentridge from the late 1980s to the present. The exhibition title is taken from a shadow play by Ibn Daniyal, the thirteenth-century Arab playwright and puppeteer who invented irreverent characters often defying authorities and the status quo. Presenting drawings, puppets, props, costumes, animations and stage backdrops, the exhibition explores how Kentridge’s artistic practice revolves around different theatrical projects that consistently critique the different manifestations of authoritarianism through time.  

The exhibition is curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, and Tarek Abou El Fetouh, Senior Curator and Director of the Performance Department, with May Alqaydi, Assistant Curator, and Khalid Mohammed, Curatorial Assistant, Sharjah Art Foundation.  

Antonio Dias: The Search for an Open Enigma
28 September–8 December 2024
Al Hamriyah Studios, Al Hamriyah

The Search for an Open Enigma presents work by Antonio Dias (1944–2018), an artist who relentlessly transgressed material and conceptual boundaries, tackling complex sociopolitical issues across diverse mediums. Drawing upon Hélio Oiticica’s 1969 analysis of Dias’ practice, the title embraces the versatile, ever-changing and subversive nature of his artistic oeuvre. The exhibition pays homage to Dias’ category-defying tendencies through a vast selection of works that encompass his artistic trajectory from its beginnings in the 1960s until the early 2000s.  

The exhibition is curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, with Reem Sawan, Curatorial Assistant, Sharjah Art Foundation. 

Vantage Point Sharjah 12
28 September–8 December 2024
Bait Obaid Al Shamsi, Arts Square, Sharjah

The 12th iteration of Vantage Point Sharjah, the Foundation’s annual photography exhibition, opens on 28 September. Derived from a poem by Mahmoud Darwish, this year’s title, If I Were Another, addresses intimate individual experiences and the weight of collective memory, proposing empathy as the core lens through which we perceive others who may hold different identities, histories and sensibilities. 

Four emerging photographers, selected through an international open call, will present their body of work with production support from the Foundation. Selected artists will also receive access to workshops and mentorships devised to foster their development as photographers.

Perform Sharjah
October 2024–January 2025
Locations across Sharjah

Sharjah Art Foundation's performing arts season returns this October with a programme that engages with the city's urban fabric, public spaces, heritage houses and theatres through a range of cross-disciplinary performances.

Sharjah Film Platform 7
15–24 November 2024
Mirage City Cinema, Al Mureijah Square, and other cinemas in Sharjah

The seventh edition of Sharjah Film Platform, the Foundation’s annual festival of independent cinema and experimental filmmaking, returns this November with a selection of films nominated by an international committee. All UAE premieres, the featured films will compete for the Sharjah Film Platform Awards in four categories: Best Fiction Feature, Best Fiction Short, Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short. Complementing the Competition Section is also a versatile programme of screenings, including the Director in Focus section which pays homage to trailblazing filmmakers from the region. 

Focal Point
22–24 November 2024
Bait Obaid Al Shamsi, Arts Square, Sharjah

Sharjah Art Foundation’s annual art book fair showcases independent bookmaking from around the world with a spotlight on publishers from the region. A critical space for knowledge-sharing and community building, the fair features a compelling selection of printed material by artists’ presses, bookmakers, self-publishers and non-commercial cultural producers who expand and experiment with the medium of publishing. It also includes a talks programme and workshops as well as book launches and signings.
 

About Sharjah Art Foundation

Sharjah Art Foundation is an advocate, catalyst and producer of contemporary art within the Emirate of Sharjah and the surrounding region, in dialogue with the international arts community. The foundation advances an experimental and wide-ranging programmatic model that supports the production and presentation of contemporary art, preserves and celebrates the distinct culture of the region and encourages a shared understanding of the transformational role of art. The foundation’s core initiatives include the long-running Sharjah Biennial, featuring contemporary artists from around the world; the annual March Meeting, a convening of international arts professionals and artists; grants and residencies for artists, curators and cultural producers; ambitious and experimental commissions; and a range of travelling exhibitions and scholarly publications. 

Established in 2009 to expand programmes beyond the Sharjah Biennial, which launched in 1993, the foundation is a critical resource for artists and cultural organisations in the Gulf and a conduit for local, regional and international developments in contemporary art. The foundation’s deep commitment to developing and sustaining the cultural life and heritage of Sharjah is reflected through year-round exhibitions, performances, screenings and educational programmes in the city of Sharjah and across the Emirate, often hosted in historic buildings that have been repurposed as cultural and community centres. A growing collection reflects the foundation’s support of contemporary artists in the realisation of new work and its recognition of the contributions made by pioneering modern artists from the region and around the world. 

Sharjah Art Foundation is a legally independent public body established by Emiri Decree and supported by government funding, grants from national and international nonprofits and cultural organisations, corporate sponsors and individual patrons. Hoor Al Qasimi serves as the Foundation’s President and Director. All exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.

About Sharjah

Sharjah is the third-largest of the seven United Arab Emirates, and the only one bridging the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Reflecting the deep commitment to the arts, architectural preservation and cultural education embraced by its ruler, Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Sharjah has long been known as the cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates and is home to more than 20 museums, numerous universities, The Africa Institute, Sharjah Performing Arts Academy and the Sharjah Architecture Triennial. In 1998, it was named UNESCO's 'Arab Capital of Culture' and has been designated the UNESCO ‘World Book Capital’ for the year 2019. 

Media Contact

Alyazeyah Al Marri     
alyazeyah@sharjahart.org
+971 (0)6 5444113