Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry
6 February–15 June 2025 | Opening week: 6 – 9 February 2025
Sharjah City, Al Hamriyah, Al Dhaid, Kalba, Al Madam and other locations across the Emirate of Sharjah
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Sharjah Art Foundation is pleased to announce the title, approach and participant list for the 16th edition of Sharjah Biennial. Works by more than 140 participants, including over 80 new commissions, will be presented across the Emirate of Sharjah.
Curated by Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala and Zeynep Öz, Sharjah Biennial 16 will convene under the title to carry, a multivocal and open-ended proposition. Examining an ever-expanding list of what to carry, and how to carry it, the Biennial is an invitation to encounter the different formations and positions of the five curators as well as the constellation of resonances they have gathered.
The Biennial theme, ‘to carry’, entails understanding our precarity within spaces that are not our own while staying responsive to these sites through the cultures that we hold. It also signifies a bridge between multiple temporalities, encompassing intergenerational stories and various modes of inheritance. What do we carry when it is time to travel, flee or move on? What are the passages that we form as we migrate between territories and across time? What do we carry when we remain? What do we carry when we survive?
Thus, ‘to carry’ proposes the Biennial as a collective wayfinding and a modality of sense-making and insistent looking—back, inwards and across—instead of a ‘turning away’ amidst tides of annihilation and tyranny. Sharjah Biennial 16 curatorial projects reflect on what it means to carry change and its technological, societal, animistic or ritualistic possibilities as community doulas would hold space for others during moments of transition.
As carriers of different processes and offerings, the curators have cultivated their projects together and apart, allowing room for listening and mutual support. Diverse curatorial methodologies—from residencies, workshops and collective production to writing, sonic experiences and expanded publications—will be constantly present in the milieu of the Biennial, encouraging critical conversations and the formation of an evolving collection of narratives told from multiple perspectives, geographies and languages.
‘The constellation of diverse methodologies that the five curators have gathered offers audiences the opportunity to engage in thought-provoking dialogues bridging the local context with global narratives about identity, movement, change and collectivity,' said Hoor Al Qasimi, President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation. ‘By centring the act of carrying, Sharjah Biennial 16 offers a space for imagining new collective futures while recognising the weight of shared histories and experiences.’
According to the curators, ‘Our projects come under the umbrella of a question rather than a theme. What does it entail to carry a home, ancestors and political formations with you? This spirit of inquiry coalesces with artistic methods grounded in stories of change and movement, intergenerational kinship, lament and ritual, experimental pedagogies, knowledge of land and sea terrains. Attesting to the responsibility as both guest and host, we conjure possibilities of acting in the world and being together through tenderness, failure and rage as gestures of care, resource exchange and alliance building.’
Adam HajYahia*; Adelita Husni-Bey*; Akinbode Akinbiyi; Akira Ikezoe*; Akram Zaatari; Albert Refiti; Alia Farid*; Aluaiy Kaumakan; Ana Iti; Anga Art Collective*; Arthur Jafa; Ayman Zedani; Ayşe İdil İdil, Betül Aksu, Okyanus Çağrı Camcı with Merve Elveren*; Ayumi Paul; Aziz Hazara*; Betty Adii with Septina Layan*; Bilna'es*; Bint Mbareh*; Brian Martin; Cannupa Hanska Luger; Cassi Namoda*; Cécile B. Evans*; Chandralekha; Chun Shao; Citra Sasmita*; Ciwas Tahos (Anchi Lin); Claudia Martínez Garay; Concrete Thread Repertoire*; Daniel Boyd*; Dian Suci Rahmawati*; Dilek Winchester; Doruntina Kastrati*; Driant Zeneli; Ellen Pau*; Emily Kam Kngwarray; Emre Hüner; Fatma Belkıs; Faye Heavyshield; Fazal Rizvi*; Fernando Palma Rodríguez; Fiona Pardington*; Güneş Terkol*; Hashel Al Lamki*; Helene Kazan*; Hellen Ascoli*; Heman Chong; Hugh Hayden*; Hylozoic/Desires*; Ipeh Nur*; Joe Namy*; John Clang; Jorge González Santos*; Julianknxx*; Kaili Chun; Kaloki Nyamai*; Kapulani Landgraf; Kate Crawford with Vladan Joler; Kate Newby*; Liu Chuang; Lorna Simpson; Luana Vitra*; Luke Willis Thompson*; Maïa Tellit Hawad*; Mabel Juli; Mahmoud Khaled*; Mangku Muriati*; Mara TK*; María José Murillo; Mariam Alnoaimi*; Marie-Claire Messouma Manlanbien; M'barek Bouhchichi*; Megan Cope; M'hammed Kilito*; Michael Parekōwhai*; Mila Turajlić*; Mohammed Al Hawajri, Dina Mattar and family with Ala Younis*; Mónica de Miranda*; Monira Al Qadiri; Morris Foit; Nadia Christidi with Sary Moussa and Joseph Kai*; Nadiah Bamadhaj; Naeem Mohaiemen*; Nasser Al Yousif; Ndidi Dike*; Nge Lay*; Noémie Goudal; Olivia Plender; Onur Gökmen; Paky Vlassopoulou; Pallavi Paul*; Pastizal Zamudio with Andrea Torreblanca*; Photo Kegham – Kegham Djeghalian; Pratchaya Phinthong*; Raafat Majzoub; Raffaela Naldi Rossano*; Rajni Perera*; Rajyashri Goody; Raven Chacon*; Reetu Sattar; Restu Ratnaningtyas*; Richard Bell; Risham Syed*; Rita Mawuena Benissan*; Rossella Biscotti*; Roy Samaha*; RRD (Reproduction and Distribution Network; Anuar Portugal, Bruno Ruiz, Joel Castro, Laura Muciño and Sergio Torres); Rully Shabara*; S M Sultan; Saffronn Te Ratana*; Sakiya*; Salima Hakim*; Sancintya Mohini Simpson*; Sangdon Kim*; Sarah Abu Abdullah*; Serapis Maritime*; Sevil Tunaboylu*; Shivanjani Lal*; Shubigi Rao; Singing Wells*; Sky Hopinka; Stephanie Comilang*; Steven Yazzie; Subash Thebe Limbu; Suzanne Lacy; T. Vinoja*; Tara Al Dughaither*; Te Matahiapo Collective*; The Voice of Domestic Workers x MOI TRAN*; Tishani Doshi*; Viswanadhan; Vitória Cribb*; Wael Shawky; Womanifesto*; Ximena Garrido-Lecca; Yhonnie Scarce*; Yim Yen Sum*; Yvonne Koolmatrie; Zadie Xa*.
*Participants presenting new commissions
to carry a home
to carry a history
to carry a trade
to carry a wound
to carry equatorial heat
to carry resistance
to carry a library of redacted documents
to carry rupture
to carry Te Pō [the beginnings]
to carry change
to carry songs
to carry on
to carry land
to carry the language of the inner soul
to carry new formations
to carry the embrace of a river current
to carry sisterhood and communal connection
to carry the rays of a morning without fear
The Sharjah Biennial 16 title, to carry, is a multivocal and open-ended proposition. The ever-expanding list of what to carry, and how to carry it, is an invitation to encounter our different formations and positions and to gather a constellation of resonances.
The Biennial theme, ‘to carry’, entails understanding our precarity within spaces that are not our own while staying responsive to these sites through the cultures that we hold. It also signifies a bridge between multiple temporalities of embodied pasts and imagined futures, encompassing intergenerational stories and various modes of inheritance. What do we carry when it is time to travel, flee or move on? What are the passages that we form as we migrate between territories and across time? What do we carry when we remain? What do we carry when we survive?
Thus, ‘to carry’ proposes the Biennial as a collective wayfinding, a modality of sense-making and insistent looking—back, inwards and across—instead of a ‘turning away’ amidst tides of annihilation and tyranny. Sharjah Biennial 16 curatorial projects reflect on what it means to carry change and its technological, societal, animistic or ritualistic possibilities. As community doulas would hold space for others during moments of transition, the projects collectively form a threshold space for experiments and collaborations, in which we compose divergent stories, understand failures and dark moments, and hold room for tenderness and rage.
As carriers of different processes and offerings, the curators have cultivated their projects together and apart, allowing room for listening, mutual support and the sharing of resources. Diverse curatorial methodologies—from residencies, workshops and collective production to writing, sonic experiences and expanded publications—are constantly present in the milieu of the Biennial, encouraging critical conversations. Sometimes, projects by different curators sit together in one venue to form a wild polyphony; at other times, they occupy an entire space to recite a story. Together, they form an evolving collection of narratives told from multiple perspectives, geographies and languages.
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 President and Director. All exhibitions are free and open to the public.
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 Muhammad Al Qasimi, Sharjah is home to more than 20 museums and has long been known as the cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates. In 1998, it was named UNESCO's 'Arab Capital of Culture' and has been designated the UNESCO ‘World Book Capital’ for the year 2019.
Alyazeyah Al Marri
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