Sharjah Art Foundation launched the 16th edition of Sharjah Biennial (SB16) on 6-9 February 2025, unveiling more than 650 works by nearly 200 participants, including more than 200 new commissions. Curated by Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala and Zeynep Öz, the Biennial, which continues until 15 June, convenes under the title to carry, a multivocal and open-ended proposition.

Exploring the ever-expanding questions of what to carry and how to carry it, SB16 is an invitation to encounter the different formations and positions of the five curators, which extend to more than 17 venues across the Emirate of Sharjah, including sites in Sharjah City, Al Hamriyah, Al Dhaid and Kalba. Each venue proposes a conceptual framework, often inspired by the cultural and historical context of the location. Through this collaborative effort, curatorial ideas find collective expressions that add different layers to reading and experiencing the Biennial.

SB16 looks at how we navigate life within spaces that are not our own and how we respond to these spaces through the cultures we hold. The title to carry connects stories and traditions across generations and cultures, asking what we bring with us when we travel, flee, survive or stay. The Biennial therefore becomes a space for collective wayfinding, helping audiences make sense of the world by reflecting back, inwards and across in times of transition.

SB16 opened on 6 February 2025 with a public ceremony at Mirage City Cinema, the open-air theatre in Sharjah’s historical quarter, led by Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation and Sheikha Nawar Al Qassimi, Vice President of Sharjah Art Foundation, along with the five SB16 co-curators. The day concluded with a gala dinner and awards ceremony in the presence of HH Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah.

This year’s Sharjah Biennial Prize winners, Aziz Hazara, Pallavi Paul and Pratchaya Phinthong were selected by a distinguished jury comprised of architect and curator Paula Nascimento, co-founder of Beyond Entropy Africa and co-curator of the award-winning Angola Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2013); Eungie Joo, formerly Curator and Head of Contemporary Art at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Artistic Director at Instituto Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil, and curator of Sharjah Biennial 12 (2015); and Gerardo Mosquera, co-founder of Havana Biennial, and co-curator of the San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial (2015–2016) and Guangzhou Image Triennial (2021).

The Biennial’s four-day opening programme continued until 9 February 2025, offering a series of performances by Reetu Sattar, Mila Turajlić, Rully Shabara, Luana Vitra, Joe Namy, Sancintya Mohini Simpson, Ellen Pau, Bilna’es, Septina Layan and Tishani Doshi; activations by Michael Parekōwhai, John Clang and Jorge González Santos; and a film screening by Roy Samaha.

“We are truly honoured by the recognition and respect that the Sharjah Biennial and Sharjah Art Foundation have garnered over the years. This is reflected in the ever-expanding network of relationships we continue to nurture with our esteemed partners and institutions, both regionally and internationally,” said Nawar Al Qassimi, Vice President of Sharjah Art Foundation.

This year’s biennial is made possible by several generous supporters including Sharjah Tourism & Commerce Development Authority, Crescent Enterprises and Alef Group.

“Sharjah Biennial is a leading platform that reflects Sharjah’s commitment to supporting arts and culture, while strengthening its position as a creative hub that brings together artists and innovators from around the world. This exceptional event embodies Sharjah’s vision of fostering cultural exchange and highlighting artistic dialogues that enrich both the local and international cultural landscape,” remarked His Excellency Khalid Jasim Al Midfa, Chairman of Sharjah Tourism & Commerce Development Authority (SCTDA).

“At SCTDA, we are proud to support this initiative, which plays a key role in positioning the emirate as a premier destination for cultural and artistic tourism. Sharjah Biennial combines rich heritage with modern creativity, offering a unique experience for visitors and participants alike. We look forward to welcoming art and culture enthusiasts from across the globe to be part of this extraordinary event that reflects the spirit of Sharjah and its ambitious vision,” H.E. Al Midfa continued.

"Sharjah Biennial 16 underscores the power of artistic expression in fostering cultural exchange and meaningful dialogue. As a proud patron and strategic partner, Crescent Enterprises is honoured to support this platform, which cultivates talent and inspires fresh perspectives. We congratulate the Sharjah Biennial Prize winners and remain committed to advancing innovation and creativity to connect and enrich communities in the region and beyond,” commented Badr Jafar, CEO of Crescent Enterprises.

“We are proud to sponsor the 16th edition of Sharjah Biennial. Our partnership with this landmark event goes beyond mere support; it reflects our deep commitment to fostering the arts and culture in Sharjah, the UAE, and beyond. It underscores our dedication to bridging local and international communities while shaping an artistic future that seamlessly blends heritage with contemporary expression,” stated Issa Ataya, CEO of Alef Group.

“We congratulate all the artists on their outstanding contributions and reaffirm the Biennial’s pivotal role in nurturing talent and enriching the cultural landscape,” Ataya continued.

Full list of participants:

Adelita Husni-Bey; Akinbode Akinbiyi; Akira Ikezoe; Akram Zaatari; Albert L Refiti; Alia Farid; Aluaiy Kaumakan; Ana Iti; Anchi Lin (Ciwas Tahos); Anga Art Collective; Arthur Jafa; Ayman Zedani; Aziz Hazara; Betty Adii with Septina Layan; Bilna'es (Adam HajYahia, Baraari, Basel Abbas, Dina Mimi, DJ Haram, Drew McDowall, Freddie June, Haykal, Hiro Kone, Jota Mombaça, Julmud, Makimakkuk, Martin Wong, Muhannad Al Azzeh, Muqata’a, Oscar Gardea, Ruanne Abou-Rahme and SCRAAATCH); Bint Mbareh; Brian Martin; Cannupa Hanska Luger; Cassi Namoda; Cécile B. Evans; Chandralekha; Chun Shao; Citra Sasmita; Claudia Martínez Garay; Concrete Thread Repertoire; Daniel Boyd; Day to Day (Ayşe İdil İdil, Betül Aksu, Okyanus Çağrı Çamcı with Merve Elveren); Dian Suci Rahmawati; Dilek Winchester; Doruntina Kastrati; Driant Zeneli; Ellen Pau; Emily Kam Kngwarray; Emre Hüner; Fatma Belkıs; Fatma Belkıs and Onur Gökmen; Faye HeavyShield; Fazal Rizvi; Fernando Palma Rodríguez; Fiona Pardington; Güneş Terkol; Hashel Al Lamki; Helene Kazan; Hellen Ascoli; Heman Chong; Hugh Hayden; Hylozoic/Desires (Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser); Ipeh Nur; Joe Namy; John Clang; Jorge González Santos; Julianknxx; Kaili Chun; Kaloki Nyamai; Kapulani Landgraf; Kate Newby; Liu Chuang; Lorna Simpson; Luana Vitra; Luke Willis Thompson; Mabel Juli; Mahmoud Khaled; Maïa Tellit Hawad; Mangku Muriati; Mara TK; María José Murillo; Mariam M. 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; Paky Vlassopoulou; Pallavi Paul; Pastizal Zamudio with Andrea Torreblanca; Photo Kegham – Kegham Djeghalian Sr and Kegham Djeghalian Jr; Pratchaya Phinthong; Rafaat Majzoub; Raffaela Naldi Rossano; Rajni Perera; Raven Chacon; Reetu Sattar; Restu Ratnaningtyas; Richard Bell; Risham Syed; Rita Mawuena Benissan; Rossella Biscotti; Roy Samaha; RRD (Anuar Portugal, Bruno Ruiz, Joel Castro, Laura Muciño and Sergio Torres); Rully Shabara; 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; SM Sultan; Stephanie Comilang; Steven Yazzie; Subash Thebe Limbu; Suzanne Lacy; T. Vinoja; Tara Al Dughaither; Te Matahiapo Collective; The Voice of Domestic Workers; Tishani Doshi; VISWANADHAN; Vitória Cribb; Vladan Joler in collaboration with Kate Crawford; Wael Shawky; Womanifesto; Ximena Garrido-Lecca; Yhonnie Scarce; Yim Yen Sum; You'll Know When You Get There (Ayumi Paul, Fazal Rizvi, Rajyashri Goody and Sumayya Vally); Yvonne Koolmatrie; and Zadie Xa with Benito Mayor Vallejo

The Biennial experience will extend throughout its four-month run with weekly screenings, a variety of workshops for different age groups, and artist conversations, both offline and in person.

Special programmes include:

March Meeting
7–9 March 2025 
10:00 pm–1:00 am (Ramadan hours) 
Al Qasimiyah School, Al Manakh, Sharjah

Taking place during Ramadan, the 2025 edition of March Meeting presents three evenings of reflections on the Biennial title, to carry, with a special programme of critical conversations, performances, workshops and communal meals. Selected offerings explore polyphonic modes of storytelling in the present, Indigenous thinking around transformation, and live poetry readings. Visitors can also enjoy a daytime programme, including tours led by curators and artists.

April Acts
18–20 April 2025 
Across Sharjah Biennial 16 venues

April Acts is a weekend programme activating different aspects of the Biennial through panel discussions, artist talks, participatory workshops, film screenings and live music performances.

Biennial Bytes: Season 2

The second season of the official podcast of Sharjah Biennial will launch in the coming weeks, featuring insights and stories about SB16 projects from the curators and participating artists, including Naeem Mohaiemen, Stephanie Comilang, Citra Sasmita, Joe Namy and Ana Iti, among others.

Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry

Full curatorial statement

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 title, ‘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.

Free and open to the public, Sharjah Biennial 16 runs from 6 February to 15 June 2025.

For more information, please visit sharjahart.org

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 President and Director. All exhibitions 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 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.

Media contact

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