Sharjah Biennial announces five curators for 16th event

The biennial is set to take place in 2025

From left, Natasha Ginwala, Amal Khalaf, Zeynep Oz, Alia Swastika and Megan Tamati-Quennell. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation

Five curators have been selected for the 16th Sharjah Biennial.

A highlight of the region's cultural calendar, the upcoming biennial will run from February to June 2025.

The curators selected for the event include: Natasha Ginwala, artistic director of Colomboscope, Colombo, and associate curator at Gropius Bau, Berlin; Amal Khalaf, director of programmes at Cubitt, London, and civic curator at the Serpentine Galleries; Zeynep Oz, an independent curator in Istanbul and New York; Alia Swastika, director of the Biennale Jogja Foundation, Yogyakarta; and Megan Tamati-Quennell, a curator of modern and contemporary Maori and indigenous art in New Zealand.

The curators will helm separate projects, which are in conversation with each other. Together, they represent disparate perspectives within the spectrum of contemporary art. Each curator will invite a group of artists from different backgrounds and disciplines, ranging from visual and performing arts to music and publication. As with past events, the biennial will take place in several locations across Sharjah.

“The Sharjah Biennial embraces an expansive and decentralised approach, an ethos that is echoed by the five unique perspectives we are bringing together for the 16th edition,” says Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, president and director of Sharjah Art Foundation.

“Each of these leading curators has worked relentlessly to advance scholarship and practice in their local contexts as well as internationally. Sharjah Biennial 16 will offer the opportunity to witness their ideas in conversation, culminating in a truly polyphonic examination of contemporary art and cultural practice.”

The 15th Sharjah Biennial was held earlier this year, between February and June. The programme featured works by more than 150 artists from across the world. It was held across 19 venues throughout Sharjah, Al Dhaid, Al Hamriyah, Kalba and Khor Fakkan.

The biennial was held under the theme Thinking Historically in the Present, conceived by Nigerian curator, art critic and writer Okwui Enwezor. Before his death in 2019, Enwezor asked Sheikha Hoor to carry out his vision and curate the event.