Sharjah Art Foundation has announced details for Sharjah Biennial 17, set to take place next year, from January 21 to June 13.
Titled “What remains, sits restive”, the large-scale contemporary art event will feature 109 participants and take place across several sites in the emirate, including Sharjah City, Al Dhaid, Khor Fakkan and Kalba.
Confirmed artists include Anri Sala, Hassan Khan, Ibrahim Mahama, Oscar Murillo, Zina Saro-Wiwa and Angela Ferreira.
Held every two years, Sharjah Biennial is one of the UAE’s long-running contemporary art events, bringing together creatives from around the world for exhibitions and site-specific works.
The biennial will be curated by Angela Harutyunyan and Paula Nascimento, who will each present separate sections under a shared theme. The curatorial framework will examine how past political and cultural histories continue to shape present-day realities, particularly through questions of time, memory and space.
Harutyunyan’s section will focus on the legacy of socialist modernity, bringing together 55 participants to explore how earlier political movements and ideas continue to influence contemporary conditions. Her approach will consider how these histories persist, not as fixed narratives, but as evolving influences that inform artistic practice and critical thought.
Nascimento’s contribution will feature 54 participants and centre on infrastructure as both a subject and a method. Her section will look at how built environments, systems and networks intersect with memory, identity and lived experience, as well as how space is shaped by broader social and political forces.
Across both sections, the biennial will bring together artists working in a range of mediums, with works expected to respond to the specific contexts of each location, from city spaces to coastal and inland sites.
Opening week is scheduled for January 21 to 24, 2027. Further details on participating artists, exhibitions and public programming are expected to be released closer to the event.
