Yesterday, Sheikha Hoor al Qasimi, the president and founder of Sharjah Art Foundation and curator of the forthcoming UAE Pavilion in Venice next year took to the stage at Abu Dhabi Art for a panel discussion titled Curating A National Pavilion. Although she wasn’t able to disclose any details about the future pavilion, she covered her priorities looking towards next year.
“It is important to focus on what is the national identity and the Emirati art scene is not well known in the rest of the world so Venice is a good stage for that,” she said.
In conversation with Reem Fadda, curator of Middle Eastern art for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi project and curator of last year’s UAE Pavilion in Venice, the ladies discussed the definition of national identity as well as the UAE’s widely varied communtiy.
Sheikha Hoor also said that curating the pavilion has been a personal journey for her, because she is an artist. “I don’t see the task as an art historian but as an artist,” she said. “Venice has given me the opportunity to look at my own journey as an artist and at those I grew up with. I am privileged and honoured to have been given the chance to do this.”
