Ramin Haerizadeh
Jumana Emil Abboud
Judith Barry
Joana Hadjithomas
Khalil Joreige
Rosalind Nashashibi
Walid Sadek
Imran Qureshi
Jumana Emil Abboud
Youssef Abdelke
Ebtisam Abdulaziz
Adel Abidin
Atfal Ahdath
Hala Al-Ani
Abdullah Al Saadi
Ziad Antar
Doug Ashford
Mouna Atassi
Vartan Avakian
Yto Barrada
Judith Barry
Shumon Basar
Eyal Weizman
Jane Wilson
Louise Wilson
Bahar Behbahani
Mustapha Benfodil
Alexis Bhagat
Lize Mogel
Anna Boghiguian
Ammar Bouras
Dan Brault
Sophie Calle
Camp
Shaina Anand
Ashok Sukumaran
Guillaume Cassar
Marie Helene Cauvin
Jem Cohen (with Luc Sante)
Ziad Dalloul
Raffie Davtian
Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency
Trisha Donnelly
Harun Farocki
Andrei Ujica
Simone Fattal
Mariam Ghani
Ahmed Ghossein
Hans Haacke
Joana Hadjithomas
Khalil Joreige
Ramin Haerizadeh
Rokni Haerizadeh
Gilbert Hage
Khalid Hourani
Richard Ibghy
Marilou Lemmens
Hatem Imam
Alfredo Jaar
Emily Jacir
Amar Kanwar
Aisha Khalid
Bouchra Khalili
Mark Lombardi
Alexander Markov
Josephine Meckseper
Shohreh Mehran
Julia Meltzer
David Thorne
Almagul Menlibayeva
Naeem Mohaiemen
Bahman Mohassess
Tom Molloy
Houman Mortazavi
Fateh Moudarres
Jean Luc Moulene
Rosalind Nashashibi
Melik Ohanian
Imran Qureshi
Walid Raad
Khalil Rabah
Walid Sadek
Hrair Sarkissian
Matt Saunders
Samir Sayegh
Kamran Shirdel
Slavs and Tatars
Rania Stephan
Rayyane Tabet
Jorge Tacla
Jalal Toufic
Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Raed Yassin
Elias Zayat
Artur Zmijewski
Suzanne Cotter
Rasha Salti
Haig Aivazian
Sharjah Biennial is undertaking the most ambitious program to date with more artists participating and creating new work, commissioned films, music, performance, talks and publications. It presents an extensive, multi-site exhibition of visual art featuring works in various media, in intriguing venues across the heart of Sharjah. 'Plot for a Biennial' is curated by Suzanne Cotter and Rasha Salti in association with Haig Aivazian.
SHARJAH ART FOUNDATION
Announces Sharjah Biennial 10 Program
March 16 – May 16, 2011
Marking its 10th Anniversary, the Sharjah Biennial is undertaking the most
ambitious program to date with more artists participating and creating new work,
commissioned films, music, performance, talks and publications
“Plot for a Biennial” is curated by Suzanne Cotter and Rasha Salti
in association with Haig Aivazian
Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), February 1, 2011 — The Sharjah Art
Foundation announces the programs of Sharjah Biennial 10, Plot for a Biennial. Co-
curated by Suzanne Cotter (Curator, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project) and Rasha Salti
(Creative Director ArteEast), with Associate Curator Haig Aivazian (Chicago-based
independent curator, artist and writer), Plot for a Biennial will feature more than 65
Sharjah Biennial Commissions as well as a broad selection of existing works across
the disciplines over the course of its two-month run. One of the oldest contemporary arts
initiatives in the Middle East, Sharjah Biennial 10 will commence with an official opening
ceremony in the presence of H.H. Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi,
Member of the UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah and H.H. Sheikha Hoor Al
Qasimi, President of the Sharjah Art Foundation, along with Sharjah Art Foundation
Director Jack Persekian.
Over the course of eight weeks, Plot for a Biennial will unfold in a multivalent
presentation of works and programs spanning the disciplines of visual art, film,
choreography, music, video and publishing. The 2011 Sharjah Biennial will feature works
by artists and participants from across the globe for an international gathering of “plot”
makers and visionaries. Sharjah Biennial Commissions, film premieres, and other
intriguing works will be presented in a variety of venues across Sharjah, from new
spaces created specially for Sharjah Biennial 10, to historic venues, city streets and the
Sharjah Cricket Stadium. It will unfold along narratives—itineraries—scripted by the
curators, architects and exhibition designers.
Sharjah Art Foundation President H.H. Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi states “This year
will mark nearly two decades of the Sharjah Biennial’s work and, in many ways, will
reflect the growing depth and diversity of Sharjah’s social and cultural landscape. A
great number of artists have chosen to visit the city and produce new work that has been
inspired or guided, on a variety of levels, by their experiences and interactions within the
context of Sharjah.”
Director of the Sharjah Art Foundation, Jack Persekian states, “Since the first
Sharjah Biennial in 1993, we have continued to experiment with ways to orchestrate an
event that is capable of having reverberations on a variety of levels throughout the city of
Sharjah and the international arts community. This year we have expanded on what has
become a core feature of the Biennial, and now also that of the Sharjah Art Foundation,
by commissioning and producing new work. Sharjah Biennial 10 will feature more
commissions than any previous edition, many of which are ambitious in scale. We are
now working with a much wider range of artists and practitioners including visual artists,
as well as filmmakers, musicians, dancers, writers, editors and translators to create art
works, short films, and publications that expand and elaborate on the 2011 biennial’s
themes of treason, trade and translation.”
Sharjah Biennial 10 Program
The programs of the Sharjah Biennial’s 10th edition extend through a range of artistic
expression, and will include an extensive, multi-site exhibition, film screenings, live
music, contemporary dance performances, public talks, as well as publications.
Exhibition
Sharjah Biennial 10 will present an extensive, multi-site exhibition of visual art featuring
works in various media including painting, drawing, etching, photography, sculpture,
mixed media, installation, and site-specific work. Drawing inspiration from the curators’
conceptual framework Plot for a Biennial, the exhibition will unfold in intriguing venues
across the heart of Sharjah, including notable landmarks of Emirati architecture,
Sharjah’s historic Cricket Stadium, traditional houses once abandoned and later
converted into contemporary art spaces, as well as new temporary structures designed
especially for Sharjah Biennial 10. Newly designed spaces will host works by Alfredo
Jaar, Emily Jacir, and Ramin Haerizadeh; while publicly sited works by artists such as
Jumana Emil Abboud, Judith Barry, and, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige,
will be presented in the vicinity of the Sharjah Art Museum and the Heritage Area. Many
site-specific commissions will be located in other traditional structures including work by
Rosalind Nashashibi, Walid Sadek,and a series of new paintings by Imran Qureshi.
Artists presenting work in the Exhibition are: Jumana Emil Abboud, Youssef Abdelké,
Ebtisam Abdulaziz, Adel Abidin, Atfal Ahdath, Hala Al-Ani, Abdullah Al Saadi, Ziad
Antar, Doug Ashford, Mouna Atassi, Vartan Avakian, Yto Barrada, Judith Barry,
Shumon Basar and Eyal Weizman and Jane and Louise Wilson, Bahar Behbahani,
Mustapha Benfodil, Alexis Bhagat and Lize Mogel, Anna Boghiguian, Ammar
Bouras, Dan Brault, Sophie Calle, Camp (Shaina Anand and Ashok Sukumaran),
Guillaume Cassar, Marie-Hélène Cauvin, Jem Cohen (with Luc Sante), Ziad
Dalloul, Raffie Davtian, Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency, Trisha Donnelly,
Harun Farocki and Andrei Ujică, Simone Fattal, Mariam Ghani, Ahmed Ghossein,
Hans Haacke, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni
Haerizadeh, Gilbert Hage, Khalid Hourani,
Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens, Hatem Imam, Alfredo Jaar, Emily Jacir,
Amar Kanwar, Aisha Khalid, Bouchra Khalili, Mark Lombardi, Alexander Markov,
Josephine Meckseper, Shohreh Mehran, Julia Meltzer and David Thorne, Almagul
Menlibayeva, Naeem Mohaiemen, Bahman Mohassess, Tom Molloy, Houman
Mortazavi, Fateh Moudarres, Jean-Luc Moulène, Rosalind Nashashibi, Melik
Ohanian, Imran Qureshi, Walid Raad, Khalil Rabah, Walid Sadek, Hrair Sarkissian,
Matt Saunders, Samir Sayegh, Kamran Shirdel, Slavs and Tatars, Rania Stephan,
Rayyane Tabet, Jorge Tacla, Jalal Toufic, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Raed
Yassin, Elias Zayat, Artur Żmijewski.
Talks, Lectures, and Additional Events
Among the additional opening week events will be 79.89.09, a lecture by Eurasia-based
collective Slavs and Tatars that focuses on the 1979 Iranian Revolution and Poland’s
Solidarnosc of the 1980s, also the subject of their large-scale multi-media installation.
Also offered will be Untimely Collaboration, a seminar with Jalal Toufic, Walid Raad
and Omar Berrada. Artist Rayyane Tabet will guide a visit to the historic Sharjah
Cricket Stadium to view the one-night installation of a cricket pitch protector as part of a
three-part project, Home on Neutral Ground. Also included is a panel on Translation
and Treason organized by the Department of Arabic & Translation Studies,
American University of Sharjah.
More About the Sharjah Biennial:
One of the oldest contemporary arts initiatives in the Middle East, the Sharjah Biennial
has formed cultural bridges between artists, art institutions and organizations locally,
regionally and internationally. The eight-week biennial, established in 1993, consists of
various components from its primary exhibition to film, music, performance, lectures and
workshops for students and families. In 2009, the 9th edition of the Sharjah Biennial
received nearly 75,000 visitors including curators, art critics, artists, arts organizations,
museum groups, students, collectors and art aficionados from both the UAE and abroad.
About the Sharjah Art Foundation:
Sharjah Art Foundation supports the flourishing arts environment in the Gulf by nurturing
artistic opportunities and actively pursuing both a regional and international program of
cultural collaboration and exchange.
Sharjah Art Foundation builds on the pioneering role the Emirate of Sharjah has played
in the artistic and cultural development of the Gulf region. Inspired by the cross-
fertilisation and rich cultural diversity of the Emirates, the Foundation provides both
national and international leadership in the production and presentation of contemporary
visual arts. Recognising the central and distinctive contribution that art makes to society,
the Sharjah Art Foundation cultivates a spirit of research, experimentation and
excellence while acting as a catalyst for collaboration and exchange within the Middle
East and beyond.
Established in 2009 to carry forth the mission of the Sharjah Biennial, the Sharjah Art
Foundation continues to provide support to the Sharjah Biennial alongside various
initiatives and programs for continuous, year-round support of arts and culture in the
MENASA region and beyond. The many programs of the Sharjah Art Foundation
include: the March Meeting, an annual gathering of institutions, art professionals and
global artists involved in the production and dissemination of art in the MENASA region
(March 13 - 15); Sharjah Biennial, an eight-week presentation of visual art, film,
performance, video, publication, and special programs; Sharjah Biennial Prize, award
granted to artist(s)/participant(s) selected by a jury of distinguished members;
Production Program, established to provide direct support to artists for the production
of art as well as funding to art practitioners for projects, research, publications and film;
Artists’ Residencies, dedicated programs designed to encourage artists to explore their
relationships with the UAE and the region; and various initiatives in Education and
Participation, designed to broaden local audiences and to foster various ongoing
collaborations with regional educational and cultural institutions.
Opening wednesday march 15, 2011
Different venues
Sharjah - Emirati Arabi Uniti