The Sharjah Biennial is a large-scale contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in the city of Sharjah , United Arab Emirates . The first Sharjah Biennial took place in 1993, and was organized by the Sharjah Department of Culture and Information until it is reorientation in 2003 by Hoor bint Sultan Al Qasimi .
17-737: The 7th edition, titled Belonging , was curated by Jack Persekian , Ken Lum and Tirdad Zolghadr . and took place between 6 April to 6 June 2005. The exhibition centred on the issues of 'belonging, identity and cultural location'. Still Life: Art, Ecology, and the Politics of Change was curated by Mohammed Kazem , Jonathan Watkins , and Eva Scharrer. The exhibition was hosted between 4 April to 4 June 2007 at Sharjah Art Museum , Expo Centre Sharjah , Heritage Area, American University of Sharjah & several outdoor locations in Sharjah. The 9th Sharjah Biennial's exhibition programme Provisions For The Future
34-582: A Biennial , the 10th edition of the biennial, was curated by Suzanne Cotter and Rasha Salti, alongside Haig Aivazian, and was hosted from 16 March through to 16 May 2011. SB10 covered the so-called Arab Spring , the movement aspiring for political change that had been ongoing in various Arabic countries for several months around that period. The biennial was hosted across several venues in the heart of Sharjah, including landmarks of Emirati architecture and Sharjah’s historic Cricket Stadium . The exhibition included 119 artists and participants from 36 countries across
51-419: A derelict feed mill and ice factory. It was opened to the public on the 8 February 2023, the opening timed to house Sharjah Biennial 15. Kalba Ice Factory was originally constructed in the 1970s as a fish feed mill and then used as an ice production and storage facility by local fishermen, allowing fish caught on Kalba's extensive coastline to be transported to Dubai for sale. It fell into dereliction until
68-734: A musician and music promoter in the 1980s, before turning to the visual arts. After returning from an extended stay in the United States in 1992, he founded Anadiel Gallery in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City, as the first independent gallery in the Palestinian territories under Israeli occupation, with a focus on contemporary Palestinian artists. In 1996, he invited Palestinian-British artist Mona Hatoum to Jerusalem and subsequently organized her first exhibition in Palestine. Persekian
85-628: A permanent art space and construction started in 2020. Kalba Ice Factory is situated by Khor Kalba (Kalba Creek) and overlooks the Al Qurm Nature Reserve, a mangrove and wildlife sanctuary that is an important area of biodiversity and home to endangered species including the Arabian-Collared Kingfisher, the Blandford's lizard and endangered hawksbill and green turtles which nest on the nearby beach. The Kalba Ice Factory project
102-672: Is also the founder and director of Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem. With Al-Ma’mal, he curated the 2008 and 2010 editions of The Jerusalem Show, which has since established itself as a biennial cultural event in the Old City. In 2008, he was jury president of the biennial Artes Mundi art competition at the National Museum Cardiff , the biggest art prize in the United Kingdom . From 2009 to 2011, he served as
119-530: The Kalba Ice Factory , inaugurated to house Biennial 15 exhibits, on 7 February 2023. The 15th Sharjah Biennial featured the following artists: Jack Persekian Jack Persekian (born 1962) is a Palestinian artist and curator from Jerusalem . He is of Armenian descent and a United States citizen. Born to an Armenian family in East Jerusalem , Persekian started his career in the arts world as
136-564: The Echo Chamber , was curated by Zoe Butt, Omar Kholeif and Claire Tancons . The exhibition opened at Sharjah Art Foundation premises on 7 March 2019, and ran until 10 June 2019. The 15th Biennial, Thinking Historically in the Present was initially conceived by Okwui Enwezor prior to his death in 2019, and curated by Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation. The exhibition opened at Sharjah Art Foundation premises, including
153-428: The art event Qalandiya International (2012), conceived as a Palestinian biennial. In 2012, he was one of three jury members for the inaugural Akbank Sanat International Curator Competition. In 2012, he assumed the role of head curator and director of The Palestinian Museum . He resigned from his position at the end of 2015, less than a year before the museum’s official inauguration, over differences with some of
170-639: The founding director of the Sharjah Art Foundation with responsibility for the Sharjah Biennial . He lost his position over a controversial artwork that was banned from the art show following an intervention by Sharjah’s ruler, Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi . From 2011 to 2015, Persekian was a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art , London. He also served as artistic director of
187-936: The globe. The 11th edition of the biennial, Re:emerge: Towards a New Cultural Cartography , was hosted between 13 March to 13 May 2013 and was curated by Yuko Hasegawa, chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. Participating artists included: Ravi Agarwal, Nevin Aladag, Francis Alÿs, Jananne Al-Ani, Alfredo & Isabel Aquilizan, Matthew Barney and Elizabeth Peyton , Luz Maria Bedoya, David Claerbout, Olafur Eliasson, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Shilpa Gupta, Yu-ichi Inoue, Lamia Joreige, Jesper Just, Amar Kanwar , Kan Xuan, Pablo Lobato, Basir Mahmood, Cinthia Marcelle , Taus Makhacheva, Angelica Mesiti , Otobong Nkanga , Gabriel Orozco, Khaled Sabsabi, Ryuichi Sakamoto , Shiro Takatani , Pascale Marthine Tayou, and Fumito Urabe. The past,
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#1732859581597204-631: The lucrative international job offers that would require him to leave the city borders for half a year without risking his residency status and property of his family’s home in East Jerusalem. Kalba Ice Factory Kalba Ice Factory is a gallery and art space in Kalba , Sharjah , a city on the East Coast of the United Arab Emirates . The 20,000 square-metre building was constructed by renovating
221-598: The main financial backers of the project. In 2016, Persekian was awarded the Palestine Order of Merit for Culture, Sciences and Arts by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas . Persekian is openly critical of the ongoing Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967 and the resulting discrimination of non-Israeli residents. Citing his personal experience as a Palestinian, non-Jewish Jerusalem resident and subject to Israeli laws, he says he cannot accept any of
238-607: The present, the possible , curated by Eungie Joo, took place at public spaces around the Sharjah Art Museum , the Sharjah Art Foundation offices and Al Mureijah heritage area. The 12th Biennial was held between 5 March — 5 June 2015. The 13th Biennial, titled Tamawuj , was curated by Christine Tohmé and opened on 10 March 2017 with exhibitions in Sharjah and Beirut, alongside projects in Dakar, Ramallah, and Istanbul from October 2017 through January 2018. The 14th Biennial, Leaving
255-466: The shell of the building was bought by Sharjah Art Foundation in 2015. The development of the ice factory includes a series of six apartments, social spaces and a 200 square-metre workshop as well as a branch of the Foundation's Fen Café. Inaugurated by the ruler of Sharjah, Dr Sultan Al Qasimi , it has since been called 'a testament to the power of adaptive reuse and preservation.' The Ice Factory
272-860: Was curated by Isabel Carlos, and the performance and film programme Past Of The Coming Days was curated by Tarek Abou El Fetouh. The exhibition was hosted between 19 March to 16 May 2009. Participating artists at SB9 included Hamra Abbas, Diana Al-Hadid, Firoz Mahmud , Halil Altindere, Juan Araújo, Tarek Atoui, Lili Dujourie, Hala Elkoussy, Ayse Erkmen, Amir H. Fallah, Lara Favaretto , Lamya Gargash, Mariam Ghani, Simryn Gill, Sheela Gowda , Laurent Grasso, NS Harsha, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige , Doug Henders, Lamia Joreige, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Hayv Kahraman, Nadia Kaabi Linke, Maider López, Liliana Porter, Karin Sander, Liu Wei, Lawrence Weiner, Yonamine, Nika Oblak & Primõz Novak, Basma Al-Sharif, Nida Sinnokrot, David Spriggs , and Lawrence Weiner among others. Plot for
289-414: Was used as an informal venue for two previous Sharjah Biennial events, an exhibition by Argentinian sculptor Adrian Villar Rojas titled Planetarium during Biennial 12 in 2015, and a 2019 performance by South African film maker Mohau Modisakeng, Land of Zanj, during Sharjah Biennial 14. Sharjah Art Foundation commissioned Peruvian architects 51-1 Arquitectos in 2017 to refurbish the derelict buildings as
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