Sharjah Art Foundation’s spring 2020 programme features major exhibitions exploring vital issues in contemporary art theory and history and examining the work and impact of significant artists from the MENASA region, as well as the annual March Meeting, a three-day convening of artists, curators and art practitioners to explore critical issues in contemporary art.
The spring 2020 season includes a major survey of work by Tarek Atoui celebrating the artist’s decade-long collaboration with the Foundation and the wider Sharjah community and including live performances by Atoui and a series of guest creators throughout spring 2020; a mid-career retrospective of Zarina Bhimji including some of the artist’s seminal works in film, photography and installation; and Art in the Age of Anxiety, the most ambitious show in the Middle East to explore art in the age of the internet, bringing together a global group of artists to consider how our everyday devices and technologies have altered our collective consciousness; all opening March 21, 2020.
In addition, the foundation’s annual March Meeting (MM) returns from March 21 to 23, 2020, gathering leading artists, curators, and art practitioners from across the region and around the world for a series of talks, workshops and performances. MM 2020 will launch the 15th edition of Sharjah Biennial, conceived by the late curator Okwui Enwezor and entitled Thinking Historically in the Present.
Sharjah Art Foundation Spring 2019 Programme:
(Click on the exhibition or event title for more information)
Tarek Atoui: Cycles in 11
March 21–June 21, 2020
Marking over a decade of collaboration with Sharjah Art Foundation and the surrounding community, Tarek Atoui: Cycles in 11 centres around experimental musical forms and offers audiences opportunities to explore instrument-making, compositional structure and musical collaboration.
For three months, the exhibition will be activated through live performances by Atoui and a series of guest collaborators. Building on the artist’s project WITHIN which grew out of years of work with Deaf culture, the artist will be collaborating with centres that are specialised for serving people with hearing impairment to activate instruments and take part in the performances. Also central to the exhibition is a residency in which musicians, composers and artists will be invited to experiment and interact with different audiences in Sharjah in order to develop or produce new work. Lastly, a temporary sound lab in Sharjah’s east coast city of Kalba will serve as a space for education and experimentation.
This exhibition is curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director, Sharjah Art Foundation.
Art in the Age of Anxiety
March 21–June 21, 2020
The most ambitious exhibition in the Middle East to date to explore art in the age of the internet, Art in the Age of Anxiety brings together a global group of contemporary artists to explore the ways our everyday devices, technologies and digital networks have altered our collective consciousness. The exhibition presents more than 60 works spanning sculpture, prints, video, virtual reality, robotics and algorithmic programs developed by more than 30 artists including Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Cory Arcangel, Wafaa Bilal, Cao Fei, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Joshua Nathanson, Trevor Paglen, Siebren Versteeg, UVA, Guan Xiao and YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES. The exhibition is being especially designed by architect Todd Reisz and will be accompanied by a publication and a series of discursive events.
This exhibition is curated by Omar Kholeif, Director of Collections and Senior Curator, Sharjah Art Foundation.
Zarina Bhimji: Black Pocket
March 21–June 21, 2020
Encompassing more than 30 years of the artist’s work, this major survey presents a number of Zarina Bhimji’s seminal works in film, photography and installation. The exhibition features the artist’s early exploration into forms of knowledge that elude established systems of order as well as her later study of colour and space, human emotion and intuition. Each project, embarked upon after meticulous research and field trips, sees Bhimji sympathetically inhabit sites via her practice: every location is an open-air studio, cleared of locals and passersby. Growing from ambiguity and observation, her work draws on a deep—and, at times, bleak—political consciousness of specific moments.
This exhibition is curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director, Sharjah Art Foundation.
March Meeting 2020: Unravelling the Present
March 21–23, 2020
Sharjah Art Foundation’s annual March Meeting brings together artists, curators and art practitioners from around the world for a wide-ranging programme of talks, panels, presentations and performances that explore vital issues in contemporary art. The 2020 edition of March Meeting (MM 2020), titled Unravelling the Present, will be organised around the theme of the forthcoming Sharjah Biennial 15 (SB15), Thinking Historically in the Present, conceived by the late critic and curator Okwui Enwezor.
The MM 2020 programme will examine the 30-year history of the Sharjah Biennial and past March Meetings by bringing together former SB curators, participants and interlocutors as well as art historians and critics to discuss the role of the Biennial as a catalyst for critical dialogue and transnational exchange. MM 2020 will explore the evolution of the Biennial and its transformation from geographic to non-geographic models of representation as well as its move towards non-traditional methods of curating and displaying art and the activation of non-institutional spaces.
To register to attend click here.
March Meeting Open Call for Abstracts
Deadline: February 16
Artists, writers, researchers, curators and art practitioners are invited to submit abstracts to be considered for inclusion in the March Meeting 2020 publication. The publication centers around the MM 2020 theme and explores the Sharjah Biennial in retrospect, and contemporary topics related to exhibition-making. Upon selection, contributors will be expected to attend MM 2020 and submit an original paper of 4,000–5,000 words in English or Arabic. To learn more and apply, visit sharjahart.org.
All Sharjah Art Foundation exhibitions are free and open to the public. For more information, visit sharjahart.org.
Media contact:
Alyazeyah Al Reyaysa
T +971(0)65444113 / alyazeyah@sharjahart.org
