Sharjah Biennial 2023 to Feature Lubaina Himid, Heri Dono, and Cao Fei
More than 150 artists will present work when the Emirati exhibition takes place for the 15th time.
Mleiha, Sharjah. Courtesy Sharjah Art Foundation. Photo: Ali Omran.
The Sharjah Art Foundation has revealed the lengthy list of artists participating in Sharjah Biennial 15 from 7 February to 11 June 2023.
Leading practitioners from more than 70 countries will take part, including Lubina Himid (U.K.), Heri Dono (Indonesia), Cao Fei, Wang Jianwei (China), and Hank Willis Thomas (U.S.A.).
For its 30th anniversary, the biennial has also invited 30 artists to complete commissions that 'explore histories that continue to shape our present'. These include John Akomfrah (Ghana), Mona Hatoum (Palestine), Kader Attia (France), Isaac Julien, Yinka Shonibare, Steve McQueen (U.K.), Kerry James Marshall, and Carrie Mae Weems (U.S.A.).
The exhibition, entitled Thinking Historically in the Present, was conceived by Nigerian curator Okwui Enwezor, who died in 2019. It will be realised by the Sharjah Art Foundation's director, Hoor Al Qasimi, in conjunction with Tarek Abou El Fetouh, Octavio Zaya, Ute Meta Bauer, and Salah M Hassan.
'Okwui saw Sharjah Biennial's 30-year anniversary as an opportunity to reflect on the role that biennials serve in the ecosystem of contemporary art, particularly the Sharjah Biennial itself and the broader Foundation that grew from it,' said Al Qasimi.
'With gratitude to Okwui and the ambitious intellectual project he conceived, we are organising a Biennial that builds on and honours his vision to probe the past, present and future role that biennials and institutions, including the Sharjah Biennial and the Foundation, can serve,' she said.
Artworks will be exhibited at over a dozen venues including a vegetable market, a power station, and a former kindergarten.
The full list of participants follows below. —[O]
Sharjah 15 Biennial Participating Artists
Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme | Maitha Abdalla | Fathi Afifi | Hoda Afshar | John Akomfrah | Jawad Al Malhi | Monira Al Qadiri | Farah Al Qasimi | Mounira Al Solh | Moza Almatrooshi | Marwah Al Mugait | Hangama Amiri | Brook Andrew | Malala Andrialavidrazana | Rushdi Anwar | Kader Attia | Au Sow Yee | Dana Awartani | Omar Badsha | Natalie Ball | Sammy Baloji | Mirna Bamieh | Pablo Bartholomew and Richard Bartholomew | Shiraz Bayjoo | Bahar Behbahani | Asma Belhamar | Diedrick Brackens | Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons | Cao Fei | Carolina Caycedo | Ali Cherri | Wook-kyung Choi | Iftikhar Dadi and Elizabeth Dadi | Solmaz Daryani | Annalee Davis | Destiny Deacon | Manthia Diawara | Imane Djamil | Anju Dodiya | Kimathi Donkor | Heri Dono | Tania El Khoury | Nabil El Makhloufi | Rehab Eldalil | Ali Eyal | Marianne Fahmy | Brenda Fajardo | Raheleh Filsoofi | Nina Fischer and Maroan el Sani | Coco Fusco | Flavia Gandolfo | Theaster Gates | Gabriela Golder | Gabrielle Goliath | Yulia Grigoryants | Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige | Hassan Hajjaj | David Hammons | Archana Hande | Fathi Hassan | Mona Hatoum | Lubaina Himid | Laura Huertas Millán | Saodat Ismailova | Isaac Julien | Saddam Jumaily | Patricia Kaersenhout | Robyn Kahukiwa | Reena Saini Kallat | Hanni Kamaly | Amar Kanwar | Bouchra Khalili | Naiza Khan | Kiluanji Kia Henda | Ayoung Kim | Emily Kame Kngwarreye | Hiroji Kubota | Nusra Latif Qureshi | Lee Kai Chung | Ibrahim Mahama | Waheeda Malullah | Maharani Mancanagaramandla | Lavanya Mani | Kerry James Marshall | Queenie McKenzie | Steve McQueen | Marisol Mendez | Almagul Menlibayeva | Helina Metaferia | Kimowan Metchewais | Meleanna Meyer | Joiri Minaya | Tahila Mintz | Roméo Mivekannin | Tracey Moffatt | Aline Motta | Wangechi Mutu | Eubena Nampitjin | Dala Nasser | Pipo Nguyen-Duy | Mame-Diarra Niang | Shelley Niro | Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi | Elia Nurvista | Okwui Okpokwasili | Kambui Olujimi | Zohra Opoku | Erkan Özgen | Pak Khawateen Painting Club | Pushpakanthan Pakkiyarajah | Hyesoo Park | Philippe Parreno | Angela Ponce | Prajakta Potnis | Anita Pouchard Serra | Jasbir Puar and Dima Srouji | Michael Rakowitz | Umar Rashid | Wendy Red Star | Veronica Ryan | Doris Salcedo | Abdulrahim Salem | Sangeeta Sandrasegar | Varunika Saraf | Khadija Saye | Berni Searle | Mithu Sen | Nelly Sethna | Aziza Shadenova | Smita Sharma | Nilima Sheikh | Yinka Shonibare | Felix Shumba | Semsar Siahaan | Mary Sibande | Kahurangiariki Smith | Inuuteq Storch | Vivan Sundaram | Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum | Obaid Suroor | The Living and the Dead Ensemble | Hank Willis Thomas | Akeim Toussaint Buck | Fatimah Tuggar | Hajra Waheed | Barbara Walker | Wang Jianwei | Nari Ward | Carrie Mae Weems | Nil Yalter.
