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Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation and President of The Africa Institute will share her curatorial experience of “Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present,” on Tuesday, April 11, 2023 (12:00 noon – 02:00 pm) at the Africa Hall auditorium.
Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present is conceived by the late Okwui Enwezor and Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation. SB15 reflects on Enwezor’s visionary work, which transformed contemporary art and established an ambitious intellectual project that has influenced the evolution of institutions and biennials around the world.
Hoor Al Qasimi is the President of The Africa Institute; President and founding Director of Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF), which was established in 2009 as a catalyst and advocate for the role of art in Sharjah, the UAE, regionally, and internationally. With a passion for supporting experimentation and innovation in the arts, Al Qasimi has continuously expanded the scope of the Foundation over its 10-year history to include major exhibitions that have toured internationally; artist and curator residencies in visual art, film, and music; commissions and production grants for emerging artists; and a wide range of educational programming for children and adults in Sharjah.
Her recent curatorial projects include solo exhibitions of The Otolith Group (2021–2022), Tarek Atoui (2020–2021), Zarina Bhimji (2020–2021), Amal Kenawy (2018), Hassan Sharif (2017), Yayoi Kusama (2016), Robert Breer (2016), Farideh Lashai (2016), Rasheed Araeen (2014) and Susan Hefuna (2014). She was co-curator for Bani Abidi: Funland (2019), Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige: Two Suns in a Sunset (2016) and major surveys, such as When Art Becomes Liberty: The Egyptian Surrealists (1938–1965) (2016), The Khartoum School: The Making of the Modern Art Movement in Sudan (1945–Present) (2016–2017), and Kamala Ibrahim Ishag: Women in Crystal Cubes (2016–2017). Co-curator of Sharjah Biennial 6 (2003), she has since continued as Biennial Director. She curated the UAE National Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2015) and the second Lahore Biennale (2020).
President of the International Biennial Association; Chair of the Board, Sharjah Architecture Triennial; Chair of the Advisory Board, College of Fine Arts and Design, University of Sharjah; and President of The Africa Institute, Sharjah, Al Qasimi serves on the Board of Directors for Kunst-Werke Berlin e. V. and Ashkal Alwan, Beirut as well as advisory boards for Khoj, New Delhi and Darat al Funun, Amman. Previously, she was a board member for MoMA PS1 in New York, USA (2010–2021), UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, China (2013–2016), and a member of the Prince Claus Award Committee (2016–2020). Al Qasimi has an MA in curating contemporary art from the Royal College of Art, London (2008). She holds a diploma in painting from the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2005) and received her BFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London (2002).
The talk will be moderated by Elizabeth W. Giorgis, Associate Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism, The Africa Institute.
These lectures and workshops are part of the Faculty Seminar Series hosted by The Africa Institute who aims to reaffirm its mission as a center for the study and research of Africa and its diaspora, and its commitment to the training of a new generation of critical thinkers in African and African Diaspora studies.
The seminar will be in English.
The session is free and open to the public. Registration is mandatory, Click here to book your place.
Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation and President of The Africa Institute will share her curatorial experience of “Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present,” on Tuesday, April 11, 2023 (12:00 noon – 02:00 pm) at the Africa Hall auditorium.
Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation and President of The Africa Institute will share her curatorial experience of “Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present,” on Tuesday, April 11, 2023 (12:00 noon – 02:00 pm) at the Africa Hall auditorium.
Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present is conceived by the late Okwui Enwezor and Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation. SB15 reflects on Enwezor’s visionary work, which transformed contemporary art and established an ambitious intellectual project that has influenced the evolution of institutions and biennials around the world.
Hoor Al Qasimi is the President of The Africa Institute; President and founding Director of Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF), which was established in 2009 as a catalyst and advocate for the role of art in Sharjah, the UAE, regionally, and internationally. With a passion for supporting experimentation and innovation in the arts, Al Qasimi has continuously expanded the scope of the Foundation over its 10-year history to include major exhibitions that have toured internationally; artist and curator residencies in visual art, film, and music; commissions and production grants for emerging artists; and a wide range of educational programming for children and adults in Sharjah.
Her recent curatorial projects include solo exhibitions of The Otolith Group (2021–2022), Tarek Atoui (2020–2021), Zarina Bhimji (2020–2021), Amal Kenawy (2018), Hassan Sharif (2017), Yayoi Kusama (2016), Robert Breer (2016), Farideh Lashai (2016), Rasheed Araeen (2014) and Susan Hefuna (2014). She was co-curator for Bani Abidi: Funland (2019), Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige: Two Suns in a Sunset (2016) and major surveys, such as When Art Becomes Liberty: The Egyptian Surrealists (1938–1965) (2016), The Khartoum School: The Making of the Modern Art Movement in Sudan (1945–Present) (2016–2017), and Kamala Ibrahim Ishag: Women in Crystal Cubes (2016–2017). Co-curator of Sharjah Biennial 6 (2003), she has since continued as Biennial Director. She curated the UAE National Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2015) and the second Lahore Biennale (2020).
President of the International Biennial Association; Chair of the Board, Sharjah Architecture Triennial; Chair of the Advisory Board, College of Fine Arts and Design, University of Sharjah; and President of The Africa Institute, Sharjah, Al Qasimi serves on the Board of Directors for Kunst-Werke Berlin e. V. and Ashkal Alwan, Beirut as well as advisory boards for Khoj, New Delhi and Darat al Funun, Amman. Previously, she was a board member for MoMA PS1 in New York, USA (2010–2021), UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, China (2013–2016), and a member of the Prince Claus Award Committee (2016–2020). Al Qasimi has an MA in curating contemporary art from the Royal College of Art, London (2008). She holds a diploma in painting from the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2005) and received her BFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London (2002).
The talk will be moderated by Elizabeth W. Giorgis, Associate Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism, The Africa Institute.
These lectures and workshops are part of the Faculty Seminar Series hosted by The Africa Institute who aims to reaffirm its mission as a center for the study and research of Africa and its diaspora, and its commitment to the training of a new generation of critical thinkers in African and African Diaspora studies.
The seminar will be in English.
The session is free and open to the public. Registration is mandatory, Click here to book your place.
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