Five curators announced for Sharjah Biennial 16 in ‘decentralized approach’

The Sharjah Art Foundation announced the five curators for Sharjah Biennial 16, opening in February 2025, who will organize distinct but interconnected projects, together representing a diverse and global range of perspectives across the spectrum of contemporary art.

The five internationally-renowned curators are Natasha Ginwala (Artistic Director of COLOMBOSCOPE, Colombo, and Associate Curator at Large at Gropius Bau, Berlin), Amal Khalaf (Director of Programs at Cubitt, London, and Civic Curator at the Serpentine Galleries, London), Zeynep Öz (independent curator, Istanbul and New York), Alia Swastika (Director of the Biennale Jogja Foundation, Yogyakarta), and Megan Tamati-Quennell (New Zealand–based curator of modern and contemporary Māori and Indigenous art).

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“The Sharjah Biennial embraces an expansive and decentralized approach, an ethos that is echoed by the five unique perspectives we are bringing together for the 16th edition,” said Hoor Al Qasimi, President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, while announcing the line-up of curators on Wednesday.

“Each of these leading curators has worked relentlessly to advance scholarship and practice in their local contexts as well as internationally. Sharjah Biennial 16 will offer the opportunity to witness their ideas in conversation, culminating in a truly polyphonic examination of contemporary art and cultural practice.”

Ginwala, Khalaf, Öz, Swastika and Tamati-Quennell are developing projects in dialogue with each other and with the Biennial’s 30-year history as a platform for artistic experimentation and discourse around critical topics in contemporary art. Each curator is inviting a selection of artists across a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, highlighting both leading and emerging talents in visual art, performance, music and publication.

Sharjah Biennial 16 will run from February through June 2025.

Continuing the Foundation’s engagement with the many communities throughout Sharjah, the Biennial will again activate venues across the emirate.

Read more: ‘In the Heart of Another Country’: Diasporic imagination as an act of reclamation