REGION’S MOST POPULAR ART FESTIVAL NOW BOASTS AN INSTITUTIONAL 

FRAMEWORK AND SHOWCASES BEST OF INTERNATIONAL TALENT

SHARJAH/Sharjah Government Media Bureau, April 24, 2017 – HE Sheikha Hoor bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Sharjah Art Foundation, has described Sharjah Biennial as an essential part of the artistic and cultural movement in the region. “Sharjah Biennial has grown as a manifestation of collective experience and interaction in harmony with the changes and developments in the art scene in the region since 1993, providing a unified vision of the experiences and approaches by artists at the Arab and international levels, in terms of style and forms,” she said.  
 
Explaining the spectacular success and popularity of the Sharjah Biennial, being held from March 10 to June 12, 2017, Sheikha Hoor bint Sultan Al Qasimi said that mechanisms of selecting participants have changed since 2003, when the Sharjah Biennial introduced an institutional framework that relies on the presence of a curator who has the power to select artists, type of display, events associated with the Biennial and the theme of participations. Earlier, participations were selected according to a sort of formal regional representation with participating countries nominating their artists, in addition to invitations that were directly sent to certain artists.   
 
“Sharjah Biennial has been successful in achieving its goals of supporting visual arts and creative experiences in the region, especially in inclusion of community-based creations and performances strengthening the engagement with the local cultural environment,” argued Sheikh Hoor bint Sultan al Qasimi.   
 
Sharjah Biennial 13
Explaining the theme of Sharjah Biennial 13 (SB13), she said that eminent art critic Christine Tohmé, Director of Ashkal Alwan gallery in Beirut, Lebanon, who has been picked up as the curator of SB13, chose 'Tamawuj' (the rising and falling of waves) as the theme and motif of artistic expression this year. 
 
Four key words: Water, Earth, Crops and Culinary, that form part of ‘tamawuj’ represent an attempt to find out the most basic components of life and their interactions with the visual arts, in a formulation that goes beyond the separation between the creative and every day, and between the imaginary and the realistic, and at the same time contemplates an aesthetic and cultural experience that contributes to enriching our existence.
 
Unfolding in five parts between October 2016 and January 2018, Sharjah Biennial 13: Tamawuj extends beyond previous Sharjah Biennial formats in both time and space to encompass exhibitions, projects and education programmes in five locations. 
 
Sharjah Biennial 13 (SB13) includes a public programme in two acts, one in Sharjah (10 March–12 June 2017) and one in Beirut (19 October 2017–19 January 2018), as well as the SB13 School education programme in Sharjah. Kader Attia investigates water in Dakar (8–9 January 2017), Zeynep Oz considers crops in Istanbul (opening 13 May 2017), Lara Khaldi studies earth in Ramallah (opening 10 August 2017) and Ashkal Alwan reflects on the culinary in Beirut (opening 15 October 2017). 
 
SB13 also features two components in the form of interrelated digital platforms: chip-ship, a data-rich source of research, and tamawuj.org, the year-long publishing platform of the Biennial.
 
The Biennial this year features more than 70 artists from around the world. Around 30 new artworks have been commissioned by the Sharjah Art Foundation. The presentations include artistic installations, video works, performances, films, lectures and panel discussions. 
 
The Sharjah Biennial, organised by the Sharjah Art Foundation, showcases a wide range of contemporary arts and cultural programmes to drive and inspire an indigenous artistic movement in Sharjah, UAE and the region. 
 
Sharjah Art Foundation
 
Since its inception in 1993, Sharjah Biennial has offered tremendous opportunities to the Emirati and Arab artists to showcase their works at the global stage and interact with the best of talents and trends from around the world. 
 
The Sharjah Art Foundation works on a set of key initiatives, projects and programmes that reflect the history of the Biennial and respond to the needs of local and regional communities. The March Annual Meeting, which coincided with SB13, included panel discussions, dialogues, film presentations and a variety of performances celebrating the conceptual framework of the festival.   
 
The Foundation maintains a growing repertoire of commissioned and produced art, works supported by the resident artist programme and production programme, and works related to the Foundation's exhibitions. The events are organised in the Sharjah Art Foundation buildings and in a number of traditional buildings and squares across the Emirate. All events, exhibitions and programmes of the Foundation are free and available to all. The Biennial is itself considered an artistic platform.
 
SB13 Films Programme
 
Aiming to create a diverse platform for film lovers, the Sharjah Biennial 13 Film Programme includes a variety of unique films. These include ‘Step by Step’ (Khutwa Khutwa) by Ossama Mohammed, ‘A Present from the Past’ by Kawthar Younis, ‘Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You’ by Ahmed Elghoneimy, ‘In The Last Days of the City’ by Tamer El Said and many other films showing weekly at SAF 's Mirage City Cinema in Sharjah.