Sharjah Art Foundation Announces Sharjah Biennial 11 Opening Programme Dates

Sharjah Biennial Opening Week Programme & March Meeting Dates:

The Sharjah Biennial Opening Week Programme will begin with the professional opening on March 13, 2013, followed by the evening Biennial Awards dinner and ceremony. A full schedule of events March 13–17 will include performances, films, lectures, and the annual March Meeting, a three-day symposium featuring presentations by artists, art professionals, and institutions on the production and dissemination of art in the MENASA (Middle East, North Africa, South Asia) region and internationally.

The 2013 March Meeting will focus on an exploration of ideas related to the theme of Sharjah Biennial 11. It will include an opening keynote lecture by Sarat Maharaj, moderated panel discussions, individual addresses, as well as a series of presentations selected from the March Meeting Open Call for Participants.

Sharjah Biennial 11 Curatorial Concept:

For the Biennial’s upcoming edition, Yuko Hasegawa has begun to look at artworks and practices that resonate with strands of the Sharjah Biennial 11 theme: complexity and diversity of cultures and societies; spatial and political relations; notions of new forms of contact, dialogue and exchange; and production through art and architectural practices of new ways of knowing, thinking and feeling.

Hasegawa was inspired by the courtyard in Islamic architecture — in particular the historical courtyards of Sharjah— where elements of both public and private life intertwine, where the objective political world and the introspective subjective space intersect and cross over. What sorts of encounter and exchange do they make possible? What are the ambiguities of such 'open-closed' spaces – and their potentials?

The courtyard is also seen as a 'plane of experience and experimentation' — an arena for learning and critical thinking of a discursive and embodied kind. It marks a generative space for the production of new awareness and knowledge. Within the network of intensifying international and globalising links, the courtyard as an experiential and experimental space comes to mirror something of Sharjah as a vital zone of work, labour and creativity, of transmission and transformation, of cosmopolitanising forces from below.

Hasegawa states, 'I am inviting a selection of architects and practitioners from Lebanon, India, Belgium, Japan, Spain and elsewhere to create temporary architectural interventions that will help envision new urban structures that connect Sharjah’s historic area and its courtyard typology with the larger city. Within these new and traditional structures, a range of artists will be invited to create works, performances and events that will explore and articulate new forms of shared experience. Here the courtyard becomes more than a ‘familiar dwelling place’—it becomes a ‘condition’ of production, a launch pad of new artistic and cultural experience and knowledge.'

Hoor Al Qasimi adds, 'The 2013 Biennial will reflect Sharjah’s long history as a place where diverse communities are encouraged to share ideas and contribute to the multi-cultural landscape that is characteristic of the Emirate. Ms. Hasegawa has proposed a deeply thoughtful Biennial that will address some of the issues critical to art production in this current moment of great cultural change.'

About Yuko Hasegawa:

Yuko Hasegawa is Chief Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2006 – present) and is also a Professor at Tama Art University, Tokyo, where she teaches curatorial and art theory. Previously, she was Chief Curator and Founding Artistic Director of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (1999−2006).

Hasegawa has worked on many international biennials, and has held such positions as: Artistic Advisor of the 12th Venice Architectural Biennale (2010), Co-Curator of the 29th São Paulo Biennial (2010), Co-Curator of the 4th Seoul International Media Art Biennale (2006) and Artistic Director of the 7th International Istanbul Biennial (2001).
Hasegawa has curated major thematic group exhibitions, and solo exhibitions by such artists as Matthew Barney, Marlene Dumas, Rebecca Horn, and Atsuko Tanaka. She has served on advisory boards for the Guggenheim Museum and jury of the Venice Biennale, and has authored curatorial essays in publications for museums including The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Additional Sharjah Art Foundation Upcoming Events:

On October 12, 2012, Lebanese sound artist Tarek Atoui will perform La Suite, a five-hour work inspired by classical Arab music as the inaugural event of the Serpentine Gallery’s Memory Marathon. Exploring Tarab, both as a traditional form of music and an Arabic word to describe the emotional effect music has on the listener, Atoui is inviting 14 musicians and sound artists from a range of disciplines, including hip hop, experimental, electronic and contemporary, to create a dialogue with the Kamal Kassar collection, the world’s largest library of Tarab and classical Arab music. The performance of this Sharjah Art Foundation commission will take place at the Serpentine Gallery from 6:00 –11:00 pm. For ticketing information, please visit London’s Serpentine Gallery or visit www.timeout.com/london/tickets/.

About the Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF):

Sharjah Art Foundation brings a broad range of contemporary art and cultural programmes to the communities of Sharjah, the UAE and the region. Since 2009, SAF has built on the history of cultural collaboration and exchange that began with the first Sharjah Biennial in 1993. Working with local and international partners, SAF creates opportunities for artists and artistic production through its core initiatives, including the Sharjah Biennial, the annual March Meeting, residencies, production grants, commissions, exhibitions, research, publications, and a growing collection. SAF’s education and public programmes focus on building recognition of the central role art can play in the life of a community by promoting public learning and a participatory approach to art. Sharjah Art Foundation is funded by the Department of Culture and Information, Government of Sharjah.

For more information on Sharjah Art Foundation and its programmes, please visit www.sharjahart.org.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Sharjah Art Foundation, United Arab Emirates
Alyazeyah Al-Reyaysa
Public relations & media officer
Tel: +971-6-544-4113, ext. 17
E: alyazeyah@sharjahart.org

FITZ & CO, New York
Meg Blackburn
Director of Media Relations
Tel: +1 212-627-1455 x 225
E: meg@fitzandco.com
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