With major shows happening across the Emirates we thought we’d put together a handy guide so you can plan out the week(s) ahead. From the 150-artist Biennale in Sharjah to intimate shows in RAK or gallery shows in Dubai. There’s something for everyone.
Sharjah
The MENA art world has been in a state of ebullience since the start of the year but few events have been as hotly anticipated as the 15th edition of the Sharjah Biennale.
The Sharjah Biennale is known for its ambitious scope and global reach and, based on the number of commissions alone, this year’s edition is set to reach new heights with over 300 works by 150 artists and site-specific commissions across 5 sites. This edition, conceived with the late Okwui Enwezor and curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, serendipitously benefited from the delays as it can now also inaugurate its newly completed space in Kalba, the Kalba Ice Factory, conceived with Peruvian architects 51-1 and local adviser, Mona el Mousfy, and mark the Biennal’s 30th anniversary this year.
The Biennale is launching in its main headquarters in the historic heart of Sharjah on the 7th February in its Al Mureijah square main gallery space and will take visitors across the many sites it has painstakingly restored and breathed new life into, from the Flying Saucer, to sites further afield ranging from Al Dhaid to the Arabian sea costal towns of Khorfakkan and Kalba.
A number of key figures that have become part of the larger Sharjah Art Foundation “family” over the years will be present either in their advisory role or as participating artists while a significant number of regional young or emerging talents have also been invited to share their radical perspectives under the conceptual title “Thinking Historically in the Present”. As always, voices from across the Global South have been brough together to work together and we can expect complex layers of multiple histories and geographies from the Americas to Africa and Asia. The week will also be packed with a program of performances now helmed by the curator Tarek Abou el Fetouh. Fortunately, March Meetings, the accompanying set of talks that accompany the Biennale, has been scheduled a month later, allowing everyone a bit of time to take in the works and have a moment of reflection before jumping into heated debates.
Ras Al Khaimah
The excitement in Sharjah though is only a reminder of the intense flurry of events that takes over the UAE throughout this time of the year and the other Emirates have been just as active. Ras Al Khaimah inaugurated its own RAK Fine Arts festival on 3rd February.
Abu Dhabi
Meanwhile, 421 inaugurated its spring exhibitions with its annual graphic design show, “100/100: Hundred Best Arabic Posters” while also showcasing new local talent with Iranian artist Mahshid Rafiei’s first solo show “Of mythic proportions” and group show “And The Mirrors Are Many” by Mona Al-Jadir who spent the past year in the 421 Curatorial Development Program. Al-Jadir’s show was remarkable not only for its thoughtful questions on notions of memory, museums, archives and collections, but also in the unassuming way it brings to the fore with new commissions a set of artists’ longstanding dialogues and research.
Dubai
Dubai of course is keeping up with its own set of events this week. DIFC sees the inauguration of its new set of outdoor sculptures at DIFC’s Sculpture Park on 6th February by Leila Heller Gallery. Lorenzo Quinn is one of the most crowd-friendly names of the set, having inaugurated his monumental sculpture “The Force of Nature” in Doha last year, but having also installed a couple monumental pieces across Venice’s canals in years past. Christie’s auction house will also be featuring abstract French painter Fabienne Verdier.
Alserkal Avenue, having just emerged from its massive Quoz Arts fest, is preparing the unveiling of a couple public commissions and new shows during the lead-up to Art Dubai, barely a month away. The Third Line Gallery though inaugurated a new solo show by one of their mainstay artists, Hayv Kahraman, “Gut Feelings: Part II”, her 5th solo show with the gallery.
For those looking to get closer to local artists, Bayt al Mamzar will be the place to be next Saturday where curator Munira al Sayegh and artist Saif Mhaisen are collaborating on a new show in a quaint 1980s family villa turned into a community art space.