In February 2023, we travel to the Arab Emirates for the first time. We’re here to witness and celebrate Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present. Four years in the making, the exhibition is ambitious and expansive. More than 100 artists from 70 countries are presenting projects in 19 venues across the emirate. Seventy of those projects are new commissions.
The memory and influence of Nigerian born art historian, author, educator, and curator Okwui Enwezor is deeply felt, despite his physical absence. The Sharjah Art Foundation had invited Enwezor to curate this iteration of the biennial. He envisioned the exhibition title before his death in 2019.
Sharjah Art Foundation Director Hoor Al Qasimi was 22 years old when she met Okwui Enwezor and experienced his non-western curatorial model at documenta 11, in Kassel, Germany. Enwezor’s impactful perspective on postnational hybridity and global modern identity inspired Al Qasimi to lead the Foundation and the Biennial in new directions.
On the 30th anniversary of the Biennial, we sit down with Al Qasimi to talk about the inclusive ethos that we find in the art experience of Thinking Historically in the Present.
Story: Cathy Byrd | Sound Design: Anamnesis Audio
Special Audio: Hassan Hajjaj with Mestre Pastel, Open Capoeira Session, Arts Square, Sharjah
Related Episode: New Point of View at Venice Biennale
Related Links: Sharjah Biennial 15, Sharjah Art Foundation, documenta 11, 2nd Johannesburg Biennial
Sounds of the 57th Venice Art Biennale Revisited
Artist Playlist: Eddie Arroyo Listens to The Art of Capitalism
Creative Place Making with Dimensions Variable in Miami
Art Historian Playlist: Deborah Barkun Listens to Joana Choumali
Curator Playlist: Sasha Dees Listens to Remy Jungerman
Public Art Meets Poetry in O, Miami
A Creative Hive Transforms Contemporary Art in Tampa
Art and the Climate Crisis with IKT Miami
Sound Art and Contemporary Culture in Norway with IKT
Live from the Everglades, Part Two
Live from the Everglades, Part One
Filmmaking in Pahokee Holds Hope for the Future
Robert Chambers on Art, Ancient Plants, and New Technologies
Creative Time Summit Miami 2018
Bill Fontana: Sound & Space
Art with a Sense of Place - Part Two
Art with a Sense of Place - Part One
Rosario Marquardt and Roberto Behar on Creating Emotional Monuments
Public Art Hopscotches Across Buenos Aires
Rodrigue Mouchez on Choreographing Art Encounters
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Spider-Man Crawlspace Podcast
Harlem Is Everywhere
Art2Life
The War of the Worlds
Anne of Green Gables
The Art Angle
The Week in Art