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 Documenta 14
Sounds of Summer in the City
Diaspora Vibe in Miami
Sounds of Berlin
Encounters with FAT Village Arts District
Alexa Lim Haas on Animating Stories
Sounds of Contemporary Art in Norway
The Art of the Eclipse
Sounds of the 57th Venice Art Biennale
Live from Athens on Cannibal Radio
Live from Athens on Cannibal Radio
Carolee Schneemann on Fearless Artmaking
The Future of Art
Marcus Gammel on Every Time A Ear Di Soun
Spring Contemporary 2017 at Miami's Deering Estate
Patricia Cronin on Making Art History
Borscht Film Festival at 10
Nato Thompson on Culture as Weapon
Creativity in the Public Realm
Occupy Museums on Artists and Debt
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Spider-Man Crawlspace Podcast
Harlem Is Everywhere
Art2Life
Pride and Prejudice
The Story of Mankind
The Art Angle
The Week in Art