Latest news with #SharjahBiennial
The Age
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Major gallery misses out as Sydney's biggest arts festival heads west
'I respect the work of [MCA director] Suzanne Cotter and [chair] Lorraine Tarabay,' she said. 'For me, the work I'm really trying to do is a lot of community engagement and I want to be in places where I can reach new audiences.' The Biennale's theme was inspired by Al Qasimi's father's work as a historian. He is Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi the ruler of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and founder of the Sharjah Biennial, through which Al Qasimi established her international reputation as a curator. 'Rather than focusing on linear storytelling, I hope to highlight how we can become active participants in retelling our collective stories by revisiting and reinterpreting past events,' Al Qasimi said. 'I really wanted to have a title that could connect differently with people. The idea could be the rememory of a certain location or place, the rememory of certain moments in an individual's life, or certain moments that have happened like computer culture. The title is wide enough to encompass a lot of stories without limiting it to one voice.' The biennale is being planned at a febrile time in the arts world, amid turmoil in the Middle East and in the aftermath of a controversial decision to cancel artist Khaled Sabsabi from the Venice Biennale. Sabsabi is a Biennale of Sydney board member. Al Qasimi said the work by Biennale artists would not directly touch on the war in Gaza, unless tangentially in artists' explorations of colonisation and occupation. The biennial would not focus on 'one moment' but 'what is the right project for the right space and for the right place, for example White Bay'. 'I'm really trying to make sure that the building is part of the exhibition rather than just an exhibition space,' she said. Packing Room Prize winner Abdul Abdullah, Yaritji Young, Marian Abboud, Dennis Golding, and Warraba Weatherall will be among the Australian artists to exhibit alongside international artists including the Gaza-born, Paris-based Palestinian multidisciplinary artist, Taysir Batniji. 'I'm really excited about Deirdre O'Mahony, an Irish artist who has worked a lot around agriculture and food sustainability,' Al Qasimi said. 'I've invited Merilyn Fairskye and Michiel Dolk, they were the same artists who painted the eight murals on the railway pylons [at Woolloomooloo reserve] to come together to paint a new piece.' Create NSW has committed $1.6 million to support the 25th Biennale. Some 771,000 people attended the 2024 edition, Ten Thousand Suns, in a record-breaking run over three months and six sites, including White Bay. Last month the Biennale announced the new funding raising initiative, ArtSeen, directed at young art lovers. Donations of $500 will enable supporters to gain exclusive access to a year-round program of artist-led events, performances, and discussions in the year before the festival. Cotter, said the MCA was 'a longstanding partner and supporter of the Biennale of Sydney, and we are delighted to be program partner for the 25th edition in 2026'. 'Hoor Al Qasimi is a globally renowned curator, and we are excited to see her Biennale for Sydney as artistic director.'
Sydney Morning Herald
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Major gallery misses out as Sydney's biggest arts festival heads west
'I respect the work of [MCA director] Suzanne Cotter and [chair] Lorraine Tarabay,' she said. 'For me, the work I'm really trying to do is a lot of community engagement and I want to be in places where I can reach new audiences.' The Biennale's theme was inspired by Al Qasimi's father's work as a historian. He is Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi the ruler of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and founder of the Sharjah Biennial, through which Al Qasimi established her international reputation as a curator. 'Rather than focusing on linear storytelling, I hope to highlight how we can become active participants in retelling our collective stories by revisiting and reinterpreting past events,' Al Qasimi said. 'I really wanted to have a title that could connect differently with people. The idea could be the rememory of a certain location or place, the rememory of certain moments in an individual's life, or certain moments that have happened like computer culture. The title is wide enough to encompass a lot of stories without limiting it to one voice.' The biennale is being planned at a febrile time in the arts world, amid turmoil in the Middle East and in the aftermath of a controversial decision to cancel artist Khaled Sabsabi from the Venice Biennale. Sabsabi is a Biennale of Sydney board member. Al Qasimi said the work by Biennale artists would not directly touch on the war in Gaza, unless tangentially in artists' explorations of colonisation and occupation. The biennial would not focus on 'one moment' but 'what is the right project for the right space and for the right place, for example White Bay'. 'I'm really trying to make sure that the building is part of the exhibition rather than just an exhibition space,' she said. Packing Room Prize winner Abdul Abdullah, Yaritji Young, Marian Abboud, Dennis Golding, and Warraba Weatherall will be among the Australian artists to exhibit alongside international artists including the Gaza-born, Paris-based Palestinian multidisciplinary artist, Taysir Batniji. 'I'm really excited about Deirdre O'Mahony, an Irish artist who has worked a lot around agriculture and food sustainability,' Al Qasimi said. 'I've invited Merilyn Fairskye and Michiel Dolk, they were the same artists who painted the eight murals on the railway pylons [at Woolloomooloo reserve] to come together to paint a new piece.' Create NSW has committed $1.6 million to support the 25th Biennale. Some 771,000 people attended the 2024 edition, Ten Thousand Suns, in a record-breaking run over three months and six sites, including White Bay. Last month the Biennale announced the new funding raising initiative, ArtSeen, directed at young art lovers. Donations of $500 will enable supporters to gain exclusive access to a year-round program of artist-led events, performances, and discussions in the year before the festival. Cotter, said the MCA was 'a longstanding partner and supporter of the Biennale of Sydney, and we are delighted to be program partner for the 25th edition in 2026'. 'Hoor Al Qasimi is a globally renowned curator, and we are excited to see her Biennale for Sydney as artistic director.'
The National
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Inside Zadie Xa's Turner-nominated work at the Sharjah Biennial
First impressions of Zadie Xa's presentation at the Sharjah Biennial are largely dependent on what stage of the work you happen to walk into. The soothing colours of dusks and dawns dominate the room at Sharjah's Al Hamriyah Studio, but it is the work's sound components, emanating through hanging sea shells, that largely inform the mood. You may walk in to wind chimes, the shush of waves rolling ashore, and the whistle of whales. Or you may be greeted with the trilling of a telephone, the frantic clicks of Morse code – and feel the anxiety of a call unanswered, the spookiness of an untraceable and undecipherable message, or the rage of a spurned one. Then there are the melodies, ringing in sustained and haunting pitches, permeating the space with a spectral essence. But no matter when you happen to enter the space, stay long enough and the mysticism of the work will mesmerise you. Moonlit Confessions Across Deep Sea Echoes: Your Ancestors Are Whales, and Earth Remembers Everything comprises several elements, from paintings to installation and sound. But it is perhaps best to consider it as a single holistic piece. The work, which is in the running for the prestigious Turner Prize, was developed in collaboration with Benito Mayor Vallejo. It is largely inspired by Korean shamanistic practices, namely Salpuri. The exorcism dance, known for its graceful and cathartic choreography, was aimed at curtailing bad luck. 'Zadie is Canadian-Korean and has been interested for a long time in thinking through these inheritances that she has,' Amal Khalaf, one of the biennial's co-curators, says. The paintings in the space explicitly reveal this shamanistic inspiration, especially through the women dancing with the handkerchiefs twirling around them – a defining aspect of Salpuri. The marine motifs are also a tell tale sign. 'Korean shamans are very much using animistic parts of Korean culture, so slightly off the mainstream, and there's a lot of figures and mythological figures that are marine mammals,' Khalaf says. In Moonlit Confessions, as well as several of her previous works, Xa incorporates shells, fish, whales and other marine imagery in her explorations of these shamanistic rituals and history. The paintings at Al Hamriyah Studio feature humpbacks and orcas, octopuses and even real seashells blended within the work. The centrepiece of Moonlit Confessions is a chandelier-like installation made up of more than 1,000 brass bells that are arranged in the shape of a conch shell. The work, dubbed Ghost, is suspended in the middle of the space, its bells dormant until spurred to a gentle ring with the slightest touch. The chimes are inspired Korean shamanic ceremonial rattles, and evoke sounds of protection. 'It could make lots of sound, but is like waiting for us to make sound,' Khalaf says. Xa incorporates other influences within the work, drawing from Korean history but also from unexpected sources. The patchwork in her paintings, for instance, are drawn by traditional Korean quilting methods. The frames are composed out of stitched patches of painted canvas. Xa has incarnated traditional weaving methods in other works, but Khalaf says 'this is the first time where she is experimenting with canvas using the same method.' 'Zadie's influences are not just from Salpuri,' Khalaf adds. 'You will see shaman grandmothers in the images, but you will see other characters as well. Music, hip-hop, anime, cartoons, there are different totems and figures that are storytellers. Moonlit Confessions was developed specifically for the Sharjah Biennial, which is being held under the title To Carry. The theme reflects on the many aspects we individually carry, from memories and homes to languages, histories, wounds and ruptures. Moonlight Confessions responds to theme conceptually and literally. The seashells hanging around the space emitting sound were collected by Xa and Vallejo from beaches around the world, including in Sharjah. 'They found the shells at specific beaches where they had encounters with the sea and with sea life that was meaningful to them,' Khalaf says. 'One is from Greece, one is from Korea, and one is from the beach in Al Hamriyah. They made them speaking shells, and developed these sound pieces that really responded to the idea of To Carry.' Khalaf says she was thrilled to find out Xa's work had been shortlisted for the Turner Prize. 'I was really excited,' she says. 'I'm so proud of Zadie and Benito. I've known Zadie for a long time, and after all the studio visits and just witnessing Zadie's practice develop, I have to say I don't know many artists that works as hard as Zadie. This person is in the studio day in, day out. She is so creative, really generous with everyone that she works with. And I couldn't think of a more deserving artist to be nominated.' Sharjah Biennial is running until June 15
The National
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Weekly UAE museum and gallery guide: Masterpieces at Christie's and a Turner-nominated work in Sharjah
Art Dubai may have concluded, but the local scene is maintaining the momentum. A Christie's exhibition of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern masterpieces and a solo exhibition by Egyptian artist Huda Lutfi are among the highlights in the city. There is also lots to see in other emirates, including a solo show by Saudi artist Abdullah Al Othman and a presentation at the Sharjah Biennial that is in the running for the Turner Prize. The Christie's auction of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art has returned with an all-star selection. The sale is a potent representation of the diverse practices shaping the region's contemporary art. There are works that represent Nadia Saikali's gestural abstraction, the kaleidoscopic dynamism of Samia Halaby, the rippling portraits of Marwan, the calligraphic experimentations of Mohamed Melehi, Malika Agueznay and Dia Azzawi, as well as paintings by Helen Khal that show her figurative beginnings, and the ethereal canvases she is particularly known for. Other notable figures featured in the auction include Inji Efflatoun, Kamal Boullata, Etel Adnan, Aref El Rayess, Laila Shawa, Paul Guiragossian, Nabil Anani, Fateh Moudarres and Yvette Achkar. Monday to Friday, 10am-7pm; Saturday and Sunday, 12pm-5pm; until May 8, Christie's Dubai Lutfi is known for her cross-disciplinary practice that draws from historical research as well as feminist critique. Her fourth solo exhibition at The Third Line brings together works from three recent series. These include When Dreams Call for Silence (2019), which presents human figures in surreal domestic scenes. In Our Black Thread (2020–2021), Lutfi explores how creating is an act of healing. The series began as Lutfi casually wove threads from used teabags and car filters. The minimalist compositions, with their restrained monochromatic palette, 'amplify the introspective meditation that fuelled their making', the exhibition guide states, 'but also evoke the historical association of craftsmanship as feminine labour and its complex relationship to art'. This approach is sustained in her continuing series Healing Devices, which feature organic and geometric paper cutouts set against gold and silver backdrops. The series draws from the illustrations in The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, a 1206 work by the Arab polymath Ismail Al-Jazari. Monday to Sunday, 11am-7pm; until May 27, The Third Line, Dubai This presentation from the 2025 Sharjah Biennial has been nominated for the Turner Prize. The work was created by Korean-Canadian artist Zadie Xa, in collaboration with Spanish artist Benito Mayor Vallejo. It features several disparate elements, which take cues from Korean shamanic traditions. These include paintings and a chandelier-like piece comprising more than 1,000 brass bells arranged in the shape of a conch shell. Saturday to Thursday, 9am-9pm; Friday 4pm-9pm; until June 15; Al Hamriyah Studios, Sharjah Al Othman's work is greatly informed by the visual language of the region's cities. The Saudi artist is known to wander around Riyadh, collecting materials and images from its architecture and linguistic history that he then incorporates into his work. Structural Syntax is his first solo show in the UAE. The exhibition is designed to steep visitors in Al Othman's unique perception of urban landscapes and prompt questions about the way we navigate our surroundings. Works include Anticipation, which makes use of neon lights, a material with which Al Othman has become synonymous. His Untitled (Coca Cola) playfully appropriates the brand in an installation featuring a sign in Arabic, industrial materials, metal and paint. Monday to Friday, 11am-7pm; until June 27; Iris Projects, Abu Dhabi
The National
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Turner Prize shortlist includes Iraqi artist Mohammed Sami and Zadie Xa's work at Sharjah Biennial
The shortlist for this year's Turner Prize has significant regional representation, with an artist from Iraq and work from the Sharjah Biennial both nominated for the prestigious award. Mohammed Sami has been shortlisted for After the Storm, his solo exhibition at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England. The Iraqi painter is known for his sprawling, vibrant scenes that are often devoid of human presence. His depictions of empty dining tables and bedrooms serve as poignant representations of exile, showing how everyday objects trigger memories and feelings of loss. His work springs from his own experiences as a refugee. After the Storm ran at Blenheim Palace between July and October 2024. Sami produced a new series of works for his solo exhibition, blending personal history with that of Blenheim Palace, which was built in the early 18th century. The castle was presented by Queen Anne to the First Duke of Marlborough after this victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and was where Winston Churchill was born. As such, the castle is a monument to military triumph. The castle is filled with portraits and narrative artworks, themes contrasted in Sami's work, which allude to absence and the consequences of war. A presentation from the 2025 Sharjah Biennial has also been nominated for the Turner Prize. The work was created by Korean-Canadian artist Zadie Xa, in collaboration with Spanish artist Benito Mayor Vallejo. It features several disparate elements, including a chandelier-like piece that takes cues from wind chimes made from seashells and rattles from Korean shamanic traditions. It comprises more than 1,000 brass bells that are arranged in the shape of a conch shell. The artwork is part of a room-filling installation called Moonlit Confessions Across Deep Sea Echoes: Your Ancestors Are Whales, and Earth Remembers Everything. One of the highlights is a mixed-media artwork that features a surreal scene that visualises the title of the presentation, with whales swimming atop an arid landscape. Other shortlisted artists include Scottish multimedia artist Nnena Kalu, who has been nominated for her installations at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool and Manifesta 15 in Barcelona. The vibrant sculptures are made of disparate materials, including paper, textiles, cellophane and tape. Finally, Rene Matic is in the running for As Opposed to The Truth, a solo exhibition at CCA Berlin. The exhibition by the UK artist presents personal photographs alongside installations and sound. Works by all four shortlisted artists will be presented in an exhibition at the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford from September 27 to February 22. The winner of the annual prize will be announced during a ceremony in Bradford on December 9. The first place winner will receive £25,000 ($33,334), whereas runners-up will be awarded £10,000 each. Last year's winner of the prize was Jasleen Kaur. The UK artist famously called for a ceasefire in Gaza as she accepted the prestigious art award at a ceremony in London. The annual Turner Prize, named after the landscape painter J M W Turner, is awarded every other year at the Tate Britain. Venues outside London host the award-winning ceremony during alternate iterations.
