Sharjah Art Foundation has announced details for next year’s Sharjah Biennial 17, set to run from 21 January until 13 June 2027 across multiple venues in the emirate.
Entitled What remains, sits restive, the biennial will gather 109 participants and reflect on how unresolved histories continue to shape the present. Rather than presenting the past as something distant or complete, the biennial will emphasise its ongoing presence. The curatorial vision stresses that fragments of earlier political and cultural struggles still persist, influencing how today’s societies experience time, place and memory.
The biennial is structured around two distinct curatorial approaches that engage with the central elements of the theme. Co-curator Angela Harutyunyan is focusing on the lingering effects of socialist modernity, particularly in regions shaped by anti-colonial movements. Harutyunyan’s section brings together 55 participants including, Hande Sever, Hassan Khan, Iman Issa, Hiwa K, Khaled Tanji, Lala Rukh, Shady Elnoshokaty, Karen Ohanyan, Sherif El Azma, Suat Öğüt, Teni Vardanyan, Yaşam Şaşmazer among others, and examines whether artistic practices can challenge contemporary alienation by revisiting unfinished emancipatory ideals. Artists
Meanwhile, Paula Nascimento is approaching the theme through the lens of infrastructure. Her selection of 54 artists including Ibrahim Mahama, Kamala Ibrahim Ishag, Raul Jorge Gourgel and Yazan Khalili and Ziad Naitaddi will investigate how built environments and social systems carry traces of cultural erasure and resilience, offering new ways to interpret lived and inherited experiences.
Together, these two curatorial perspectives will create a layered exploration of history’s persistence, one that moves beyond nostalgia and instead positions art as an active force in understanding and reshaping the complexities of the present.
List of artists
Under the curatorship of Angela Harutyunyan:
Alban Muja
Alexandra Sukhareva
Amanda Beech
Anri Sala
Arash Azadi
Arman Grigoryan
Armen Ter-Mkrtchyan
Armenak Grigoryan
Cristiana de Marchi
Cynthia Zaven
Daniele Genadry
David Schutter
Hamlet Hovsepyan
Hande Sever
Hassan Khan
Hiwa K
Igor Savchenko
Iman Issa
Jasmina Cibic
Jessica Ekomane
Jiří Žák
Josef Bolf
Josephine Pryde
Kapwani Kiwanga
Karen Ohanyan
Karine Matsakyan
Karlo Kacharava
Kasper Kovitz
Khaled Tanji
Kristina Benjocki
Lala Rukh
Lena Kocutar
Lousineh Navasartian
Marcos Grigoryan
Michael Martirosyan
Natasha Gasparian
Neda Saeedi
Octavian Esanu
Romana Schmalisch and Robert Schlicht
Sebastián Díaz Morales
Shady Elnoshokaty
Sherif El Azma
Stijn Verhoeff
Suat Öğüt
Tekla Aslanishvili and Solveig Qu Suess
Teni Vardanyan
Thea Djordjadze
Thea Gvetadze
Tsolak Topchyan
Vehanush Topchyan
Yaşam Şaşmazer
Yass
Zbyněk Balandrán
Under the curatorship of Paula Nascimento:
Agnes Essonti Luque
Ana Silva
Ângela Ferreira
António Ole
Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński
Carlos Noronha Feio
César Schofield Cardoso
Christian Salablanca Díaz
Cipriano; Dana Whabira
Edson Chagas
Euridice Zaituna Kala
Francisco Vidal
Gabriel Chaile
Gabrielle Goliath
Georges Senga
Gosette Lubondo
Grada Kilomba
Helena Uambembe
Hong-Kai Wang
Ibrahim Mahama
Ilídio Candja Candja
Januario Jano
Jean Katambayi Mukendi
Josèfa Ntjam
Kamala Ibrahim Ishag
Kapela Paulo
Kiluanji Kia Henda and Sumayya Vally with Flávio Cardoso
Lilianne Kiame
Raul Jorge Gourgel and Yazan Khalili
Limbo Museum founded by Dominique Petit-Frère
Lungiswa Gqunta
Mpho Matsipa
Myles Igwe
Nolan Oswald Dennis
Ntshepe Tsekere Bopape
Nú Barret
Oscar Murillo
Pamela Cevallos
Rebeca Carapiá
Reinata Sadimba
René Tavares
Rui Magalhães
Sandra Poulson
Senzeni Marasela
Sonia Gomes
Tuli Mekondjo
Victor Gama
Wendy Morris
Ziad Naitaddi
Zina Saro-Wiwa
Sharjah Biennial 17 will run from 21 January until 13 June 2027
