Organizers of the Sharjah Biennial have released the names of more than 140 artists participating in the event’s hotly anticipated 2023 iteration, conceived by the late Okwui Enwezor and curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, director of the Sharjah Art Foundation, which oversees the biennial. Artists from over seventy countries will be represented across sixteen venues scattered around the city, including a former kindergarten, a vegetable market, and a power station. The event is slated to take place February 7–June 11, 2023.
Delayed two years by the Covid 19 crisis, the biennial is widely seen as representing the last project by the highly respected Enwezor, who died in 2019. “Okwui saw Sharjah Biennial’s 30-year anniversary as an opportunity to reflect on the role that biennials serve in the ecosystem of contemporary art, particularly the Sharjah Biennial itself and the broader Foundation that grew from it,” noted al Qasimi. “With gratitude to Okwui and the ambitious intellectual project he conceived, we are organizing a Biennial that builds on and honors his vision to probe the past, present, and future role that biennials and institutions, including the Sharjah Biennial and the Foundation can serve.”
A list of participating artists announced to date is below.
Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme
Maitha Abdalla
Fathi Afifi
Hoda Afshar
John Akomfrah
Jawad Al Malhi
Monira Al Qadiri
Farah Al Qasimi
Mounira Al Solh
Moza Almatrooshi
Marwah AlMugait
Hangama Amiri
Brook Andrew
Malala Andrialavidrazana
Rushdi Anwar
Kader Attia
Au Sow Yee
Dana Awartani
Omar Badsha
Natalie Ball
Sammy Baloji
Mirna Bamieh
Pablo Bartholomew and Richard Bartholomew
Shiraz Bayjoo
Bahar Behbahani
Asma Belhamar
Diedrick Brackens
Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons
Cao Fei
Carolina Caycedo
Ali Cherri
Wook-kyung Choi
Iftikhar Dadi and Elizabeth Dadi
Solmaz Daryani
Annalee Davis
Destiny Deacon
Manthia Diawara
Imane Djamil
Anju Dodiya
Kimathi Donkor
Heri Dono
Tania El Khoury
Nabil El Makhloufi
Rehab Eldalil
Ali Eyal
Brenda Fajardo
Raheleh Filsoofi
Nina Fischer and Maroan el Sani
Coco Fusco
Flavia Gandolfo
Theaster Gates
Gabriela Golder
Gabrielle Goliath
Yulia Grigoryants
Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige
Hassan Hajjaj
David Hammons
Archana Hande
Fathi Hassan
Mona Hatoum
Lubaina Himid
Laura Huertas Millán
Saodat Ismailova
Isaac Julien
Saddam Jumaily
Robyn Kahukiwa
Reena Saini Kallat
Hanni Kamaly
Amar Kanwar
Bouchra Khalili
Naiza Khan
Kiluanji Kia Henda
Ayoung Kim
Emily Kame Kngwarreye
Hiroji Kubota
Nusra Latif Qureshi
Lee Kai Chung
Ibrahim Mahama
Waheeda Malullah
Maharani Mancanagara
mandla
Lavanya Mani
Kerry James Marshall
Queenie McKenzie
Steve McQueen
Marisol Mendez
Almagul Menlibayeva
Helina Metaferia
Kimowan Metchewais
Meleanna Meyer
Joiri Minaya
Tahila Mintz
Roméo Mivekannin
Tracey Moffat
Aline Motta
Wangechi Mutu
Eubena Nampitjin
Dala Nasser
Pipo Nguyen-Duy
Mame-Diarra Niang
Shelley Niro
Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi
Elia Nurvista
Okwui Okpokwasili
Kambui Olujimi
Zohra Opoku
Erkan Özgen
Pak Khawateen Painting Club
Pushpakanthan Pakkiyarajah
Hyesoo Park
Philippe Parreno
Angela Ponce
Prajakta Potnis
Anita Pouchard Serra
Jasbir Puar and Dima Srouji
Michael Rakowitz
Umar Rashid
Wendy Red Star
Veronica Ryan
Doris Salcedo
Abdulrahim Salem
Sangeeta Sandrasegar
Varunika Saraf
Khadija Saye
Berni Searle
Mithu Sen
Nelly Sethna
Aziza Shadenova
Smita Sharma
Nilima Sheikh
Yinka Shonibare
Felix Shumba
Semsar Siahaan
Mary Sibande
Kahurangiariki Smith
Inuuteq Storch
Vivan Sundaram
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum
Obaid Suroor
The Living and the Dead Ensemble
Hank Willis Thomas
Akeim Toussaint Buck
Fatimah Tuggar
Hajra Waheed
Barbara Walker
Wang Jianwei
Nari Ward
Carrie Mae Weems
Nil Yalter
