Opening in March 2019, Sharjah Biennial 14 (SB14) will showcase three unique exhibitions, curated by Zoe Butt, Omar Kholeif and Claire Tancons, that explore the possibilities for creating art when history is increasingly fictionalized, when ideas of "society" are invariably displaced, when borders and beliefs are under constant renegotiation, and our material culture is under the constant threat of human destruction and climate degradation.

Join MA Curatorial Practice for presentations and discussions with the SB14 curators and Sharjah Art Foundation President and Director Hoor Al Qasimi, followed by a Q&A moderated by faculty member Brian Kuan Wood.

Zoe Butt is the artistic director of The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. With a focus on building critically-thinking, historically-conscious artistic communities, Butt previously served as Executive Director and Curator of Sàn Art in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; director of International Programs at Long March Project in Beijing, China; and assistant curator of Contemporary Asian Art at Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia.

Dr. Omar Kholeif is a writer, curator and broadcaster based in London. He is currently co-curating the 14th Sharjah Biennial and The Post-Digital Condition, both for the Sharjah Art Foundation; the V-A-C Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, as well as working as Guest Curator for Manchester International Festival and Abu Dhabi Art. He has held esteemed positions, including Manilow Senior Curator and Director of Global Initiatives at MCA Chicago; curator at Whitechapel Gallery, London; Head of Art and Technology at Space, London; senior curator at Cornerhouse and HOME, Manchester, and curator at FACT, Liverpool. He has curated or co-curated over 100 projects worldwide including the Cyprus Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale; the 2015 Abraaj Art Prize, and the 2012 Liverpool Biennial. The author and or editor of over two dozen books, his most recent volumes include, Goodbye, World! Looking at Art in the Digital Age (Sternberg Press, 2018) and The Artists Who Will Change The World (Thames and Hudson, 2018).

Hoor Al Qasimi, President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, is a curator and practicing artist who received her BFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London (2002), a Diploma in Painting from the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2005) and an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London (2008). In 2003, she was appointed curator of Sharjah Biennial 6 and has since continued as the Biennial Director. Al Qasimi serves on the Board of Directors for MoMA PS1, New York; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, and Darat Al Funun, Amman.

Claire Tancons is a curator and scholar invested in the discourse and practice of the postcolonial politics of production and exhibition. Tancons' independent vision has been supported by an Andy Warhol Foundation Curatorial Fellowship (2008), a Prince Claus Fund Artistic Production Grant (2009) and two Curatorial Research Fellowships from the Foundation for Art Initiatives (2007, 2009). She has curated for established and emerging international biennials including Prospect New Orleans (2008), the Gwangju Biennale (2008), the Cape Town Biennial (2009), Biennale Bénin (2012) and the Göteborg Biennial (2013).

Talk

Curators of the Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber