Sharjah Biennial 17: Dates, Venues, Curators & Registration
Sharjah Biennial 17 opens on 21 January 2027 and runs until 13 June, with 109 participants showing work in 11 venues across four cities. Sharjah Art Foundation organises the Biennial every two years, and admission to the Foundation’s exhibitions is free. The opening week, 21 to 24 January, runs on registration.
The 17th edition is titled What remains, sits restive and has two curators, Angela Harutyunyan and Paula Nascimento.
Sharjah Biennial 17 key details
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | What remains, sits restive |
| Run | 21 January to 13 June 2027 |
| Opening week | 21 to 24 January 2027 |
| Curators | Angela Harutyunyan and Paula Nascimento |
| Participants | 109 (55 with Harutyunyan, 54 with Nascimento) |
| Venues | 11 in Sharjah, Al Dhaid, Kalba and Khorfakkan |
| March Meeting | 19 to 21 March 2027 |
| Admission | Free |
| Registration | Online form or registersb17@sharjahart.org |
| Organiser | Sharjah Art Foundation |
What the Sharjah Biennial is
The Sharjah Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition held in the emirate of Sharjah every two years, first staged in 1993. The Sharjah Department of Culture and Information organised the early editions, and the Biennial was reoriented in 2003 under Hoor Al Qasimi, now President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation. The Foundation was established in 2009 to run programmes beyond the Biennial, including the annual March Meeting.
The opening date has moved earlier with each recent edition, from March in 2017 and 2019 to February in 2023 and 2025, and now January. SB17 gives the Biennial a run of just under five months.
| Edition | Title | Opened | Curators |
|---|---|---|---|
| SB13 | Tamawuj | 10 March 2017 | Christine Tohmé |
| SB14 | Leaving the Echo Chamber | 7 March 2019 | Zoe Butt, Omar Kholeif and Claire Tancons |
| SB15 | Thinking Historically in the Present | 7 February 2023 | Hoor Al Qasimi, building on a concept by Okwui Enwezor |
| SB16 | to carry | 6 February 2025 | Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala and Zeynep Öz |
| SB17 | What remains, sits restive | 21 January 2027 | Angela Harutyunyan and Paula Nascimento |
The exhibition is not held in one building. SB17 spreads across heritage and contemporary venues, many of them restored historic buildings turned into cultural spaces.
Venues across four cities
SB17 uses 11 venues: six in Sharjah city, two in Al Dhaid, one in Kalba and two in Khorfakkan.
Sharjah city
These six venues are in the city:
- Arts Square
- Calligraphy Square
- Al Mureijah Square
- Photography Gallery
- The Flying Saucer
- Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation
Al Mureijah Square also holds the Foundation’s Information Centre. Because Sharjah city has six of the eleven venues, it works as the base for the whole run.
Al Dhaid
Al Dhaid has two venues, Al Dhaid Art Centre and Arts Palace and Farm. Al Dhaid is an inland oasis town, a different setting from the coastal venues in Kalba and Khorfakkan.
Kalba
Kalba has one venue, Kalba Ice Factory. The town sits on the Gulf of Oman coast, and the Kalba Clock Tower, with two viewing decks, is in the same town.
Khorfakkan
Khorfakkan has two venues, Khorfakkan Hall and Khorfakkan Cinema. The town also has a free public Khorfakkan Beach.
Curators & theme
Angela Harutyunyan and Paula Nascimento each curate their own group of participants under one shared theme. The title What remains, sits restive starts from the idea that the unfinished emancipatory projects of modernity have not disappeared. They stay active in the present and keep shaping how time and space are organised.
- Angela Harutyunyan brings 55 participants. Her strand follows the afterlives of socialist modernity as seen from the peripheries of modernisation and anti-colonial struggles. She is Professor of Contemporary Art and Theory at the Berlin University of the Arts.
- Paula Nascimento brings 54 participants and uses infrastructure as a method for exploring how space, place and memory intersect. She is an architect and independent curator based in Luanda, and her projects include the Angola Pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale, which won the Golden Lion for best national participation.
SB16 had five curators, so SB17 is a smaller curatorial team working across a similar emirate-wide footprint. The participant lists include Anri Sala, Hiwa K, Kapwani Kiwanga and Josephine Pryde in Harutyunyan’s strand, and Ibrahim Mahama, Grada Kilomba, Oscar Murillo and Zina Saro-Wiwa in Nascimento’s.
Opening week, 21 to 24 January
The opening week runs from Thursday 21 January to Sunday 24 January 2027 across Sharjah, Al Dhaid, Kalba and Khorfakkan, with exhibition tours, performances, activations and screenings each day. The programme includes:
- An intervention by Ângela Ferreira in a 1970s cinema, asking what happens when architecture travels.
- A performance by Cynthia Zaven that revives a lost tradition of women’s sea songs in the Arab Gulf.
- Sound-generating sculptures by Christian Salablanca Díaz, rooted in memories of the Sierpe mangrove forest in Costa Rica.
- Sonic performances by Jessica Ekomane and Ntshepe Tsekere Bopape, set in Sharjah’s landscapes.
- Present Uneven, a film programme curated by Harutyunyan and Tevž Logar, which closes the week.
Opening-week attendance goes through registration, covered in the steps below.
March Meeting 2027
March Meeting runs from Friday 19 to Sunday 21 March 2027. It is the Foundation’s annual convening of international arts professionals and artists, and this 18th edition offers discursive sessions that extend the Biennial’s curatorial questions.
Three commissioned performances by Biennial participants are part of the programme:
- Victor Gama performs a solo multimedia piece that weaves an anthropologist’s handwritten notes with southern African polyrhythms and electronic music.
- Wendy Morris leads a procession to the breakwater at dusk, singing a lament to the Arabian Gulf.
- Hassan Khan performs recent songs and hip-hop tracks written in response to turbulent times.
Tours of the Biennial run every evening of the meeting. A free bus tour to the central and eastern regions leaves on Thursday 18 March.
How to register & plan a visit
Registration for SB17 takes four steps:
- Complete the registration form to register for the opening week programme.
- Email registersb17@sharjahart.org with registration questions.
- Email guestrelations@sharjahart.org to arrange a tailored visit or a guided tour, for yourself or a group.
- Use the SB17 Visitor’s Guide & Travel Pack on the Biennial’s Plan Your Trip page. It covers getting to Sharjah, transport options, recommended accommodation and exclusive rates at partner hotels.
For general questions, the Information Centre at Al Mureijah Square answers on +971 6 548 1381 and at info@sharjahart.org.
How SB16 ran
SB16, titled to carry, ran from 6 February to 15 June 2025 with five curators, more than 190 participants, over 200 new commissions and more than 650 works across 17 venues. Its operating pattern shows what a visit to a Sharjah Biennial involves day to day:
| Item | SB16 |
|---|---|
| Opening programme | 6 to 9 February 2025 |
| March Meeting | 7 to 9 March 2025 |
| April Acts | 18 to 20 April 2025 |
| Hours | Saturday to Thursday 9 am to 9 pm, Friday 4 pm to 9 pm |
| Entry | Free, with pre-booked passes recommended to avoid waiting |
| Guided tours | Free for individuals or groups, with 2 to 3 working days to process a request |
| Sunday shuttles | Free, leaving Al Mureijah Square at 2 pm on two routes: Al Hamriyah and Kalba, or House of Wisdom, Al Dhaid, Buhais and Al Madam |
Al Hamriyah, Al Madam and Buhais hosted SB16 works but are not among the 11 SB17 venues.
FAQ
When does Sharjah Biennial 17 start & end?
Sharjah Biennial 17 runs from 21 January to 13 June 2027, with the opening week from 21 to 24 January.
How often is the Sharjah Biennial held?
Every two years. SB16 ran in 2025 and SB17 follows in 2027.
Is Sharjah Biennial 17 free?
Yes. Admission to Sharjah Art Foundation exhibitions is free and open to the public.
Who curates Sharjah Biennial 17?
Angela Harutyunyan and Paula Nascimento curate it, with 109 participants between them.
Do I need to register for Sharjah Biennial 17?
The opening week programme, 21 to 24 January 2027, runs on registration through the Foundation’s form or registersb17@sharjahart.org.
What is the March Meeting?
March Meeting is the Foundation’s annual gathering of international arts professionals and artists. The 2027 edition runs from 19 to 21 March.
Choosing when to go
The three windows suit different plans:
- 21 to 24 January: performances across four cities and the Present Uneven film programme. Register first.
- 19 to 21 March: talks, commissioned performances, evening tours of the Biennial and the free bus tour to the central and eastern regions on 18 March.
- Any other date until 13 June: time with the work itself, plus guided tours arranged through guestrelations@sharjahart.org.
