Sharjah Art Foundation Announces March Meeting 2024, Alongside Major Exhibitions And Performance Programme

Sharjah Art Foundation has announced exhibitions and programmes for early 2024. The Foundation is committed to providing a platform for artists from the MEASA (Middle East, Africa, South Asia) region while also acting as a catalyst for collaboration and exchange with the international arts community.

The Foundation will host its annual March Meeting, featuring roundtable discussions, workshops, performances and more. March Meeting 2024 focuses on collectives whose practices intertwine art making and community building, examining various forms of collaboration that advance social justice. Also upcoming are two significant solo exhibitions: the first major survey of the late Pakistani artist and women's rights activist Lala Rukh and the largest solo presentation of artworks by Ethiopian telsem artist Henok Melkamzer. Other early 2024 exhibitions include the first major museum exhibition of artists from the renowned Casablanca Art School in Morocco, following its debut at Tate St Ives, as well as two special exhibitions of works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection: one centring on recent acquisitions of works in drawing and printmaking and another by artists who have dedicated their practice to informing and educating audiences on the history of Palestine.

In addition, Perform Sharjah—the Foundation's performing arts programme—returns for its second season with performances by Essia Jaïbi and Jalila Baccar, Radouan Mriziga, Rayanne Tabet, Tao Ye and more.

Sharjah Art Foundation's schedule of exhibitions and programmes follows below and can also be found at sharjahart.org.

March Meeting 2024
1–3 March 2024
Calligraphy Square

Sharjah Art Foundation's annual March Meeting convenes artists, curators and art practitioners from around the world to discuss vital issues in contemporary art. The upcoming edition focuses on collectives whose practices intertwine art making and community building, examining various forms of collaboration that advance social justice.

March Meeting 2024 (MM 2024) will examine collaborative methods and modalities that both reappraise artistic, curatorial and activist approaches and reconfigure the role of art and artists in our current lived realities. It also considers alternative forms of coming together, such as learning platforms, activist movements, correspondences or publishing, which can serve as toolkits for social justice, solidarity and political mobilisation.

Through talks, roundtable discussions, lectures, workshops, performances and more, MM 2024 invites participants to radically reimagine more inclusive, equitable, sustainable and liveable futures. Sessions will prompt dialogue around questions such as the following: How does collaborative work enhance notions of artistic agency, especially in moments of global unrest? Can the mutual sharing of artistic and cultural resources help us navigate precarity, stimulate dialogue and encourage equity?

Exhibitions and Programmes

In the eyes of our present, we hear Palestine
23 December 2023–14 April 2024
Old Al Dhaid Clinic and Arts Palace (Khalid Bin Mohammed Palace), Al Dhaid

This special exhibition presents over 60 works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection, showcasing the creativity of artists who have dedicated their practice to informing and educating audiences on the history of Palestine—the occupation, the current political situation and issues of human rights. While bearing witness to forced displacement and devastating loss, the works also celebrate the rich identity and heritage of Palestine, invoking a spirit of solidarity.

Spanning from the late 1950s to the present, the works in the exhibition are by artists from Palestine and neighbouring countries. Together, these paintings, sculptures, installations and videos offer a glimpse into the challenges and hopes of the Palestinian community. The exhibition includes works by Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Adel Abidin, Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri, Simone Fattal, Tarek Al Ghoussein, Shadi Habib Allah, Hazem Harb, Mona Hatoum, Emily Jacir, Najat Makki, Jumana Manna and Sille Storihle, Rashid Masharawi, Khalil Rabah, Mario Rizzi, Raeda Saadeh, Mona Saudi, Basma Al Sharif, Nida Sinnokrot, Sharif Waked, Kamal Youssef and Abdul Hay Mosallam Zarara.

Perform Sharjah
13 January–18 February 2024 (various dates)
Various dates and venues

Sharjah Art Foundation's performing arts programme returns for its second season, activating public spaces, heritage houses and theatres throughout Sharjah. The programme engages with the city's urban fabric through a range of performative works, workshops and talks. This year's edition of Perform Sharjah features eight performances by a dynamic lineup of artists from various disciplines, including Jalila Baccar, Tao Ye, Essia Jaïbi, Radouan Mriziga, Rayyane Tabet, Judit Böröcz, Bence György Pálinkás, Máté Szigeti and Mohit Takalkar. Perform Sharjah is curated by Tarek Abou El Fetouh, Director of Performance and Senior Curator at Sharjah Art Foundation.

Lala Rukh: In the Round
24 February–16 June 2024
Galleries 1, 2 and 3, Al Mureijah Art Spaces

Lala Rukh: In the Round, the first major international survey of work by Lala Rukh, reflects on three decades of the late artist and activist's work in drawing, printmaking and video, produced against the backdrop of political turmoil and feminist movements in Pakistan. Her poetic compositions depict horizons, lunar movements, bodies of water, coastlines and archaeological sites, capturing a gradient of rhythms through her pared-down vocabulary of lines, ciphers and blackness.

The exhibition features rarely seen works from the early years of her practice, alongside original posters, publications and interviews with her collaborators during the time she was championing gender justice and civic rights. In addition to key archival material, In the Round brings together works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection as well as lesser-known series from Sigiriya, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan's Gadani shoreline. Her final work, Rupak (2016), which represents a seamless intertwining of mark making, musicality and silence, is also exhibited for the first time in the region.

In the Round is curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, and Natasha Ginwala, co-curator of Sharjah Biennial 16 and Artistic Director of COLOMBOSCOPE.

Henok Melkamzer: Telsem Symbols and Imagery

24 February–16 June 2024

Sharjah Art Museum

With more than 100 works, many on view for the first time, this exhibition is the largest solo presentation by telsem artist Henok Melkamzer, offering audiences a rare look at this distinctive Ethiopian art form. Traditionally termed a healing or talisman art, telsem is actually a sophisticated visual art form that incorporates philosophy and intricate themes into various symbols, drawings and texts imbued with deeper meanings.

Combining ancient inspirations with modern idioms, the artist's canvas works reconstruct the conventions of this traditional art form and broaden the understanding of ‘modern' art. Organised in collaboration with The Africa Institute, Sharjah, and Sharjah Museums Authority, the exhibition is curated by Elizabeth Giorgis, Associate Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism, The Africa Institute.

Casablanca Art School: Platforms and Patterns for a Postcolonial Avant-Garde 1962–1987
24 February–16 June 2024

Al Hamriyah Studios and Old Al Diwan Al Amiri, Al Hamriyah

Following its acclaimed showing at Tate St Ives, Sharjah Art Foundation presents the first major museum exhibition of works of the Casablanca Art School, whose revolutionary approach following Morocco's independence in 1956 proposed a bold new visual culture. The Casablanca Art School was a pivotal movement that transformed the development of Moroccan modernism through public engagement, revalorisation of tradition, radical pedagogy and international solidarity. This landmark exhibition looks back at key moments in the development of the School by bringing together a wide range of works by more than 20 artists, from abstract paintings and graphic art to craftwork and ceramics, as well as a careful selection of rarely seen archival material.

Co-organised by Sharjah Art Foundation and Tate St Ives in collaboration with Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, the exhibition is curated by Morad Montazami and Madeleine de Colnet for Zamân Books & Curating with Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, and with associate researchers Fatima-Zahra Lakrissa and Maud Houssais. The exhibition is also part of a key moment of international research into the Casablanca Art School, initiated in 2020 by KW Institute for Contemporary Art and Sharjah Art Foundation, in partnership with Goethe-Institut Marokko, ThinkArt and Zamân Books & Curating.

Drawing Time: Duets
4 May–4 August 2024
Gallery 4, Al Mureijah Art Spaces

The first instalment of a four-part series, this exhibition spotlights new and historical works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection that present the range and possibilities of drawing as a practice. Beginning with explorations of colour, texture and materials, the series will expand to consider the purpose of line, movement, performance and gesture across multiple forms of media. In this evolving exhibition and research project, drawing and print culture are examined in relation to contemporary artistic practices that are deeply rooted in centuries of Afro-Asian history. The first chapter of the series, Drawing Time: Duets, delves into the concept of the double, the pair, the rejoinder. Here, acts of repetition accumulate through a custom-designed scenography, where a crooning duet guides visitors across a century in time. The exhibition is curated by Dr Omar Kholeif, Director of Collections and Senior Curator at Sharjah Art Foundation.

Sharjah Art Foundation is an advocate, catalyst and producer of contemporary art within the Emirate of Sharjah and the surrounding region, in dialogue with the international arts community. The Foundation advances an experimental and wide-ranging programmatic model that supports the production and presentation of contemporary art, preserves and celebrates the distinct culture of the region and encourages a shared understanding of the transformational role of art. The Foundation's core initiatives include the long-running Sharjah Biennial, featuring contemporary artists from around the world; the annual March Meeting, a convening of international arts professionals and artists; grants and residencies for artists, curators, and cultural producers; ambitious and experimental commissions and a range of travelling exhibitions and scholarly publications.

Established in 2009 to expand programmes beyond the Sharjah Biennial, which launched in 1993, the Foundation is a critical resource for artists and cultural organisations in the Gulf and a conduit for local, regional and international developments in contemporary art. The Foundation's deep commitment to developing and sustaining the cultural life and heritage of Sharjah is reflected through year-round exhibitions, performances, screenings and educational programmes in the city of Sharjah and across the Emirate, often hosted in historic buildings that have been repurposed as cultural and community centres. A growing collection reflects the Foundation's support of contemporary artists in the realisation of new work and its recognition of the contributions made by pioneering modern artists from the region and around the world.

Sharjah Art Foundation is a legally independent public body established by Emiri Decree and supported by government funding, grants from national and international nonprofits and cultural organisations, corporate sponsors and individual patrons. Hoor Al Qasimi serves as President and Director. All exhibitions are free and open to the public.

Sharjah is the third largest of the seven United Arab Emirates and the only one bridging the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Reflecting the deep commitment to the arts, architectural preservation and cultural education embraced by its ruler, Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Sharjah is home to more than 20 museums and has long been known as the cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates. In 1998, it was named UNESCO's 'Arab Capital of Culture' and has been designated the UNESCO ‘World Book Capital' for the year 2019.