Sharjah Biennial Edition History: 2025 and 2027

Sharjah Biennial 16, titled to carry, took place from 6 February to 15 June 2025. It was developed by Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala and Zeynep Öz. Its programme connected artistic practices and exhibition sites across the emirate.

There was no Sharjah Biennial edition in 2026 between that exhibition and the announced seventeenth edition. An older URL containing 2026 should not be read as evidence that an exhibition occurred that year. This page preserves the correct edition sequence.

The next edition, Sharjah Biennial 2027, runs from 21 January to 13 June under the title What remains, sits restive. Curatorial frameworks by Angela Harutyunyan and Paula Nascimento bring together 109 participants across eleven venues in four cities. The new visitor guide covers the locations, opening programme and free exhibition admission.

The change of curatorial structure matters more than a simple substitution of dates. The 2027 frameworks bring the afterlives of socialist modernity into conversation with infrastructure, place and memory. Read each edition through its own works, curators and sites rather than treating the biennial as an unchanged annual display.

The biennial presents:

— Conceptual and experimental art
— Installation-based practices
— Film, sound, and multimedia
— Socially engaged art
— Archival and research-driven projects

Artists are often invited to create new works specifically for the biennial, resulting in site-specific installations that interact with Sharjah’s architecture and urban landscape.

The exhibition is spread across multiple venues, encouraging exploration.

Sharjah Biennial includes:

— Talks and symposiums
— Film screenings
— Workshops and educational programs
— Publications and research projects
— Collaborations with global institutions

The educational and intellectual dimension is central to the biennial’s identity.