The international proliferation of biennials in recent years has resulted in criticism and debate as to the relevance of this model for exhibition-making. These discussions often overlook the important specificity of place that underlies the planning and conception of most contemporary biennials. A biennial can and should feel a part of the place in which it is realized – reflecting its people, culture, concerns, and geography.
In this presentation, I will share my 20 years of experience working on the Sharjah Biennial both as curator and director, and how it has informed my curatorial practice. In addition to my work in Sharjah, I will also discuss how curating biennials in a range of cities around the world have built on my Sharjah experience and added depth to my understanding and respect for this exhibitionary model. Among the projects, I will cover are my works on the 2nd Lahore Biennial (2020), the visual arts programme Dream City as part of the annual Tunis Performance Festival (2023), and more recently Rios Intermitentes, a biennial in the city of Matanzas in Cuba (2024). I will also touch on my plans for the upcoming Aichi Triennial and the Sydney Biennial.
Director, Sharjah Art Foundation
Photo: Sebastian Böttcher
Hoor Al Qasimi is the President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, the independent public arts organization she established in 2009 as a catalyst and advocate for the arts in Sharjah, UAE, and around the world. Director of the Sharjah Biennial since 2003, she has curated and co-curated major exhibitions for the Sharjah Art Foundation and numerous international institutions, including the critically acclaimed Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present (2023); the touring retrospective Hassan Sharif: I Am The Single Work Artist (2017–2018); and solo exhibitions for artists Tarek Atoui, Simon Fattah, Rasheed Araeen, Yayoi Kusama, Farideh Lashai, and Khalil Rabah. Al Qasimi also serves as president of the International Biennial Association and The Africa Institute, Sharjah; director of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial; and head of Sharjah’s newly established Global Studies University. Al Qasimi curated the 2020 Lahore Biennale and has been appointed artistic director of the 6th Aichi Triennale in 2025 and the 25th Biennale of Sydney.
Director, Taipei Fine Arts Museum
Jun-Jieh Wang is the Director of Taipei Fine Arts Museum and the Professor in the Department of New Media Art at Taipei National University of the Arts. He graduated from the HdK Art Academy in Berlin, completing a master class. In 1984, Wang started working with video art and became one of the pioneers of new media art in Taiwan. Wang has been active in the international contemporary art arena. Invitations to major international exhibitions came from the Gwangju Biennale, the Venice Biennale, the Taipei Biennial, the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Transmediale Berlin, and the European Media Art Festival. His main work as curator includes: A One and A Two: Edward Yang Retrospective (Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 2023), The Wild Eighties: Dawn of a Transdisciplinary Taiwan (Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 2022), Re-Base: When Experiments Become Attitude (C-LAB, 2018), 2006 Taipei Biennial: Dirty Yoga (Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 2006), B!AS: International Sound Art Exhibition (Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 2005).
Director, New Taipei City Art Museum
Photo:Yau-Jeng Tsai
Hsiang-Ling Lai is the Director of New Taipei City Art Museum. She has academic backgrounds in art history and museum studies. Formerly the curator at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, she has more than 30 years of experience in curatorial practice and museum management in Taiwan and Shanghai. She was the Founding Director of Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (Taipei), Rockbund Art Museum (Shanghai), and was the Executive Director of Museum of Contemporary Art (Taipei). In her previous work, Lai has committed to promoting research, creation, public engagement, social communication, and international exchange through museum management and art curation.
Lai currently serves as the Collections Committee member of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum, as well as the board member of Jut Foundation for Arts and Architecture and Dimension Endowment of Art.