Founded in 1993 and transformed from the mid-2000s under the Sharjah Art Foundation, the Biennial is the most consequential recurring exhibition of contemporary art in the Arab world, with a commissioning budget that produces new work rather than touring it, installed across restored houses, schools and industrial buildings in Sharjah city and the east-coast towns.
No attendance figure is collected in this pass.
Its curatorial orientation is explicitly towards the Global South, and its catalogues function as reference works in their own right.
It runs in odd years only and for four months, which two calendars in this network both file as an annual February event. A reader who travels in an even year finds the Foundation's permanent programme and no Biennial.
PlanningNOT ANNUAL. Odd years only, running four months from February; in even years there is no Biennial.
Dates
Season
Computed from the recurrence rule we record for this entry, not copied from a listing. A date marked ~ comes from a calendar conversion and the observance may fall a day or two either side.