March Meeting 2021 (MM 2021), the annual Sharjah Art Foundation convening of artists, curators and art practitioners to explore critical issues in contemporary art, returns as an expanded 10-day, hybrid on-site and online programme from 12 to 21 March 2021.
Examining the 30-year history of the Sharjah Biennial and the future of the biennial model through panels, lectures and performances, March Meeting 2021: Unravelling the Present serves as the launch of Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present, which was conceived by the late Okwui Enwezor (1963–2019) and is curated by Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) Director Hoor Al Qasimi alongside the Sharjah Biennial (SB15) Working Group and Advisory Committee, and opens in spring 2022.
MM 2021 explores the past 30 years of the Sharjah Biennial as a model for dealing with the disruptive power of artistic monolingualism and the starting point for developing a theoretical space for thinking historically in the present.
Titled Unravelling the Present, this edition of the March Meeting brings together former Sharjah Biennial curators, artistic directors and artists as well as art historians and art critics to consider the role and impact of the Sharjah Biennial in the region and the global contemporary art scene at large.
MM 2021 will also explore the evolution of the Sharjah Biennial, focusing on its disruption of traditional modes of curating and displaying art by activating non-institutional spaces as well as non-geographic models of representation.
MM 2021 is an integral part of the framework for SB15 laid out by Enwezor. Building on Enwezor’s remarkable and transformative contribution to contemporary art, SB15 will serve as a platform for the exploration of his curatorial and intellectual legacy. The Biennial will reflect on the critical work of alternative platforms and artistic experimentation enabled by the emergence of the contemporary art biennial, uniquely embracing Enwezor’s insistence on the art exhibition as an important vehicle for engaging with history, politics and society and the ways in which these domains shape our global present. The Biennial will be realised by Hoor Al Qasimi as curator in conjunction with the SB15 Working Group and Advisory Committee.
In addition to panels and lectures, the programme will include performances led by acclaimed artist and musician Tarek Atoui as well as resident artists and advisors participating in the residency programme that is taking place as part of Atoui’s ongoing solo exhibition Cycles in 11. Participants include Leyya Mona Tawil, Kristoffer Kjaerskov and Safeya Alblooshi (from 1 to 15 March), and Boris Shershenkov, Hadi Zeidan and Zeynab Ghandour (from 14 to 23 March).
On View at Sharjah Art Foundation in March 2021
Coinciding with MM 2021, the exhibitions Rayyane Tabet: Exquisite Corpse, curated by SAF Senior Curator Ryan Inouye, and Unsettled Objects, curated by SAF Director of Collections and Senior Curator Omar Kholeif, will open on 12 March 2021. Zarina Bhimji: Black Pocket and Tarek Atoui: Cycles in 11, both curated by SAF Director Hoor Al Qasimi, will also remain on view through 10 April 2021. Special curator and artist-led tours of the exhibitions will take place throughout MM 2021, and additional information on all spring 2021 exhibitions is available here. MM 2021 is free to attend by registration.
