Sharjah Biennial 17 2027

Sharjah Biennial 17, titled “What remains, sits restive,” will take place from January 21 to June 13, 2027, with its opening week running from January 21 to 24, 2027, across multiple venues throughout the Emirate of Sharjah, including Sharjah City, Al Dhaid, Khorfakkan, and Kalba.

Curated by Angela Harutyunyan and Paula Nascimento, the 17th edition brings together 109 local and international artists and collectives. The biennial explores how unlived pasts, unfinished histories, memories, and unresolved struggles continue to shape the present.

Angela Harutyunyan examines the afterlives of socialist modernity and anti-colonial struggles, considering how artistic practices can respond to contemporary forms of alienation under late capitalism. Paula Nascimento approaches infrastructure as a way of exploring the relationships between space, place, memory, and systems of power.

Through exhibitions, artistic projects, and interventions across Sharjah’s diverse cultural and geographic landscapes, Sharjah Biennial 17 creates a space for reflection on histories that remain active in the present, inviting audiences to reconsider how the past influences contemporary life and future possibilities.