28,000 art lovers visit Sharjah Biennial

The creative works of over 70 artists from 36 countries attracted thousands of visitors from all over the globe, who made a beeline to the Sharjah Expo Centre, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah Museum for Contemporary Arab Art as also a new museum in the Arts Area, which housed the private collection of H. H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the UAE Supreme Council, Ruler of Sharjah and a lifelong supporter of the Arts.

The Biennial website www.sharjahbiennial.org, which recorded over 500,000 hits, generated a lot of interest among the art aficionados from all corners of the world. In fact, the fascinating anecdotes posted on the website attracted a lot of art enthusiasts from Germany who wanted to have a peep into the world contemporary art showcased at the Sharjah Biennial.

Among the various interesting facets available at a click of a mouse were biographies about the curators, participating artists as also information about the Biennial Symposium, the Biennial Roundtable, which shed light on the phenomenon of Biennials around the world, and the Biennial Catalogue showcasing the creative works of the participating artists.

Expressing his views at the tremendous success achieved by the Sharjah Biennial 7, Hisham Al Madhloum, General Coordinator of the Biennial, said: "The Biennial, as one of the most important international arts events, represented the vision of H. H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan Al Qasimi and I am thankful for his support, which helped in making the event such a grand success. I also would like to extend my sincere gratitude to H. H. Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, President of the Biennial, because of whom the event has assumed international stature."

He added: "Thanks to the concerted efforts of the entire team, we were able to bring forth our central theme of Belonging, which presented how art can overlap with history and how artists allow us to think across cultural divisions. The event has gone a long way in supporting and promoting the arts and cultural dynamics of the region."

A total of 250 artworks were on show at the two venues of the Biennial - Sharjah Expo Centre and the Sharjah Art Museum and was spread over 12,500 square metres across 122 exhibition spaces.

Another interesting aspect of the Biennial was that it successfully involved the student community as part of a Comprehensive Education Programme, conducted in close coordination with the UAE Ministry of Education which ran concurrently with the Biennial activities.

As part of this Education Programme, students from 109 schools from all the Emirates visited the Biennial between April 6 and June 6. The special guided tours for student visitors were aimed at engaging youth of all ages and helping stimulate and encouraging greater participation and understanding of contemporary art.

The programme also involved students from the College of Fine Arts at the University of Sharjah, fine arts under-graduates from the Zayed University and students pursuing design courses at the Technical College and the American University of Dubai (AUD).

In his comments on the various success factors behind Sharjah Biennial 7, Jack Persekian, Head Curator of the event, said: "I am thankful to H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan Al Qasimi and H.H. Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi and the entire team who worked very hard, for very long hours, in unison, to ensure the success of this wonderful event. The involvement of the student community was very important in sharpening their critical awareness on the various art forms."

Mr. Persekian said: "The residency programmes for students at the Biennial was a great opportunity as it allowed them to develop their understanding of the art practice and its potential, of what art can do and how art can be meaningful and socially, culturally and politically relevant. I thank Zekrayat Maatouk and Hind Darwish who supervised the workshops for the students."

He added: "What was interesting is that we were able to successfully debate the central theme of Belonging and get the artists' intervention and view-points -- mirroring the role of art and artists and provoking thoughts on issues pertinent to society and articulating what the future could be. So, it was kind of an ongoing process keeping in focus the central theme."

Among the high-profile visitors who descended on the city for the Biennial included the President of the Goethe Institute; guests from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark; Arab Union of Photographers; Omani Society for Fine Arts; Academy for Fine Arts, Vienna, Royal Academy for Arts, UK; Amateur Photographers Society in Qatar; as well as the Presidents of the Sydney Biennial, Istanbul Biennial, Singapore Biennial and Yokohama Biennial.