The second Lahore Biennial announces full artists' list

Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi will curate the exhibition, which addresses exchange between Pakistan and the UAE

Mohammad Younus Nomani's photograph 'An Orange Leaf in a Green Tree', Kashmir (2018), will be shown at the upcoming Lahore Biennial. Courtesy Mohammad Younus Nomani / Lahore Biennale Foundation
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The artists' list has been announced for the Lahore Biennial, curated by Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, who founded the Sharjah Art Foundation.

Titled LB02: between the sun and the moon, the biennial opens in late January and focuses on the climate crisis and the political and social challenges it carries, as well as indigenous and ancient means of connection to the surrounding world.

“For centuries, inhabitants of these regions oriented themselves with reference to the sun, the moon, and the constellations. How might we reflect on our place within the cosmos today, at this conjuncture of planetary climate crisis and polarities between societies?” Al Qasimi said in a statement. “LB02 looks upwards with a view to forging new resonances and new imaginings of the future that encompass the full breadth of its material and virtual possibilities, growing from a tradition of intra-regional mobility of ideas, people, flora and fauna.”

Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi will curate the second Lahore Biennial, opening later this month. Sebastian Bottcher
Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi will curate the second Lahore Biennial, opening later this month. Sebastian Bottcher

While the first year of the biennial was curated in-house, the second one scales upwards in terms of production: the roster includes over 70 artists and an impressive 20 new commissions. UAE artists are well-represented, including a new commission by the artist and photographer Reem Falaknaz — exploring links between the UAE and Pakistan – and existing work by the Khorfakkan artist Abdullah Al Sa'adi, part of the core group around Hassan Sharif who were the pioneering generation of Emirati contemporary artists.

Many of the artists are well known on the international circuit, such as Syrian-Lebanese painter and ceramicist Simone Fattal, Moroccan artist Bouchra Khalili, Emirati photographer Farah Al Qasimi, and Kuwaiti artist Alia Farid. There are also choices responsive to Lahore's wider geography. Almagul Menlibayeva from Kazakhstan, will create an immersive installation based on 14th-century astronomy, when Pakistan and southern Kazakhstan were both part of the Timurid dynasty.

The biennial will be spread across the city’s main cultural sites, including the monumental Lahore Fort, rebuilt in the 16th-century during Mughal Empire. Other sites include Gaddafi Stadium, which houses Pakistan’s national cricket team, the Lahore Museum, and the 19th-century Tollinton Market, which has recently refurbished as a museum.

The biennial's concerns are close to that of the current Sharjah Architecture Triennial, which approaches the question of climate change from the perspective of the Global South, where many of its effects are being felt most keenly. Al Qasimi helped produce the Architecture Triennial, after its founder, her brother Sheikh Khalid Al Qasimi, passed away. Between the sun and the moon will look to answer these questions from the standpoint of art practice rather than architecture, while also underlining the close relationship between the UAE and Pakistan through generations of migration and shared history.

The full artists' list is: 

Abdullah Al Saadi

Adrian Villar Rojas

Afrah Shafiq

Ajam Media Collective

Ali Kazim

Alia Farid

Almagul Menlibayeva with Inna Artemova and German Popov

Amar Kanwar

Amina Menia

Amina Zoubir

Anwar Saeed

Ayesha Zulfiqar

Ayman Zedani and Ahmad Makia

Bahar Behbahani

Barbara Walker

Basir Mahmood

Bernie Searle

Basma Al Sharif

Bouchra Khalili

Christodoulos Panayiotou

Diana Al-Hadid

Eyob Kitaba

Farah Al Qasimi

Farideh Lashai

Farkhanda Ashraf Khilji

Gary Simmons

Hajra Waheed

Halil Altindere

Henok Melkamzer

Haris Epaminonda

Haroon Mirza

Hassan Hajjaj

Hera Büyüktaşcıyan and Hajra Haider Karrar

Hoda Afshar

Hrair Sarkissian

Imran Ahmad Khan

Jeanno Gaussi

John Akomfrah

Kader Attia

Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq

Khalil Rabbah

Khadim Ali

Lida Abdul

Madiha Aijaz

Mariam Ghani

Mark Salvatus

Marwa Arsanios

Michael Rakowitz

Moza Al Matrooshi

Mudasar Rashdi

Muhammad Ali Talpur

Munem Wasif

Muzzumil Ruheel

Nasrin Tabatabai and Babak Afrassiabi

Naiza Khan

Nalini Malini

Nedko Solakov

Pak Khawateen Painting Club

Rabbya Naseer & Hurmat ul Ain

Rachid Koraichi

Rahat Ali

Rasheed Araeen

Rayanne Tabet

Reem Falaknaz

Roman Zakharov Lakhor

Saule Suleimanov

Simone Fattal

Shezad Dawood

Slavs and Tatars

Syrlybek Bekbotayev

Taus Makhacheva

Tentative Collective

The Otolith Group

Vivan Sundaram

Wael Shawky

Waseem Akram

Yaminay Chaudhri

Younus Nomani

Yousuf Nomani

Yto Barrada

Zarina Bhimji

Zitta Sultanbayeva

Zulfiqar Rind