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.”
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