Video still from Subterfuge, 2022. Copyright The Artist.
South African artist Berni Searle was commissioned to create a new multi-channel projection for the 15th Sharjah Biennial, Thinking Historically in the Present, conceived by the late Okwui Enwezor and curated by Hoor Al Qasimi.
Entitled Subterfuge, the video engages with Searle's ongoing exploration of the long-term effects of colonial occupation, and can be interpreted, in the artist's words, as "resorting to a deceptive strategy which, by re-visiting our historical legacies, advocates the need to regroup, to conspire and to reclaim".
Thinking Historically in the Present (SB15) reflects on Enwezor’s visionary work, situating Sharjah’s own lived past within the transcultural universe of thought furthered by over 300 works by over 150 artists and collectives, which will be installed in 5 cities and towns across the emirate. Participating artists have been consciously evolving practices that critique monolithic understandings of nationhood, tradition, race, gender, body and imagination, which inform the Biennial’s intersectional thematic.
Other notable artists include John Akomfrah, Mona Hatoum, Carrie Mae Weems, Barbara Walker, Philippe Parreno, Cao Fei and others.
The Biennial will be open from 7 February - 11 June 2023.
More information on the program and participating artists here.
