Hoor Al Qasimi Appointed Artistic Director of 2026 Biennale of Sydney

The organizers of theBiennale of Sydneyhave namedHoor Al Qasimiartistic director of the event’s twenty-fifth iteration, set to take place March 7–June 8, 2026. Al Qasimi is the founder of the Sharjah Art Foundation, of which she remains president and director. She has since 2002 served as the director of the Sharjah Biennial andlast yearwas tapped to lead the 2025 Aichi Triennale, becoming the first non-Japanese person to helm the event.

“Sydney has a multicultural community at its core, with people from different cultures from across the world choosing and calling this vibrant city as their home,” said Al Qasimi in a statement. “I’m interested in exploring the multifaceted cultures and perspectives within this city, working with local artists and communities, as well as bringing new voices to the Biennale. . . . I have seen the developments over the years, including the amplification of Indigenous voices both local and global, which has made it an essential platform for rewriting art history.”

An experienced curator of biennials, Al Qasimi since 2017 has served as president of the International Biennial Association. Among the international events she has curated are the Second Lahore Biennale, in 2020, and the United Arab Emirates Pavilion at the Fifty-Sixth Venice Biennale, in 2015. She cocurated the sixth iteration of the Sharjah Biennial in 2003 and curated its fifteenth edition twenty years later. She is additionally president of the Africa Institute and president and director of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial, which launched in 2019. Recent projects include the exhibition “Kamala Ibrahim Ishag: States of Oneness” (2022–23), which she curated for London’s Serpentine Gallery, and “Dream Projects,” which she organized for Tunisia’s 2023 Dream City Festival.