The fifth edition of Perform Sharjah, presented by Sharjah Art Foundation, brings together a diverse line-up of performances, including world and regional premieres. Across a curated season of productions, this year’s programme approaches the body as a site of artistic inquiry, moving between participation and observation, intimate reflection and collective experience.

Taking place in venues across Sharjah from 11 October to 29 November 2026, this edition features a total of 16 performances, including eight world premieres and seven regional premieres.

With Every-Body-Knows-What-Tomorrow-Brings-And-We-All-Know-What-Happened-Yesterday, Mohamed Toukabri draws on influences from both the street and the stage, blending multiple traditions of movement to ask what it means to reimagine inherited hierarchies. The performance is an invitation to step beyond the known, into a realm where all bodies, all histories, belong.

Making its GCC premiere, Nathan Ellis’s work.txt is performed entirely by the audience, who must collectively solve the play’s central question: why has its protagonist stopped working? In Do you know this song?, Mallika Taneja turns to storytelling and song in her quest to track down a forgotten voice. This act of reclamation resonates with Sofiane Chalal’s XXL, in which the dancer and choreographer centre ‘non-standard’ bodies that challenge pejorative labels to plot a course towards acceptance and recognition. Meanwhile, Sebastian Mayer’s participatory projects, Hannibaby and Zarafa, offer a space for play and imagination, welcoming families to take part in the making of living, evolving artworks.

The programme expands to consider collective histories in Sim Chi Yin’s multimedia performance and installation Longings, Returns, which speaks to mass deportations in British-ruled Malaya. Maria Hassabi’s Ustransforms the act of looking into a shared experience between the performers and audiences watching them. Having premiered at Kunstenfestivaldesarts 2026 in Brussels, the performance is co-presented in Sharjah with Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels.

Returning as part of this season, Perhaps Here presents a series of newly commissioned, site-specific works over three days. Featuring performances by emerging and established artists, the programme explores the orbits of contemporary imagination through short and intimate presentations.

Sharjah Art Foundation is an advocate, catalyst and producer of contemporary art within the Emirate of Sharjah and the surrounding region, in dialogue with the international arts community. The Foundation advances an experimental and wide-ranging programmatic model that supports the production and presentation of contemporary art, preserves and celebrates the distinct culture of the region and encourages a shared understanding of the transformational role of art. The Foundation's core initiatives include the long-running Sharjah Biennial, featuring contemporary artists from around the world; the annual March Meeting, a convening of international arts professionals and artists; grants and residencies for artists, curators and cultural producers; ambitious and experimental commissions and a range of travelling exhibitions and scholarly publications.

Established in 2009 to expand programmes beyond the Sharjah Biennial, which launched in 1993, the Foundation is a critical resource for artists and cultural organisations in the Gulf and a conduit for local, regional and international developments in contemporary art. The Foundation's deep commitment to developing and sustaining the cultural life and heritage of Sharjah is reflected through year-round exhibitions, performances, screenings and educational programmes in the city of Sharjah and across the Emirate, often hosted in historic buildings that have been repurposed as cultural and community centres. A growing collection reflects the Foundation's support of contemporary artists in the realisation of new work and its recognition of the contributions made by pioneering modern artists from the region and around the world.

Sharjah Art Foundation is a legally independent public body established by Emiri Decree and supported by government funding, grants from national and international nonprofits and cultural organisations, corporate sponsors and individual patrons. Hoor Al Qasimi serves as President and Director. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. 

Sharjah is the third largest of the seven United Arab Emirates, and the only one bridging the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Reflecting the deep commitment to the arts, architectural preservation and cultural education embraced by its ruler, Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Sharjah is home to more than 20 museums and has long been known as the cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates. It was named UNESCO's Arab Capital of Culture for 1998 and the UNESCO World Book Capital for 2019.

Joseph De la Cerna
joseph@sharjahart.org
+971 (0)6 5444113