Following the successful opening of Sharjah Biennial 16, followed by the annual March Meeting and April Acts, Sharjah Art Foundation is pleased to announce its Autumn 2025 programme. Highlights include the first institutional solo exhibitions in the region by Afra Al Dhaheri, Leda Catunda and Rachid Koraïchi, as well as a significant presentation of works from the Foundation’s collection at Kalba Ice Factory. Autumn 2025 also includes the launch of two recent initiatives by the Foundation: a new photography gallery in Al Manakh and the opening of Al Majarrah Park, designed by the artist collective Superflex.

The season includes the 2025 editions of Perform Sharjah, Sharjah Film Platform and Focal Point—the Foundation’s annual film festival, performance programme, art book fair in addition to music events.

Internationally, recent and new work by artist Mounira Al Solh is on view in her mid-career solo exhibition at The Bonnefanten, Maastricht, co-organised by Sharjah Art Foundation, from 7 June 2025 to 11 January 2026. The exhibition will be on view in Sharjah in 2027. Singing Wells’ Sharjah Biennial 16 project Sonic Inheritances, commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation and Bergen Assembly, will be on view at the 5th Bergen Assembly, Norway (11 September–9 November 2025). Stephanie Comilang’s Search for Life II, commissioned by TBA21, Sharjah Art Foundation and The Vega Foundation, is on view in CARA, New York, until 10 August 2025. Additionally, premiering at the Festival d’Avignon in July is Laaroussa Quartet by Selma and Sofiane Ouissi supported by Sharjah Art Foundation and the presentation of Magec / The Desert by Radouan Mriziga co-produced by the Foundation. These performances will be presented at Perform Sharjah’s upcoming season in Autumn 2025.     

Exhibition Programme   

Afra Al Dhaheri
30 August–14 December 2025
Gallery 6, Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah

The autumn season begins with the first institutional solo show of Afra Al Dhaheri. The exhibition invites the audience to reflect on the textures and rhythms of temporality by focusing on the artist’s mixed media works which experiment with repetition, layering and accumulation.

Leda Catunda
26 September 2025–8 February 2026
Galleries 4 and 5, Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah   

Marking the first major solo exhibition of artist Leda Catunda in the region, this presentation brings together a vibrant selection of her haptic works from the 1980s to the present. Catunda’s practice crafts together readymade graphics, fabrics and everyday items. Co-organised with Halle für Kunst Steiermark, Graz, the exhibition will travel to Austria in June 2026.    

Rachid Koraïchi
26 September 2025–5 April 2026
Galleries 1, 2 and 3, Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah    

Spanning five decades of his practice, this major survey traces artist Rachid Koraïchi’s ongoing exploration into signs and symbols from a diverse range of languages and cultural traditions, through multifaceted installations inspired by the legacy of Islamic mysticism.    

Works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection
17 October 2025–31 May 2026
Kalba Ice Factory, Kalba    

For the first time since its restoration, Kalba Ice Factory, the Foundation’s east coast venue, hosts a large-scale presentation of works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection.    

New Openings

Photography Gallery and Al Majarrah Park
November 2025
Sharjah City

November marks the launch of two landmark initiatives. In Al Manakh, the Foundation opens a new photography gallery housed in a repurposed former telecommunications building. The inaugural presentation features a wide-ranging selection of photographs from the Foundation’s collection.

Simultaneously, Al Majarrah Park, adjacent to Rain Room Sharjah, will open to the public following its transformation by the artist collective Superflex in close collaboration with Schul landscape architects, KWY.studio and local residents.    

Annual Events

Perform Sharjah    
11 October–14 December 2025    
Various locations across Sharjah

Sharjah Art Foundation’s performing arts season returns this October with the fourth edition of Perform Sharjah, expanding its presence across the cities of Sharjah and Khorfakkan. With a diverse lineup reflecting and celebrating Sharjah’s rich cultural fabric, the season will create shared experiences to connect people through art in familiar and unexpected spaces.

Sharjah Film Platform 8
14–23 November 2025
Mirage City Cinema, Al Mureijah Square, and other cinemas in Sharjah

The eighth edition of Sharjah Film Platform, the Foundation’s annual festival of independent cinema and experimental filmmaking, includes the UAE premieres of a selection of films nominated by an international committee, all of which will compete for the Sharjah Film Platform Awards.

Focal Point
12–14 December 2025
Bait Obaid Al Shamsi, Arts Square, Sharjah

Sharjah Art Foundation’s annual art book fair showcases independent bookmaking from around the world. A critical space for knowledge-sharing and community building, the fair features a compelling selection of printed material by cultural producers who expand and experiment with the medium of publishing. It also includes workshops for print and design enthusiasts.

Music Programme    
Autumn 2025    
Various locations across Sharjah   

Sharjah Art Foundation is organising listening sessions and gatherings for the local community as well as concerts, workshops and talks. Sharjah will welcome a diverse group of musicians, who will perform and share their experiences of both traditional and experimental musical forms. A conference on maritime music from the Western Indian Ocean is also planned for the end of the year. Two book projects will be launched during Focal Point. More details will be available closer to the dates of the events.

About Sharjah Art Foundation

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 the Foundation’s President and Director. All exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.

About Sharjah

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 Mohammed Al Qasimi, Sharjah has long been known as the cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates and is home to more than 20 museums, numerous universities, The Africa Institute, Sharjah Performing Arts Academy and the Sharjah Architecture Triennial. In 1998, it was named UNESCO's 'Arab Capital of Culture' and has been designated the UNESCO ‘World Book Capital’ for the year 2019. 

About the Artists

Afra Al Dhaheri

Afra Al Dhaheri (b. 1988, Abu Dhabi) is an artist and Assistant Professor at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi. She holds an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design (2017) and has participated in residencies, such as the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship, UAE (2014); Porthmeor Studios, Cornwall (2019);  and The Watermill Center, New York (2023). Al Dhaheri was a finalist for the Richard Mille Art Prize (2022). Her public commissions include Union of Artists (Dubai Culture and Art Dubai, 2024) and Pillow Fort Playground (Expo 2020, Dubai, 2021). Her work has been shown as part of solo exhibitions at Green Art Gallery, Dubai (2021, 2023) and group exhibitions at the NYUAD Art Gallery (2024); Louvre Abu Dhabi (2022); Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival (2021); Middle East Institute, Washington, DC (2021); Misk Art Institute, Riyadh (2021); Cromwell Place, London (2021); and Tatjana Pieters, Ghent (2021), among others.

Leda Catunda

A key figure in Brazilian contemporary art since the 1980s, Leda Catunda (b. 1961, São Paulo) is known for reimagining abstract painting and sculpture. Departing from the country's once predominant conceptual art movement, her practice constructs a visual lexicon that shifts between pop culture and craftwork. Catunda creates works that break from the picture plane and embrace a ‘poetics of softness' that echoes the experience of navigating our modern image world. Among the artist’s recent exhibitions are Paisagem Selvagem, Carpintaria, Rio de Janeiro (2024); Leda Catunda: EUFORIA, ICA Milano, Milan (2023); and Leda Catunda & Alejandra Seeber, MALBA – Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (2021). Her works are included in important public collections, such as Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo; MASP – Museu de Arte de São Paulo; MOCA – Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and Fundação de Serralves, Porto, Portugal.

Rachid Koraïchi

Rachid Koraïchi (b. 1947, Ain Beida, Algeria) is known for his use of diverse materials, such as ceramics, textiles, bronze, Corten steel, alabaster and paint. His practice is influenced by a fascination with signs: symbols, glyphs and ciphers drawn from various languages and cultures. Islamic texts and tenets also inspire him, particularly those of taṣawwuf [Ṣūfīsm]. His works are held in major public collections, including the British Museum, London; Miami Art Museum; and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. Koraïchi received the Jameel Prize from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2011) and the Prix Institut de France, Fondation Prince Louis de Polignac, Paris (2013). He studied at the Institute of Fine Arts and the Superior National School of the Arts in Algeria before moving to France to continue his studies at the National School of Decorative Arts and the School of Urban Studies in Paris. Koraïchi now lives and works between Tunisia and France.

About the Co-Organiser

Halle für Kunst Steiermark

Halle für Kunst Steiermark is one of Austria’s leading exhibition venues for contemporary and modern art. The museum is located in a late-modernist pavilion built in 1952 in a central location in the Graz City Park. It is a ‘white cube’ with two gallery levels hosting exhibitions with international significance and resonance as well as outstanding Austrian work. The museum’s programming under director Sandro Droschl continues a tradition of legendary shows of the work of Albert Oehlen, Cosima von Bonin, and the Trigon biennials, with exhibitions on Katherine Bradford and Mathias Poledna, and shows like Europe: Ancient Future. Thematic exhibitions, performances and discussions stand for the institution’s interest in social issues,  cosmopolitan openness, and the inexhaustible curiosity that comes with again and again taking a new look at art. Halle für Kunst is a lively venue focusing on art and its makers, and the issues of our own time. Further information at halle-fuer-kunst.at.

Media Contact

Alyazeyah Al Marri    
alyazeyah@sharjahart.org
+971 (0)6 5444113