Hoor Al Qasimi

President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation and  Artistic Director of the 25th Biennale of Sydney, 2026

Hoor Al Qasimi is President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, the public art institution she established in 2009 as a catalyst and advocate for the arts in Sharjah, UAE, and around the world. Director of Sharjah Biennial since 2003, she has curated and co-curated major exhibitions for the Foundation and numerous international institutions, including the critically acclaimed Sharjah Biennial 15 (2023), the major touring retrospective Hassan Sharif: I Am The Single Work Artist (2017–2018) and solo exhibitions of artists Simone Fattal, Rasheed Araeen, Yayoi  Kusama, Farideh Lashai, Khalil Rabah, Bouchra Khalili, Emily Karaka, Antonio Dias and William Kentridge.

Al Qasimi also serves as President of the International Biennial Association; President of The Africa Institute, Sharjah; Director of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial; and head of Sharjah’s Global Studies University. Al Qasimi curated the 2020 Lahore Biennial and is Artistic Director of the 6th Aichi Triennale (2025) and 25th Biennale of Sydney (2026).

Hoor Al Qasimi visited Vienna on an individual research trip in January 2025.

Hoor Al Qasimi. Photo: Chieska Fortune Smith