YUKO HASEGAWA TO CURATE 2013 SHARJAH BIENNIAL

Yuko Hasegawa has been appointed curator of the eleventh Sharjah Biennial, to open in March 2013. Hasegawa is chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo and has curated and advised numerous other biennials.

In its announcement, the Sharjah Art Foundation argued that Hasegawa’s biennial will “reassess the Eurocentrism of knowledge in modern times.” The foundation’s president, Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi, noted that Hasegawa’s proposal “reflects the long tradition of Sharjah as a place where the gathering of diverse communities encourages an exchange of ideas and knowledge.”

Hasegawa joins the biennial months after the dismissal of Jack Persekian from his position as artistic director of the Sharjah Art Foundation. Persekian was let go in April of this year, after he permitted the inclusion of an installation by artist Mustapha Benfodil that violated the emirate’s legal codes and religious taboos. The installation was subsequently removed from the biennial.

In addition to her work at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, Hasegawa has acted as artistic advisor of the twelfth Venice Architectural Biennale (2010), co-curator of the twenty-ninth São Paulo Biennale (2010), co-curator of the fourth Seoul International Media Art Biennale (2006), commissioner of the Japanese Pavilion at the fiftieth Venice Biennale (2003), co-curator of the fourth Shanghai Biennale (2002), and artistic director of the seventh Istanbul Biennale (2001)