COURTESY SHARJAH ART FOUNDATION
Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, the current president and director of the Sharjah Art Foundation, will be the new head of the International Biennial Association, the National reports. She takes the reins from Yongwoo Lee, the former president of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation, and will move the International Biennial Association’s headquarters from that South Korean city to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
Al Qasimi curated the 2003 Sharjah Biennial and has stayed on there as director since then, and also organized the United Arab Emirates Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale. She currently sits on the boards of Ashkal Alwan, Darat Al Fanun, the KW Institute of Contemporary Art, and MoMA PS1, and is the chair of the advisory board at the University of Sharjah’s College of Art and Design.
In a statement given in Yokohama, Japan, where the IBA is currently having a general assembly, Al Qasimi said, “I am honored to have been elected as the second president of this important international organization after serving on the board alongside my esteemed colleagues representing a wide range of biennials around the world.”