COURTESY THE ARTISTS
The Sharjah Art Foundation in the United Arab Emirates has awarded its Sharjah Biennial 14 Prize to artists Otobong Nkanga and Emeka Ogboh for their project Aging Ruins Dreaming Only to Recall the Hard Chisel from the Past (2019), which is now on view at this year’s edition of the exhibition. Mohamed Bourouissa, Shezad Dawood, Phan Thảo Nguyên, and Qiu Zhijie also received special mentions.
For Aging Ruins Dreaming Only to Recall the Hard Chisel from the Past, Nkanga and Ogboh filled crevices at the ruin Bait Al Aboudi—one of the biennial’s venues—with sea water and salt. The piece also comprises light boxes and a recording of an Emirati “rain song.”
The jury for this year’s Sharjah Biennial Prize included critic and curator Octavio Zaya; scholar and theorist Homi K. Baba; and curator Solange Farkas. The award was established in 1993.