Sharjah
The Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival will run from Wednesday to January 23, 2018, offering 270 activities in the form of exhibitions, lectures, and workshops.
Held under the patronage of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, the Cultural Affairs Department at the Sharjah Department of Culture will organise the 20th edition of the festival.
The new edition’s theme, “Athar,” will serve as a concept to unite artists. The new concept, organisers said, reveals the effect that the artists intend to achieve through their work and shows how to harness contemporary art to shorten the cultural and artistic distance between the East and the West.
More than 28 organisations assisted in the coordination of the festival projects. There will be 44 exhibitions, 31 of which will be at the Sharjah Art Museum, presenting works of artists from the UAE, neighbouring Arab countries, and other countries from around the world.
Of the parallel exhibitions, ten will be exhibited at the Al Majaz Waterfront, Al Majaz Amphitheatre, AWQAF Department, Al Qasba, Maraya Art Centre, and the Calligraphy Square (Calligraphy Centre, Calligraphers Studios, Calligraphy Museum).
The festival will also facilitate a dialogue between the artists and the audience, during which the artists will discuss the experiences that encouraged them to create contemporary visual art.
