Sharjah Art Foundation Unveils a Packed 2026 Season with New Exhibitions, Film Screenings, SAF Radio and Global Showcases
Sharjah Art Foundation has revealed its summer and autumn 2026 programme, bringing together a diverse calendar of exhibitions, film screenings, performances, photography, publishing events and a brand-new digital platform. Running across Sharjah and extending internationally, the new season highlights artistic exchange, contemporary creativity and cultural dialogue while introducing fresh ways for audiences to experience art both in person and online.
One of the biggest highlights this season is the launch of SAF Radio, the Foundation’s first online radio platform dedicated to music, sound and storytelling from the region and beyond. Alongside returning favourites such as Perform Sharjah, Sharjah Film Platform and Focal Point, the programme also features new exhibitions, photography commissions and international presentations from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection in China and Ireland.
The summer programme is already underway with Laila Majid and Inaam Zafar: Body Quotidian, on display at Gallery 6, Al Mureijah Square until 20 September 2026. Bringing together the practices of London-based Laila Majid and Lahore-based Inaam Zafar, the exhibition explores everyday life through paintings, sculptures and photography, examining the colours, textures and forms that quietly shape our daily experiences.
Launching this summer, SAF Radio introduces a new way to engage with the Foundation beyond gallery spaces. Available online, the bilingual platform explores music, oral histories and sound-led storytelling from across the region while also drawing from archival recordings in the Foundation’s collection. Its debut programme, Aswaat, features a series of 12 immersive hour-long listening experiences curated around mood and atmosphere rather than traditional music genres.
Cinema also takes centre stage with the debut of the Sunday Cinema Club, running from 5 July to 30 August at the Photography Gallery in Al Manakh. The weekly programme brings together regional classics, animated favourites and internationally acclaimed films including Mirai, 2001: A Space Odyssey and West Beirut, with each screening followed by discussions or workshops exploring cinema, storytelling and social themes.
Photography remains a major focus throughout the season. Opening on 8 August, Vantage Point 13 presents newly commissioned photographic works by six artists selected through an international open call. Now hosted at the Foundation’s Photography Gallery, the annual exhibition showcases fresh perspectives from artists including Adam Rouhana, Guanyu Xu, Latifa AlBokhari, Luisa Dörr, Maheder Haileselassie and Sathish Kumar.
Beyond the UAE, the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection continues to reach international audiences through two major exhibitions. In Absence and in Presence: Works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection is currently on view at Aranya Art Center Guangzhou until 30 August, bringing together more than 70 works by 28 artists that explore land, identity and artistic practices across West Asia, South Asia, Africa and their diasporas. Later in the year, selected works from the collection will travel to the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) in Dublin, where an exhibition opening on 19 November will spotlight artistic practices from Palestine and neighbouring countries, including works by acclaimed Palestinian artist Abdul Hay Mosallam Zarara.
Visitors to the Photography Gallery can also continue exploring Photographic Encounters along the Gulf Coasts, a permanent exhibition featuring 165 historical photographs and archival documents from the collection of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi. The display offers a rare glimpse into life along the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with many of the images being exhibited publicly for the first time.
The autumn season welcomes back several of the Foundation’s flagship annual events. Perform Sharjah returns for its fifth edition from 11 October to 29 November, transforming public spaces across Sharjah and Khorfakkan with live performances that celebrate the emirate’s diverse cultural landscape.
Film enthusiasts can look forward to the ninth edition of Sharjah Film Platform, taking place from 30 October to 8 November. The annual festival will once again showcase independent and experimental cinema from around the world, including UAE premieres competing for the Sharjah Film Platform Awards.
Rounding off the year, Focal Point returns from 11 to 13 December at Bait Obaid Al Shamsi. Now in its ninth edition, Sharjah’s annual art book fair brings together artists’ presses, independent publishers, bookmakers and cultural producers, celebrating experimental publishing and contemporary print culture.
With exhibitions spanning contemporary art, photography, film, sound, performance and publishing, Sharjah Art Foundation’s 2026 programme offers one of the region’s most comprehensive cultural calendars, inviting visitors to discover new artistic voices both in Sharjah and beyond.
2026 Programme Calendar
The season begins with Laila Majid and Inaam Zafar: Body Quotidian, on view until 20 September 2026 at Gallery 6 in Al Mureijah Square, exploring everyday life through painting, sculpture and photography. Throughout the summer, audiences can also tune into the newly launched SAF Radio, a bilingual online platform featuring music and sound-led storytelling, while the Sunday Cinema Club runs every week from 5 July to 30 August with classic, regional and international film screenings followed by talks and workshops.
On 8 August, Vantage Point 13 opens at the Photography Gallery, showcasing newly commissioned photographic works by six international artists through 29 November. Internationally, In Absence and in Presence: Works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection continues at Aranya Art Center Guangzhou until 30 August, before selected works travel to the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) in Dublin from 19 November 2026 until May 2027.
Autumn sees the return of Perform Sharjah from 11 October to 29 November, followed by Sharjah Film Platform 9 from 30 October to 8 November, celebrating independent and experimental cinema. The year concludes with Focal Point, Sharjah’s annual art book fair, taking place from 11 to 13 December.
Official website: https://www.sharjahart.org
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