Yuko Hasegawa has been appointed curator of Sharjah Biennial 11, to be held in 2013, it was announced Dec 14. The chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOT), Tokyo, Hasegawa has proposed an exhibition that reassesses the Eurocentrism of modern knowledge through the display and juxtaposition of works by architects, designers and other creators in addition to those of artists.
The proposed concept is consistent with Hasegawa’s curatorial interests since joining MOT in 2006, where she has organized cross-disciplinary exhibitions such as “Space for Your Future: Recombining the DNA of Art and Design” (2007-08) and “Tokyo Art Meeting (II): Architectural Environments for Tomorrow – New Spatial Practices in Architecture and Art” (2011-12). Notably, Hasegawa has worked closely with the Pritzker Prize-winning architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA, most recently on “Tokyo Art Meeting (II),” but also as a curatorial advisor to the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2010, directed by Sejima. She also has experience working on international periodic exhibitions, having served as commissioner of the Japan Pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003 and artistic director of the 7th Istanbul Biennial in 2001.
Hasegawa’s appointment comes on the heels of controversy after Jack Persekian was dismissed from his position as artistic director of the Sharjah Art Foundation, the body responsible for organizing the Sharjah Biennial, over the exhibition of a work in this year’s edition, Sharjah 10. A public installation by the artist Mustapha Benfodil, the work was deemed blasphemous for its combination of sexually explicit language and religious references. The dismissal, and the subsequent international petition to reinstate Persekian, means that Hasegawa may find herself under heightened pressure to ensure that all works conform to the limits of social acceptability in Sharjah.
In a statement to the press, Hasegawa said, “Sharjah is historic and present, social, natural, and political. It is a place that encourages thinking and negotiating with others. My natural response to its dynamism is to produce a Biennial which asks questions through art, and creates a dialogue that liberates us from Eurocentrism, Globalism, and other relevant –isms.”