Unsettled Objects

The exhibition features a wide range of contemporary artworks, including notable new acquisitions from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection. Designed to create conversations through thought-provoking individual experiences, the exhibition is composed of a constellation of salon hangs that take on the circular shape of The Flying Saucer, the Foundation’s newly restored architectural landmark.

Drawing its title from a new acquisition by the late conceptual artist Lothar Baumgarten, “Unsettled Objects” (1968–1969), the show is carousel of hidden characteristics behind the foundational artefacts of Western museum collections.

The more than 1,000 works in the collection span art movements from the 1920s to the present day in an ever-expanding range of art forms and visual culture. Reflecting Sharjah’s history as a major regional trade route, the Collection acts as a node that connects cultures through modern and contemporary art. It proposes a reauthoring of the history of art, contextualising it from a South/South and East/East perspective while offering an alternative view that shifts the axis of this history to a more inclusive, intergenerational and transcultural one.