Explore the 2024 Power 100 list in full
Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi tops the 23rd annual ArtReview Power 100. Al Qasimi has been the director of the Sharjah Biennial since 2003 and founded the Sharjah Art Foundation in 2009, both as a resource for artists in the Gulf and a conduit for regional and international developments in contemporary art. She has also been instrumental in leading the annual March Meeting conference, overseen by the foundation, which this year held its 16th edition. Both individually and collectively, these initiatives have evolved to become cornerstones of the artworld calendar. Leveraging Al Qasimi’s influence as the daughter of the emirate’s leader, the foundation has succeeded in foregrounding artists and cultural organisations from the Global Majority and shifting the focus away from Western-centric narratives.
In recent years her expertise and knowledge have led her to operate in geographies beyond the emirate. Having previously curated the second edition of the Lahore Biennale (2020), she has more recently been appointed artistic director of Aichi Triennale 2025 in Japan, the first non-Japanese person to take the reins. In 2026 she will also curate the Biennale of Sydney.
The increasing power wielded by the Gulf states is recognised throughout the list. Al Qasimi is joined by Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, chairperson of Qatar Museums and sister of the ruling emir of Qatar, who reenters the list at number 21, while Saudi Arabia’s minister of culture, Prince Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud, is placed at 41. The Palestinian curator Reem Fadda, currently working as Abu Dhabi’s head of cultural programming, is at 56.
The top ten of the Power 100 is dominated by artists. Rirkrit Tiravanija’s pioneering work, shifting art beyond the object with his participatory meals and games sessions, a methodology he has expanded into several curatorial endeavours, has been recognised with the number 2 position. Steve McQueen (4) continues to straddle the worlds of cinema and art; while Nan Goldin (7) remains a master of balancing art with activism. Kerry James Marshall (8) has literally changed the face of the artworld with his approaches to Black figuration, while John Akomfrah (10) powerfully confronts the climate emergency through a decolonial lens.
Many of the artists on the list share a common cause: rather than just making work for exhibitions and institutions, they use their status to create new infrastructures and networks among their peers, while influencing wider social contexts: Ibrahim Mahama (14) funnels much of the money he earns in sales of his sculptural installations into the three institutions he has founded in Tamale, the region of northern Ghana in which the artist still lives; Sammy Baloji (17), Mark Bradford (19), Theaster Gates (32), Yinka Shonibare (36) and Dalton Paula (87) engage in similarly altruistic endeavours.
The Power 100 is shaped by the input of a 40-strong panel of artworld participants from around the globe, who consider three criteria for inclusion. Those on the list should have: (1) been active over the past 12 months; (2) shaped current developments in art; and (3) made global rather than local impact.
First published in 2002, ArtReview’s Power 100 is the most established and widely circulated annual ranking of influence in the contemporary artworld. Nan Goldin topped the list in 2023; Ruangrupa in 2022; ERC-721, representing NFTs, in 2021; and Black Lives Matter in 2020. Founded in 1949, ArtReview is one of the world’s leading international contemporary art magazines, dedicated to expanding contemporary art’s audience and reach. Aimed at both specialist and general readerships, the magazine and its sister publication, ArtReview Asia (launched in 2013), feature a mixture of criticism, reviews, commentary and analysis, alongside commissioned artist projects and accompanying guides and supplements.
