Dakar Biennale

The 16th Dakar Biennale (Dak’Art) runs from November 19 to December 19, 2026, in Dakar, Senegal, by the organizer’s communiqué of September 24. It is a state event, run by a Secrétariat général under the Ministry of Culture, Crafts and Tourism. Opening hours, admission terms, and the programme of events had not been published as of October 6, 2026.

The theme

The title is (anti)fragilité : arts de la réparation et stratégies du contrecoup. The communiqué glosses it as treating fragility as a starting point for creation, relation, care, repair, and the invention of new responses to shocks. The organizer’s concept note credits the idea to Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s 2012 book Antifragile.

The September communiqué divides the exhibition into five lignes de fuite (lines of flight, or chapters): Reverdir l’ancien palais de justice, Les arts du marronnage, Être et créer entre soin et réparation, Partager les savoirs, and Relier les continents. The organizer has published the titles without descriptions. The five lines, one by one

The artistic director, and how he was chosen

Morad Montazami is an art historian, publisher, and curator who worked at Tate Modern from 2014 to 2019 on its Middle East and North Africa collections, and who directs Zamân Books & Curating, according to the organizer’s team page. He came through an open call. The call for curatorial projects is dated February 1, 2026, and set a deadline of March 1. The Comité d’orientation made the choice, and the organizer announced it on April 15. The number of candidates has not been published.

He works with four curators, Madeleine de Colnet, Oulimata Gueye, Delphine Lopez, and Fatima Bintou Rassoul Sy, and with Youssouf Fofana, who curates the Design section. Montazami is Franco-Iranian and was born in France. He told Le Soleil in May that not being African could have been a weakness, and that the Biennale had chosen openness to the Global South. Two of the four curators are Senegalese and a third is based in Dakar, by the APS profile of September 30. The director and his team

The selection in numbers

The organizer’s list has 54 entries for the international exhibition, and its design page lists 21 designers and collectives under the title Pan-AF Dwelling Units. Outside the count are Faouzi Laatiris of Morocco, as Grand Témoin (principal witness), and Serigne Mbaye Camara of Senegal, with a carte blanche. Eleven of the 54 are Senegalese, all named in the APS dispatch of September 25.

Press totals differ. Diptyk’s news brief gave 55 artists from 25 countries and Le360 gave 59 works. This guide uses the organizer’s figures. All 54 entries, A to Z

A first critical reading came from Diptyk on October 1, which called the selection short and tight and weighted toward mid-career and established artists. Montazami’s stated emphasis is the reverse: at the launch he named novelty and emergence among his criteria, APS reported.

The guest country

The guest country of honour is the Democratic Republic of Congo. APS reported in July that Secretary General Marième Ba had named two guests, Saudi Arabia and the DRC, and its advance notice of September 21 repeated both. At the launch only the DRC remained. Ba was quoted by APS: “la RDC suffit pour être le pays invité d’honneur et c’est un honneur” (in English: the DRC is enough to be the guest country of honour, and it is an honour). No published source explains the change. The DRC’s commissioner, venue, and dates are unpublished. The guest country in detail

What changed from 2024

The 15th edition ran from November 7 to December 7, 2024, after a postponement from May, under the artistic director Salimata Diop and the theme The Wake, as Flash Art reported. Its international exhibition had 58 artists, by the organizer’s archive, against 54 entries now. Its guests of honour were Cabo Verde and the United States, by APS. The three venues and the season are the same. This time the opening comes six days after the Youth Olympic Games close, which the organizer’s January release presents as momentum.

The timetable has been tight. On July 23, at a meeting reported by APS, the Minister-delegate for Culture, Mame Coumba Diop, said: “le temps presse. On ne sent pas la biennale au sein du ministère” (in English: time is short. We do not feel the biennale inside the ministry). Ba answered that the contract for transporting the works had been launched and that work on the courthouse was progressing well. At the launch the Minister, Alpha Thiam, reaffirmed State support, APS reported. Who pays, and what is known

Still unpublished

• The place and time of the opening ceremony on November 19, and any professional or preview days.
• Opening hours and admission terms for every venue.
• An accreditation form, a press kit, and a programme of talks, performances, and public events.
• Which exhibition goes in which venue, beyond the two assignments given below.
• A count of registered OFF events, the OFF guide, a budget, and the prize amounts.

Confirm every practical detail with the organizer before travelling. The full list of what is not published

This page holds the edition, the dates, and the calendar. Nine more pages carry the detail, one list prints the names, and My Biennale carries the city.

The List and the City

One page prints the selection. My Biennale, the companion directory, holds the city.

The dates are firm. Little else a visitor needs is. On October 6, 2026, the organizer’s visitor pages for the courthouse and the Galerie nationale held a placeholder sentence, and the events page showed only the 2024 edition. The organizer had published no opening hours and no admission price, and had not said whether entry is free.

Accreditation

No 2026 form exists yet. The organizer’s accreditation page still carried the 2024 text on October 6. Article 17 of the 2026 rules says that anyone not on the list of official guests should send in the accreditation form, or fill it in on arrival, and that the form will be on the Biennale’s site. Press room and accreditation

The 2024 pattern, as a guide only

What follows describes the 15th edition, in 2024. It is not a 2026 schedule.

• Opening day, 2024. Thursday, November 7, 2024: a ceremony by invitation at the Grand Théâtre national from 10 am to noon, then the international exhibition opening by invitation at the courthouse from 5 pm to 8 pm, by the organizer’s 2024 programme.
• Public hours, 2024. The exhibition opened to the public the next day, from 10 am to 7 pm. The programme has typing errors in its hours; treat them as approximate.
• Professional days, 2024. Scientific and professional meetings began the day after the opening, at the museum, and ran for four days.
• Admission, 2024. One visitor’s account, summarized by Seneplus, described entry to the courthouse as free. Unconfirmed

How the opening week ran in 2024 and 2022

This list holds only dates that a named source has published. The organizer’s day-by-day programme was not out on October 6, 2026.

What is announced for the evenings

Ancien Palais de Justice, Cap Manuel

The main site is a modernist courthouse inaugurated in 1958 and closed in 1992, which the Biennale first used in 2016, by Jeune Afrique’s account. The first curatorial line is titled Reverdir l’ancien palais de justice (regreening the former courthouse), and Montazami told APS that the team will work on ecology in the building’s green spaces. A refit was reported as still under way by allAfrica on October 6. No source read for this guide explains how to reach the site by public transport.

Musée des Civilisations noires

The museum opposite the railway station opened on December 6, 2018, by Au-Senegal’s description. In 2024 it held the national pavilions, by APS’s account. Its role in 2026 has not been announced.

Galerie nationale d’art

The state gallery holds the one exhibition whose venue the organizer itself has confirmed: La Sagesse de l’Epreuve, a tribute to the painter and sculptor Abdoulaye Niokhor Bob, known as Ngoor (1973–2017), curated by Ndèye Rokhaya Guèye, by the organizer’s post of October 5. The three venues at length

The OFF, across the city

The OFF is the independent programme: exhibitions and events that promoters organize around the official biennale at their own cost and in their own venues. The organizer’s conditions leave the content to the promoters. Registration closed on September 13, 2026. The Biennale promises a printed programme and a digital map; neither had appeared by October 6.

APS reports more than 400 events expected across Senegal and in the diaspora; Sud Quotidien says about 450. Neither is a count of registrations. How the OFF works in 2026 Galleries and art spaces by district

The airport and the train

Flights land at Blaise Diagne International Airport (AIBD), near Diass, outside the city. Since September 28, 2026, the Train Express Régional (TER) runs to a new terminal there, and Dakar to the airport takes about 55 minutes, Dakaractu reported on opening day. Trains run about every 24 minutes on the new section, by the same report. The fare from Dakar is 4,000 CFA francs in second class and 7,500 CFA francs in first, by Seneweb’s report on the fares.

One caution. The operator’s timetable page had not been updated for the airport on October 6, and it shows last departures at about 10 pm. Many flights land later.

Taxis and ride-hailing

The airport’s own fare table gives 13,000 CFA francs to Dakar by day and 18,000 by night, with the motorway toll extra. Other 2026 sources quote more. City taxis have no meter: agree the fare first, the Government of Canada advises. The ride-hailing apps Yango and Heetch both operate; a Dakar court ruled in September 2025 that they could continue, RTS reported. Taxis, buses, and the Gorée ferry

Visas

US, UK, French, and Canadian passport holders need no visa for stays of up to three months, by the State Department, GOV.UK, France Diplomatie, and Canada’s advisory, all of which ask for a passport valid for six months. An electronic visa based on reciprocity was announced in 2025, Daily News Egypt reported, with no start date. Check again in the week before travel.

Yellow fever: the official sources disagree

Every health body consulted recommends the vaccine. On whether a certificate is demanded at the border, they differ.

• The World Health Organization’s country list, revised January 3, 2023, requires proof of vaccination of all travellers aged nine months or over.
• GOV.UK, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Canada say a certificate is required only of travellers arriving from, or transiting through, a country with a risk of transmission.
• France Diplomatie reports that since March 9, 2026, proof is no longer mandatory for people arriving from countries without an epidemic. No Senegalese official text was found.

The careful course is to carry the certificate, above all on a route through another African hub. Entry rules in full Vaccines, malaria, and water

Weather

The biennale falls in the dry season. Mean daily highs in Dakar are 30.1 °C in November and 27.9 °C in December, with lows of 23.5 °C and 21.0 °C and almost no rain, by the 1991 to 2020 NOAA normals as tabled on Wikipedia. The Bradt guide to Senegal advises a sweater for the ocean breeze. It is also the season of the Harmattan, the dry wind that carries dust. Weather, dust, and daylight The full packing list