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Biennale Editorial · 2026

A critical companion to the world's biennales.

100+ international biennales · current editions, defining moments, the people behind the institutions.

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The Major Biennales

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Venice · Italy

Venice Biennale

The oldest and most storied of them all.

Founded 1895 São Paulo · Brazil

Bienal de São Paulo

The Americas' defining recurring survey.

Founded 1951 Kassel · Germany

documenta

The five-yearly exhibition that resets the field.

Founded 1955 · every 5 years Sydney · Australia

Biennale of Sydney

The Asia-Pacific's leading contemporary gathering.

Founded 1973 New York · USA

Whitney Biennial

America's recurring read on its own art.

Since 1932 Sharjah · UAE

Sharjah Biennial

A pivotal platform for the Global South.

Founded 1993
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The view from 2026

Where the circuit stands at the turn of the year, and what we are watching next.
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Figures to Watch

Artists commanding attention across the global circuit.

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Kara Walker

Cut-paper silhouettes confronting American histories of race and memory.

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Arthur Jafa

Filmmaker and artist whose moving-image work reframes Black aesthetics.

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Pierre Huyghe

Living systems and speculative ecologies that blur art and organism.

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Trevor Paglen

Photography and research mapping surveillance and the unseen state.

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Forensic Architecture

Research agency reconstructing human-rights events through spatial evidence.

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Meriem Bennani

Animation and installation on diaspora, technology and the everyday.

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Portrait details, public-domain paintings via Wikimedia Commons: Benoist (Louvre); Velázquez and Vermeer; Rembrandt (National Gallery of Art; Mauritshuis); Titian (The National Gallery, London).

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The Question of Beauty

When the world screams, the most radical thing art can do is quiet.

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