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The Year Ahead 2025
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Santa Fe, Bukhara and Liverpool: the most interesting biennials to visit in 2025

Plus, full listings of the biennials, triennials and festivals taking place throughout the year

Gareth Harris
19 December 2024
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Site Santa Fe’s exhibition, curated by Cecilia Alemani, is named Once Within a Time after the documentary by Godfrey Reggio Photo: Shayla Blatchford

Site Santa Fe’s exhibition, curated by Cecilia Alemani, is named Once Within a Time after the documentary by Godfrey Reggio Photo: Shayla Blatchford



12th Site Santa Fe International

Once Within a Time

Santa Fe, US, 28 June-13 January 2026

Cecilia Alemani made her mark in 2022 when she curated the critically acclaimed main exhibition at the 59th Venice Biennale (The Milk of Dreams). The New York-based Italian curator is now turning her gaze to Site Santa Fe International (formerly Site Santa Fe biennial) and has chosen to name this edition Once Within a Time after the most recent work by experimental documentary filmmaker Godfrey Reggio, who is based in the New Mexico capital.

“I’ve always been a huge fan of Reggio’s films,” Alemani tells The Art Newspaper. “[His film] Once Within a Time resonates with the atmosphere and structure of the exhibition, so it was a very important inspiration for this project.” The film will be shown there alongside works by 60 artists. “Conceived as a vast family album, Once Within a Time centres people—specifically, those who have inhabited, traversed or left their mark upon the Santa Fe region across the centuries,” says Alemani. “Transcending a singular theme or narrative, the 12th Site Santa Fe International manifests as a symphony of voices rather than one overarching narrative, engaging with the city of Santa Fe and its myriad identities and histories.”

The exhibition will take place not just at Site Santa Fe but also across the city at institutions such as the Museum of International Folk Art, as well as non-institutional sites such as hotel rooms, toy shops and historic cinemas.

The ancient Caravanserai Ahmadjon in Bukhara

Courtesy ACDF_Rafal Sliwa


1st Bukhara Biennial

Recipes for Broken Hearts

Bukhara, Uzbekistan, 5 September-20 November

The inaugural edition of the Bukhara Biennial, Recipes for Broken Hearts, will be curated by Diana Campbell, also of the Dhaka Art Summit. The interdisciplinary show will “explore the healing power of art and culture through communal participation”, she said in a statement.

The Uzbek native Gayane Umerova chairs the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, a government organisation that will oversee the biennial. She says Bukhara is “an important hub of production, a place of cultural, religious and scientific knowledge”. Taking part are Antony Gormley, Himali Singh Soin, Behzod Boltaev and many more.

Imayna Caceres's Ancestral Revisions (2019)

Courtesy the artist


13th Liverpool Biennial

Bedrock

Liverpool, UK, 7 June-14 September

The 13th Liverpool Biennial will be shaped by its colonial past, according to the curator Marie-Anne McQuay. “The bedrock of sandstone that runs beneath Liverpool, in material and metaphorical form, is always haunted by empire,” she says. Thirty artists and collectives will take part, including Sheila Hicks, The Congolese artist Hadassa Ngamba and the Peruvian Imayna Caceres (Ancestral Revisions, 2019). “The artists are responding to geography, geology and history,” says McQuay.

More biennials, triennials and festivals taking place in 2025

Islamic Arts Biennale

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 25 January-25 May 2025

Sharjah Biennial 16

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 6 February-15 June 2025

Hawai‘i Triennial

Hawaii, US, 15 February-4 May

Desert X 2025

Coachella Valley, US, 8 March-11 May

14th Mercosul Biennial

Porto Alegre, Brazil, 27 March-1 June

24th Triennale di Milano

Milan, Italy, 13 May-9 November

19th International Architecture Exhibition

Venice, Italy, 10 May-23 November

1st Boston Public Art Triennial

Boston, US, 22 May-31 October

London Design Biennale 2025

London, UK, 5-29 June

Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts

Ljubljana, Slovenia, 6 June-12 October

13th Liverpool Biennial

Liverpool, UK, 7 June-14 September

Helsinki Biennial

Helsinki, Finland, 8 June-21 September

13th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art

Berlin, Germany, 14 June-14 September

Momentum 13

Moss, Norway, 14 June-12 October

Site Santa Fe 12th International

Santa Fe, US, 28 June-13 January 2026

Folkestone Triennial

Folkestone, UK, 19 July-19 October

Edinburgh Art Festival

Edinburgh, UK, 7-24 August

41st EVA International

Limerick, Ireland, 29 August-26 October

Seoul Mediacity Biennale

Seoul, South Korea, August-November

1st Bukhara Biennial

Bukhara, Uzbekistan, 5 September-20 November

Bienal de São Paulo

São Paulo, Brazil, 6 September-11 January 2026

Bergen Assembly 2025

Bergen, Norway, 11 September-9 November

Aichi Triennale 2025

Aichi, Japan, 13 September-30 November

18th Istanbul Biennial

Istanbul, Turkey, 20 September-23 November

13th Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art

Göteborg, Sweden, 20 September-30 November

Walk&Talk Bienal de Arte

São Miguel Island, Portugal, 25 September-30 November

Made in LA 2025

Los Angeles, US, October-January 2026

LagosPhoto Festival 2025

Lagos, Nigeria, October-January 2026

14th Taipei Biennial

Taipei, Taiwan, November

15th Shanghai Biennale

Shanghai, China, 8 November-31 March 2026

6th Kochi-Muziris Biennale

Fort Kochi, India, 12 December-31 March 2026




The Year Ahead 2025Biennials & festivalsPreview
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