Biennials & festivals

Seoulnews

Seoul Mediacity biennial to open section early to coincide with Frieze and Kiaf

The exhibition, hosted at Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), focuses on media art

The Week in Art: The British Museum in crisis—an in-depth look

Plus, the Sāo Paulo biennial and Chaïm Soutine in Düsseldorf

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Curator chosen for next Istanbul Biennial was told it is ‘not the right time’ for her to organise the show

Defne Ayas has spoken to the online Turkish newspaper T24 about being rejected in favour of Iwona Blazwick

Niger coup upends country’s Venice Biennale plans

Niger, which is participating in the current architecture biennale, had planned to show at next year’s art biennale for the first time

Istanbul Biennial rejected curator recommended by advisory board in favour of Iwona Blazwick

Defne Ayas was unanimously chosen to organise the next edition but was rejected by the foundation that runs the exhibition; Blazwick was selected despite sitting on the biennial advisory board

Iwona Blazwick announced as curator of 18th Istanbul Biennial

The current curatorial lead of Saudi Arabia's Contemporary Art Museum, AlUla, she will now oversee the artistic vision of the Turkish exhibition's 2024 edition

Kyiv Biennial 2023 to travel across Europe with focus on 'war and displacement'

This year's exhibition will first open in the capital and two other Ukrainian cities

Choctaw-Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson will represent the United States at 2024 Venice Biennale

Gibson will be the first Indigenous artist to have a solo exhibition for the US Pavilion

Guatemala’s Paiz Art Biennial considers language's power and limitations in addressing violence

The largest contemporary art exhibition in Central America features more than 130 works at venues in Guatemala City and Antigua

New York's Upstate Art Weekend returns for its biggest edition yet

If you are traveling Upstate New York for the fourth iteration of this sprawling art adventure, keep a look out for these featured exhibitions and events

Smithsonian under fire for abrupt cancellation of Asian American literary festival

The institution cited “unforeseen circumstances”, leaving angry participants with debt and many unanswered questions

Riga biennial cancelled after outcry over organisers' Russian links

The third Riboca had already been delayed twice because of the war in Ukraine

A Mata of Factory: Manchester's footballing legend goes avant-garde

The footballer turned curator Juan Mata makes a star turn at Manchester International Festival, which opens in the city's new Factory International venue

Venice Biennale curator unveils vision for next year's exhibition

The focus of the show will be foreign artists—including refugees, émigrés and members of a diaspora

Can biennials really be sustainable? Helsinki Biennial looks at issues around the climate crisis

Artists and curators grapple with creating works that draw attention to the problem while also relying on travel and shipping to share them

Liverpool Biennial takes on the city’s unique role in the transatlantic slave trade

The South African curator Khanyisile Mbongwa has some home truths for the people of Liverpool—but do the points land?

Venice Architecture Biennale curator criticises Italian government for denying visas for three Ghanaian curators

Lesley Lokko, the curator of the 18th edition of the event, said the decision showed the “ugly rear” of Italian immigration policy but should not be "the defining story of this exhibition"

French curator Nicolas Bourriaud appointed artistic director of 15th Gwangju Biennale

The South Korean exhibition has come under fire for its Park Seo-Bo art prize which has now been abolished

St Louis’s Counterpublic triennial puts action and land repatriation at the fore

The triennial considers the city’s history of displacement with public works by New Red Order, Anita Fields and Jordan Weber, among others

Soft power triumphs at this year's Gwangju Biennale

Many of the works are deeply but not overtly political in a festival created to commemorate the 1980 Gwangju Uprising and Massacre

Trio of Salvador Dalí sculptures to headline UK summer art festival

Shrewsbury Arts Trail in the west of England has secured the works on loan from the Swiss-based Dalí Universe

Greatest hits of Asia Pacific Triennial to tour to London's V&A in 2026

The exhibition is being co-produced with the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, home of the flagship Brisbane festival

Mindful of its footprint, Desert X returns to the Coachella Valley and mulls expansion

The California biennial, which controversially expanded to Saudi Arabia, is eyeing another international edition

The New Museum selects curators for its next triennial, the first following its $89m expansion

The triennial’s sixth edition, scheduled for 2026, will be co-organised by one in-house curator and another from Brazil’s Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand

Abu Dhabi seeks to make waves with first major art biennial

The first "direct commission" unveiled by Public Art Abu Dhabi is a multimedia crashing wave display by the Seoul-based collective d’strict

Football's coming...to Manchester International Festival (with a little help from soccer player Juan Mata)

This summer's edition will also feature Yayoi Kusama’s monumental inflatables at Factory International's new building

Lithuaniaanalysis

Is Lithuania set to become the new centre of performance art?

The launch of the Vilnius Biennial of Performance Art builds on the Baltic country's success at the 2019 Venice Biennale, where its operatic art installation scooped the Golden Lion

Sharjah Biennial 15 delivers important postcolonial narrative—but loses its experimental edge

Exhibition "Thinking Historically in the Present" in the United Arab Emirates is the final brainchild of the late Nigerian curator Okwui Enwezor

First Nations artist Archie Moore to represent Australia at 2024 Venice Biennale

The exhibition, curated by Ellie Buttrose of the Queensland Art Gallery’s Gallery of Modern Art, will be the third in the Australian pavilion selected via an open call process