Biennials & festivals

Spectacular Lumiere art festival lights up UK city of Durham

The latest edition of the popular event includes work by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Ai Weiwei

New York’s performance art biennial returns, with a focus on the heyday of conceptual art

The 2023 Performa Biennial takes as its starting point the conceptual art of the 1960s and 70s, across works by 40 contemporary artists

Saudi Arabia's Diriyah Biennale announces programme for 2024

After Rain exhibition, featuring 92 artists, is organised by curator Ute Meta Bauer

Four artists withdraw from 2024 Istanbul Biennial as curator row deepens

The participants invited this year call for "transparent forms of communication"—the biennial foundation says dialogue channels are still open

Kyiv Biennial's main exhibition in Vienna brings together the fragments of conflict

The show—the centrepiece of an event being hosted in several cities across Europe—features work addressing the Russia-Ukraine war as well as examples of authoritarian rule and political subjugation from further afield

Frieze turns 20: what's next for the popular art fair?

Plus, we speak to the artist Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir, who will be representing Iceland in Venice next year, and pick a work from the Matisse show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York

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In the latest Made in LA biennial, art and life are one

The latest edition of the Hammer Museum’s closely-watched biennial takes its title, “Acts of Living”, from a comment by revered Southern California assemblage sculptor Noah Purifoy

Istanbul Biennial's governing body draws up new selection guidelines following curator row

İKSV will bar advisory board members from taking up curatorial posts although the 2024 edition will go ahead as planned

An environmental art festival in Los Angeles seeks to counteract climate despair and inspire action

The organisers of Earth Edition, a new festival at CalArts, are seeking to showcase “what is being done that’s positive, that’s solutions-oriented”

The Guerrilla Girls take on an Arkansas music festival

The activist art collective is bringing an installation of its work and a series of workshops to the Format festival in Bentonville

Bienal de São Paulo restricts access to Ibrahim Mahama installation after child falls and breaks his arm while climbing on it

The installation features a reclaimed Ghanaian railroad track that visitors were previously encouraged to interact with

The 2023 Bienal de São Paulo lodges kinetic critiques of racism and environmental degradation

Titled “Choreographies of the Impossible”, the 35th edition of the world’s second-oldest biennial doesn’t dance around charged topics, it dances about them

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