27 Oct 2025

Biennale of Sydney announces further artists, project highlights and initial programming for 2026 edition: Rememory

The Biennale of Sydney has today announced further artists, project highlights and initial programming for its 25th edition, titled Rememory, being presented free to the public from 14 March to 14 June 2026.

With the Artistic program being led by internationally acclaimed curator Hoor Al Qasimi, the 25th Biennale of Sydney: Rememory takes its title from celebrated author Toni Morrison, exploring the intersection of memory and history as a means of revisiting, reconstructing, and reclaiming histories that have been erased or repressed. By engaging with Rememory, artists from across the world and within Australia reflect on their own roots while engaging with Sydney and its surrounding communities and histories, exploring global themes that connect us. 

The edition will highlight marginalised narratives, share untold stories, and inspire audiences to rethink how memory shapes identity and belonging, amplifying stories from First Nations communities, and the divergent diasporas that shape Australia today. A dedicated program for children and young audiences will provide space and exploration for these stories to be passed on to the next generations.

A major international art festival and the largest contemporary art event of its kind in Australia, the 25th Biennale of Sydney will expand its reach across five major exhibition sites: White Bay Power Station, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, Campbelltown Arts Centre, and Penrith Regional Gallery. This expanded footprint reflects a deliberate focus on inclusivity and access, particularly across Western Sydney, and will be further amplified through public programs hosted at additional venues throughout the Inner City and Greater Sydney.

Announced today are an additional 16 artists and collectives for the 2026 edition, bringing the current number to 53 with a full list to be announced in the coming months. The artists come from 31 countries including Australia, New Zealand, Guatemala, India, USA, Argentina, Lebanon, France, Ireland, Ethiopia, Algeria and Taiwan. 

Audiences will experience dynamic artworks, large-scale installations and site-specific projects by international artists such as Nikesha Breeze, Dread Scott, Nahom Teklehaimanot, Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, Joe Namy and Sandra Monterroso,alongside Australian artists including Abdul Abdullah, Dennis Golding, Helen Grace, Wendy Hubert, Richard Bell and Merilyn Fairskye & Michiel Dolk.

As Visionary Partner, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has worked with the Biennale of Sydney to commission 15 First Nations artists from around the world to create new work for the edition. These artists include Ángel Poyón, Angélica Serech, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Carmen Glynn-Braun, Edgar Calel, Fernando Poyón, Frank Young & The Kulata Tjuta Project, Gabriel Chaile, Gunybi Ganambarr, John Harvey & Walter Waia, John Prince Siddon, Nancy Yukuwal McDinny, Rose B. Simpson, Tania Willard and Warraba Weatherall. They will work closely with the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain First Nations Curatorial Fellow Bruce Johnson McLean, from the Wierdi people of the Birri Gubba Nation, to realise their artworks. 

Artistic Director Hoor Al Qasimi said: “Working with artists to bring Rememory to life, I am struck by the profound timeliness of this edition. The Biennale has always been a site for the most vital, urgent, and resonant art of its moment. Yet this edition feels especially present, even insistent—an irony, perhaps, as Rememory turns to the written, visual, and oral histories of culture, context, family, and country. I am deeply honoured to collaborate with such extraordinary artists, to accompany them in their processes, and to collectively honour Toni Morrison’s words. Together, we illuminate the overlooked and forgotten histories upon which the world is built.”

Barbara Moore, Chief Executive Officer, Biennale of Sydney said: “The Biennale of Sydney is a platform for art and ideas that inspire, challenge and connect us. In this moment, more than ever, we need opportunities that invite us to step beyond our own perspectives – to encounter experiences different from our own, to reflect on what binds us together, and to celebrate what makes us human. I am so excited to present Hoor Al Qasimi’s ambitious and extraordinary edition, Rememory. Bold new commissions and dynamic programming across art, music, food, performance, talks, and workshops, will offer audiences experiences that sparks joy, deepen empathy, and ignite connection – an experience that will be as thought-provoking as it is unforgettable.”

Minister for Jobs and Tourism, Steve Kamper said: “The Biennale of Sydney is one of the longest running biennales in the world and a highly anticipated cultural experience on our state’s major events calendar next year. The 25th edition will invite visitors from across the country and around the world to explore Sydney’s iconic locations, discover extraordinary art, and experience everything our city has to offer—from its world-class dining and vibrant nightlife to its stunning natural beauty. Major cultural events like the Biennale of Sydney not only enrich our state’s vibrant arts and culture scene but also boost our local economy and showcase NSW as Australia’s leading destination for world-class experiences."

NSW Minister for the Arts John Graham said: “I am delighted that the Biennale of Sydney will once again transform these five sites, including White Bay Power Station, showcasing the site’s potential as a cultural landmark. Since 1973, the Biennale of Sydney has enriched our city, bringing world-class contemporary art to our city.”

FIRST ARTWORKS FOR REMEMORY ANNOUNCED TODAY: 

• Internationally acclaimed interdisciplinary artist Nikesha Breeze presents an immense new immersive and interactive installation titled Living Histories at White Bay Power Station. Working from a global African diasporic and Afro-Futurist perspective, Breeze explores first-hand accounts of enslaved African-Americans in the Antebellum South. Unfolding among large-scale fabric columns crafted to resemble the African Baobab tree, Living Histories amplifies these lost voices as an act of archival reclamation.
• Painter Nancy Yukuwal McDinny will produce her largest work to date at White Bay Power Station. Giving voice to the experiences of Gulf of Carpentaria's traditional custodians since colonisation, McDinny documents the historical and contemporary resonance of conflict between First Nations communities and colonial forces, from the First Fleet to modern day mining. Vast in scale this new mural will stand as both monument, memorial and mission statement.
• Eritrean artist Nahom Teklehaimanot presents three new large-scale canvases at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Titled This is My Silence You Name the Sound, the work speaks to the poignant experience of living as a refugee. Using his signature collage style these figurative works understand displacement as a balancing act between exile and solidarity.
• Senior Anangu (Pitjantjatjara) artist Frank Young will lead a monumental installation of hand-carved spears for the latest iteration of the Kulata Tjuta (Many Spears) Project at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Kulata Tjuta, meaning ‘many spears’, is an ongoing project of cultural maintenance, which began in the Amata community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. This latest version marks fifteen years of the project, with three generations of spear-makers highlighting the importance of maintaining Indigenous traditions and knowledges through contemporary art projects.
• Artists Behrouz Boochani, Hoda Afshar and Vernon Ah Kee, present a multi-channel video work at Campbelltown Arts Centre as part of their newly commissioned Code Black/Riot project. Centring the voices and experiences of Indigenous youth living in detention Code Black/Riot confronts the persistence of colonial policies through the inhumane logic of Australia’s incarceration system.
• Lebanese filmmakers and artists Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige create a new work exploring patterns of human migration. The installation is based on the story of a group of friends who dream of changing their lives and decide to leave their neighbourhood for Australia, ultimately reaching Christmas Island. Their migration crosses the path of the annual mass red crab migration, which sees millions of large crabs emerge from the forest and make their way to the ocean to breed. The immersive multimedia installation at Campbelltown Arts Centre explores constant movement, migrations, dreams and imaginaries of utopian "elsewheres".
• Respected Yindjibarndi Elder Wendy Hubert expands her arts practice to create a large-scale native plant garden that celebrates ancestral knowledge at Penrith Regional Gallery. Focussing on native plants that are used for food, medicine, and ceremonial purposes, the garden will be a space for communities to gather, learn, and yarn.
• Monica Rani-Rudhar presents a vibrant and poetic new multi-channel video installation exploring the colonial legacies of both trauma and resistance embodied in family stories, heirlooms and bloodlines.  This work at Penrith Regional Gallery uses Rani-Rudhar’s personal history to interrogate the dual ideas of inheritance and intergenerational trauma.
• Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) based artist Benjamin Work, of Tongan and Orcadian/Shetlander hohoko (lineage), presents a new commission at Chau Chak Wing Museum. Symptomatic of a sprawling colonial project throughout the region, archival records of Tonga during the 19th century show Work’s ancestors merging Western clothing and materials with traditional Tongan dress. Acknowledging these developments as a means to maintain autonomy under annexation pressure, this new work extends these adaptations in an innovative sculptural tribute to the endurance of culture.
• At Chau Chak Wing Museum, Warraba Weatherall builds on his established practice of challenging institutional power structures. Across wall-based sculptural works, recalling both museum filing cabinets and church confessional booths, he reframes and critiques narratives behind archival documentation of Indigenous cultural material, specifically from his Country of Kamilaroi, held in collections of Australian museums. Weatherall challenges the significance placed on museum records offering a critical view of which voices are truly preserved within cultural institutions.
• London-based Lebanese artist and musician Joe Namy presents a new iteration of his work Automobile, a large-scale multi-channel sound installation which uses local cars fitted out with super-modified stereo systems as his instruments. First realised in Beirut, Lebanon in 2012, each presentation of Automobile engages with local communities of auto-enthusiasts to create an energetic gathering space, for the people, with the people. The work will be presented as a free performance with registration required in Parramatta Town Square on 21 March 2026. 

INITIAL PUBLIC PROGRAMMING FOR REMEMORY ANNOUNCED TODAY: 

A dynamic public program will be presented alongside the artworks, kicking off with the opening night concert Lights On at White Bay Power Station on 13 March 2026. With stages across the expansive site, audiences will be able to explore the exhibition while enjoying vibrant performances including headliner Nourished by Time, the solo project of genre-defying Baltimore musician Marcus Brown, making his Australian debut. Other performances throughout the evening include prolific local DJ and co-host of the weekly Latin American music show Mi Gente/My People on FBi radio INBRAZA Baile, groundbreaking inter-cultural First Nations fronted contemporary music ensemble Hand to Earth activating the resonant potential of the cavernous space of the Turbine Hall, and a preview performance of Joe Namy’s Automobile.

The Art After Dark program will transform White Bay Power Station on Friday evenings with music, art and outdoor food markets. Announced today is the music program for the first three events, curated by Liquid Architecture. The lineup includes performances by the celebrated Japanese experimental-pop artist and film composer based in Paris, France Tujiko Noriko and Sydney-based composer, curator and experimental musician working with the viola as well as electronic music traditions Mara Schwerdtfeger on 20 March, Kashmiri musician Ruhail Qaisar and genre-agnostic electronic singer-songwriter based on Gadigal Land Marcus Whale on 27 March, and Gomeroi guitarist Liam Keenan and Yorta Yorta cellist and composer Allara Briggs-Pattison on 3 April. The program for the remaining events throughout April, May and June will be announced in the coming months, and tickets are now on sale. 

Building on his work at White Bay Power Station for the 25th edition, artist Dennis Golding presents three programs that reflect on his experiences growing up in The Block in Redfern. On 10 May 2026 at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence, Golding will lead a beaded jewellery making workshop including beads 3D printed from the bricks of the Aboriginal Flag mural previously overlooking The Block, and on 9 April at Redfern Town Hall he will co-host a First Nations led Bingo night with curated performances, born of the artist’s childhood memories of weekly community gatherings for bingo hosted in one of the vacant terraces along Eveleigh Street. Over three Sunday mornings on 22 March, 26 April and 31 May, Golding will join Aunty Donna Ingram, a long-term resident of the area, for a limited series of tours of Redfern, discussing its Aboriginal history.

The Biennale of Sydney has partnered with the Inner West Council to present a series of programs at White Bay Power Station, including six new performance commissions to be presented under the title Working Memory (11-12 April), featuring artists Amrita Hepi, Body of Work: Charlotte Farrell & Emma Maye Gibson, Jacqui O'Reilly, Lauren Brincat, Lulu Barkell & Theodore Carroll and Red Rey, three nights of music as part of the Art After Dark events curated by Niriko McLure (17 April, 24 April, 1 May), and a program of talks curated by Lillian Ahenkan (FlexMami) (28 March).

A range of education programs tailored for primary and secondary students of all ages and abilities will be offered, including tours and workshops. In addition, Family Days—presented by Major Partner Arada—will take place across three Saturdays: 4 April, 9 May, and 6 June, featuring special programming.

Artists announced today as part of the 25th Biennale of Sydney (2026) are:

Behrouz Boochani (Kurdistan / Iran / Aotearoa (New Zealand)), Hoda Afshar (Iran / Australia) and Vernon Ah Kee (Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidinji and Gugu Yimithirr, Australia)

Benjamin Work (Tonga / Aotearoa New Zealand)

Emily Jacir (Palestine / Italy)

Helen Grace (Australia)

Hou I-Ting (Taiwan)

Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige (Lebanon / France)

Joe Namy (Lebanon / USA / UK)

Kiri Dalena (Philippines)

Kuba Dorabialski (Poland / Australia)

Massinissa Selmani (Algeria / France)

Monica Rani Rudhar (Australia)

Nahom Teklehaimanot (Ethiopia / Kenya)

Natalie Davey (Bunuba / Walmajarri, Australia)

Nikesha Breeze (United States)

Richard Bell (Kamilaroi/Kooma/Jiman/Gurang Gurang, Australia)

Sandra Monterroso (Maya Q'qchi', Guatemala)

The current list of artists as part of the 25th Biennale of Sydney (2026) are:

Abdul Abdullah (Australia / Thailand)

Ángel Poyón (Maya Kaqchikel, Guatemala)

Angélica Serech (Maya Kaqchikel, Guatemala)

Behrouz Boochani (Kurdistan / Iran / Aotearoa (New Zealand)), Hoda Afshar (Iran / Australia) and Vernon Ah Kee (Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidinji and Gugu Yimithirr, Australia)

Benjamin Work (Tonga / Aotearoa New Zealand)

Bouchra Khalili (Morocco / Austria)

CAMP (India)

Cannupa Hanska Luger (Standing Rock Indian Reservation, North Dakota / New Mexico, USA)

Carmen Glynn-Braun (Kaytetye, Arrernte, Anmatyerr, Australia)

Chang En Man (Paiwan, Taiwan)

Chen Chieh-jen (Taiwan R.O.C.)

Daisy Quezada Ureña (USA)

DAAR (DECOLONIZING ARCHITECTURE ART RESEARCH) (Palestine)

Deirdre O'Mahony (Ireland)

Dennis Golding (Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay, Australia) 

Dread Scott (USA)

Edgar Calel (Kaqchikel, Guatemala)

Elverina Johnson (Yarrabah, Australia)

Ema Shin (Japan / Australia)

Emily Jacir (Palestine / Italy)

Fernando Poyón (Maya Kaqchikel, Guatemala)

Frank Young & The Kulata Tjuta Project (Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, Australia)

Gabriel Chaile (Argentina / Lisbon)

Gunybi Ganambarr (Yolŋu (Ŋaymil) people, Australia) 

Helen Grace (Australia)

Hou I-Ting (Taiwan)

John Harvey (Kalaw Kawaw Ya/Saibai Island, Torres Strait, Australia) & Walter Waia (Kalaw Kawaw Ya/Saibai Island, Torres Strait, Australia)

John Prince Siddon (Walmajarri, Australia)

Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige (Lebanon / France)

Joe Namy (USA / UK/ Lebanon)

Kapwani Kiwanga (Canada / France)

Kiri Dalena (Philippines)

Kuba Dorabialski (Poland / Australia)

Lamia Joreige (Lebanon)

Marian Abboud (Australia)

Maritea Dæhlin (Norway / Mexico)

Massinissa Selmani (Algeria / France)

Merilyn Fairskye (Australia) & Michiel Dolk (Netherlands / Australia)

Michael Rakowitz (USA)

Monica Rani Rudhar (Australia)

Nahom Teklehaimanot (Ethiopia / Kenya)

Nancy Yukuwal McDinny (Garrwa / Yanyuwa, Australia)

Natalie Davey (Australia)

Nikesha Breeze (United States)

Richard Bell (Kamilaroi/Kooma/Jiman/Gurang Gurang, Australia)

Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo, USA)

Sandra Monterroso (Maya Q'qchi', Guatemala)

Tania Willard (Secwepemcúlecw, Canada)

Taysir Batniji (Gaza, Palestine / France)

Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn (Vietnam / USA)

Warraba Weatherall (Kamilaroi, Australia)

Wendy Hubert (Yindjibarndi Country, Australia)

Yaritji Young (Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, Australia)

Key Dates

Tuesday, 10 March 2026: Media Preview

Friday, 13 March: Lights On opening night

Wednesday 11 – Friday 13 March 2026: Vernissage (Professional Preview)

Saturday 14 March – Sunday 14 June 2026: 25th Biennale of Sydney open to the public

Admission is free.

For further information on the Biennale of Sydney, please visit biennaleofsydney.art.

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MEDIA CONTACTS: For more information contact Jasmine Hersee, jasmine@articulateadvisory.com, 0451 087 196, Sasha Haughan, sasha@articulateadvisory.com, 0405 006 035 or Kym Elphinstone, kym@articulateadvisory.com, 0421 106 139.

IMAGES: Available to download here.

 

ABOUT THE BIENNALE OF SYDNEY

The Biennale of Sydney is a leading international contemporary art event. It plays an indispensable role in Australia’s engagement with the world, and a meaningful role in the life of the nation. For over 50 years, the Biennale has been a unifying force in the Australian arts sector, embedding boldly creative art exhibitions and experiences in the everyday life of Sydney and putting the artistic excellence of Australia front and centre on the world stage. The Biennale of Sydney has commissioned and presented exceptional works of art by more than 2400 artists from more than 130 countries and territories. The Biennale of Sydney is committed to free access for all.  https://www.biennaleofsydney.art/ 

ABOUT HOOR AL QASIMI

Hoor Al Qasimi is President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, the independent public arts organisation she established in 2009 as a catalyst and advocate for the arts in the UAE and beyond. She has expanded the Foundation’s scope to include major international exhibitions; residencies; commissions; publications; grants; performance and film festivals; architectural research and restoration; and educational programming.

In 2003, she co-curated Sharjah Biennial 6 and has remained Biennial Director ever since. She was elected President of the International Biennial Association (IBA) in 2017. Al Qasimi was also curator of Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present (2023).

Al Qasimi has curated major solo exhibitions at Sharjah Art Foundation, presenting works by CAMP (2022), Khalil Rabah (2022), Tarek Atoui (2020–2021), Zarina Bhimji (2020–2021), Amal Kenawy (2018–2019) and Yayoi Kusama (2016–2017) as well as a major touring retrospective of work by Hassan Sharif (2017 – 2021). She co-curated Kamala Ibrahim Ishag: States of Oneness, Serpentine Gallery, London (2022–2023), Bani Abidi’s survey at MCA Chicago (2021–2022); and a major touring exhibition of work by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (2016 – 2017).

Al Qasimi curated the UAE Pavilion, 56th Venice Biennale (2015), the second Lahore Biennale (2020) and Dream Projects, Dream City Festival, Tunis (2023).

President and Director of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial, Al Qasimi also serves as President of the Global Studies University, Sharjah, which includes The Africa Institute and The Asia Institute. In 2025, Al Qasimi curated the sixth Aichi Triennale, the first non-Japanese person to do so.

ABOUT FONDATION CARTIER POUR L’ART CONTEMPORAIN 

The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is a space for artistic dialogue and experimentation that places the relationship between creation and exhibition at the heart of its institutional project, working in close collaboration with artists. Since its creation in 1984 by Alain Dominique Perrin, then-President of Maison Cartier, it has exhibited artists from all walks of life, breaking down barriers between practices and fields of thought. Built over the years through a groundbreaking international programme, the Fondation’s collection reflects its multidisciplinary nature and the breadth of themes addressed in direct connection with contemporary issues. 

The Fondation Cartier carries out its activities and commitments with the desire and ambition to make contemporary creation accessible to the widest possible audience. Through exhibitions projects and a programme of encounters and debates, live performances and talks, it creates bridges between cultural venues and fosters a genuine space for multicultural dialogue. 

With a new exhibition space, conceived by the renowned architect Jean Nouvel, on Place du Palais-Royal in Paris, the Fondation Cartier is reinventing itself in order to experiment and share with artists and audiences alike ever new ways of conceiving art. Find out more here: www.fondationcartier.com