The major international festival features more than 143 artworks by 83 artists and collectives from 37 countries and territories, alongside an extensive public program across Sydney.

"As we open the 25th Biennale of Sydney across Greater Sydney, visitors are invited to experience extraordinary contemporary art from Australia and around the world in places where communities live, gather and create,” says Barbara Moore, Chief Executive Officer, Biennale of Sydney.

“The Biennale brings people together through newly commissioned and presented artworks that engage with contemporary ideas and the world we live in, inspiring and challenging perspectives and in turn fostering a shared sense of community and belonging. At a time when the world can feel divided, the Biennale shares stories from people living today, embracing freedom of thought and our common humanity.”

As Australia’s largest contemporary art event, the Biennale will take place across several major cultural institutions including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery, Sydney Opera House and White Bay Power Station.

The 2026 edition expands its reach across Greater Sydney with additional programming hosted at community venues including Blouza Hall, Centenary Square, Fairfield City Museum & Gallery, Marrickville Town Hall, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, National Centre of Indigenous Excellence Redfern, Parramatta Artist Studios, Redfern Town Hall and Sydney Town Hall. The expanded footprint reflects a strong focus on accessibility, community participation and cultural exchange across the city.

Led by internationally acclaimed curator Hoor Al Qasimi, the 25th Biennale of Sydney takes its title Rememory from celebrated author Toni Morrison. The concept explores the intersections of memory and history, encouraging artists and audiences to revisit, reconstruct and reclaim the past. Through this theme, participating artists from Australia and around the world examine their own cultural roots while engaging with Sydney’s communities and histories, addressing shared global questions of identity and belonging.

Visitors will encounter large-scale installations, immersive environments and site-specific works created by both local and international artists. The exhibition foregrounds marginalised perspectives and untold stories, highlighting how memory shapes identity and collective experience. First Nations voices and the diverse diasporas that shape contemporary Australia are central to the exhibition’s narrative. A dedicated children and youth program will also provide opportunities for younger audiences to engage with these stories and ideas.

As Visionary Partner, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain collaborated with the Biennale of Sydney to commission new works by 15 First Nations artists from around the world. The participating artists are 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.

The artists worked closely with Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain First Nations Curatorial Fellow Bruce Johnson McLean, from the Wierdi people of the Birri Gubba Nation, to develop their projects. This collaboration continues the ongoing partnership between the Fondation Cartier and the Biennale of Sydney, which also includes a creative collaboration with the Sydney Opera House for the recently launched Badu Gili: Story Keepers.

“Rememory has been shaped by artists whose practices are grounded in lived experience, cultural knowledge, and community. Many of the works in this edition draw on personal, familial and collective histories to reflect on how memory is carried across generations, and how histories that have been fragmented or suppressed can be revisited and reassembled through art,” says Artistic Director Hoor Al Qasimi.

“For many of the artists in the Biennale, creating work with, by and for community is fundamental. Their practices recognise that memory lives not only in archives or institutions, but in people, places and shared experiences. Bringing these voices together across Sydney allows audiences to encounter powerful perspectives from around the world while reflecting on the histories and communities that shape this city.”

Among the major artworks featured in the exhibition is Ngurrara Canvas II, created by the Ngurrara artists of the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia. Displayed at the Art Gallery of NSW for the first time in Sydney, the 80sqm floor canvas is one of the largest Aboriginal paintings ever produced. Created in 1997, it was originally presented to the National Native Title Tribunal to demonstrate the Ngurrara people’s connection to Country during native title proceedings. Traditional owners, including two dance troupes, have travelled to Sydney to present a special public performance.

Argentinian artist Gabriel Chaile presents a hand-built adobe clay sculptural oven at White Bay Power Station. Drawing on his Spanish, Afro-Arabic and Indigenous Candelaria heritage, Chaile explores the communal relationships surrounding food and shared gathering spaces. The oven will be activated during the festival’s opening weekend and at key moments throughout the Biennale, serving food to visitors in collaboration with Sydney’s Andina Peruvian Cuisine.

Internationally acclaimed interdisciplinary artist Nikesha Breeze unveils a large immersive installation titled Living Histories spanning two storeys at White Bay Power Station. Working through Afro-Futurist and African diasporic perspectives, Breeze explores firsthand accounts of enslaved African-Americans in the Antebellum South. The installation features towering fabric columns inspired by the African Baobab tree, amplifying lost voices through an act of archival reclamation.

Melbourne-based textile artist Ema Shin presents her largest work to date at the Chau Chak Wing Museum: a two-metre-tall three-dimensional woven heart. Inspired by a family tree preserved by her grandfather that spans 32 generations but records only male descendants and women who bore sons, the work reflects on the historical erasure of women while honouring those absent from the family record.

At the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Frank Young and The Kulata Tjuta Project present a monumental installation of 2,000 hand-carved spears created by community members and arranged in a striking arch-like structure. The installation is accompanied by a selection of Young’s paintings documenting community stories and the spear-making process. A ceremonial performance by members of the community will activate the space and welcome the works to the gallery and Gadigal land.

Artists Behrouz Boochani, Hoda Afshar and Vernon Ah Kee present a multi-channel video installation at Campbelltown Arts Centre as part of their newly commissioned project Code Black/Riot. The work centres the experiences of Indigenous youth in detention and confronts the continuing impact of colonial policy within Australia’s incarceration system.

Lebanese artists and filmmakers Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige present a new installation examining migration and displacement. Inspired by the story of a group of friends attempting to reach Australia via Christmas Island, the project also reflects the natural migration of millions of red crabs on the island. The immersive multimedia work at Campbelltown Arts Centre explores movement, dreams and imagined futures.

At Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery, Yindjibarndi Elder Wendy Hubert creates a large-scale native plant garden celebrating ancestral knowledge and cultural practices. The garden highlights plants used for food, medicine and ceremony and provides a gathering space for community conversations and learning.

Monica Rani-Rudhar presents a poetic multi-channel video installation exploring colonial legacies of trauma and resistance through family histories, heirlooms and bloodlines. Her work reflects on inheritance and intergenerational memory.

A new commission by Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) artist Benjamin Work will also be presented at the Chau Chak Wing Museum. Of Tongan and Orcadian/Shetlander lineage, Work draws from 19th-century archival records showing how his ancestors blended Western clothing with traditional Tongan dress as a way of maintaining cultural autonomy during colonial pressure.

Lebanese artist and musician Joe Namy will present a new iteration of his large-scale sound installation Automobile. Using customised cars equipped with powerful stereo systems as musical instruments, the work engages local auto-enthusiast communities to create a participatory performance environment. The project will take place in Parramatta Town Square on 21 March 2026.

The festival begins with the opening night concert Lights On at White Bay Power Station on Friday 13 March 2026. Visitors explore the exhibition alongside performances from Brooklyn-based DJ Haram, local DJ Maz with INBRAZA Baile, First Nations ensemble Hand to Earth, American artist Niecy Blues and a preview of Joe Namy’s Automobile.

Throughout the opening weekend from 14–15 March 2026, audiences can attend free talks, performances and artist activations. Spotlight Artist Talks will feature exhibiting artists including Natalie Davey, Edgar Calel, Carmen Glynn-Braun and Ángel Póyon. Other highlights include performances connected to artworks by Nikesha Breeze and Marian Abboud, and a musical performance by Indigenous artist Nancy Yukuwal McDinny alongside her family.

Wendy Hubert’s Indigenous plant garden installation at Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery will also host talks and community yarning circles.
Friday evenings will see White Bay Power Station transformed through the Art After Dark series featuring music, food markets and performances. The first three events will be curated by Liquid Architecture with performances by Tujiko Noriko and Mara Schwerdtfeger on 20 March, Ruhail Qaisar and Marcus Whale on 27 March, and Liam Keenan with Allara Briggs-Pattison on 3 April.

The Inner West Council will curate a further music series featuring Body Type on 17 April, Yes Boone on 24 April and BOY SODA on 1 May. Vivid Sydney will curate the final three nights of the series with performances by Purelink on 29 May, anaiis on 5 June and the Biennale’s closing night party on 12 June.

Additional programming throughout the three-month festival includes weekly Memory Lane Food Markets, a large Africa Day celebration in May, six new performance commissions developed with Inner West Council, guided art tours, historical tours of White Bay Power Station with Museums of History NSW, family days, youth programs, education initiatives and accessibility-focused events.

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

Images: Art Gallery of NSW installations / supplied

Clémence Carayol

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