The Most Important Art Biennials of 2026

There is broad consensus across the art world that since the early 2000s, there has been a global proliferation of biennials—the so-called biennialization of contemporary art—largely driven by local governments and tourism agencies discovering the potential of these large-scale exhibitions to activate entire local economies. Yet this expansion has also prompted growing criticism, with detractors questioning how much biennials truly give back not only to the art system but, crucially, to the communities in which they operate.