The 12th SITE SANTA FE International has announced the participants and curatorial theme for the upcoming edition due to open 27 June.
Curated by Cecilia Alemani, the biennial highlights storytelling as its core theme, drawing inspiration from Godfrey Reggio’s Once Within a Time. Reggio’s work blends surreal, apocalyptic imagery with profound explorations of human nature and technology to provide a foundation for the exhibition as it examines the relationship between personal narratives and the collective memory of the inhabitants of Santa Fe and its surrounding region.
The exhibition will also invite reflection on individual and universal experiences, with Reggio’s circular narrative structure complementing the writings of poet N. Scott Momaday, whose concept of the “wheel of telling” emphasises the cyclical and interconnected nature of storytelling.
Works by local, national and international artists will be placed in dialogue with regional figures and local characters to engage with the city’s cultural landscape and delve into the power of storytelling. With more than 300 works made between 1926 to the present, roughly half of the participating artists will present new commissions that uncover the circumstances and legends surrounding the figures of interest and explore Santa Fe’s identity and history.
Some of the commissions for Once Within a Time will include site-specific sculptures, large-scale installations and performances by artists such as Guillermo Galindo, David Horvitz, Dominique Knowles,Simone Leigh and Nora Naranjo Morse.
Participants include the following :
* = figures of interest as per the announcement
Korakrit Arunanondchai
Patricia Ayres
Doña Tules (Maria Gertrudis Barceló)*
Donald Beauregard*
Louise Bonnet
Tejal Boor*
Willa Cather*
Autumn Chacon
Ali Cherri
Helen Cordero
Minerva Cuevas
Santiago de Paoli
Omari Douglin
Esteban / Estebanico*
Guillermo Galindo
Ximena Garrido-Lecca
Looking Glasses*
Candice Lin
Greg Mac Gregor
Maureen Gruben
Terran Last Gun
Raven Halfmoon
Frederick Hammersley
Sidsel Meineche Hansen
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Sky Hopinka
Lilli Hornig*
David Horvitz
Maryam Hoseini
Archbishop Nitten Ishida*
Saodat Ismailova
Claude James*
Heechan Kim
Karla Knight
Dominique Knowles
Louise Lawler
D. H. Lawrence
Dionne Lee
Mire Lee
Simone Leigh
Joanna Keane Lopez
Pop Chalee (Merina Lujan)
Doña Mala*
La Malinche*
Diego Marcon
John McCracken
Diego Medina
Na Mira
N Scott Momaday*
Hira Nabi
Vladimir Nabokov*
Nora Naranjo-Morse
Chester Nez and the so-called “Original29” Navajo Code Talkers*
Ni-hual*
Amol K. Patil
Agnes Pelton
Cristina Flores Pescorán
Florence Miller Pierce
Eliot Porter
Will Rawls
Godfrey Reggio
ZHANG Ruyi
Maja Ruznic
Rebecca Salsbury
James Agnes Scherer
Francis Schlatter*
Max Hooper Schneider
Marilou Schultz
Katja Seib
Wael Shawky
Penny Siopis
The Fire Spirit, archenemy of Zozobra*
Luis Tapia
Awa Tsireh
Nora Turato
Ultima*
Uman
Daisy Quezada Ureña
Ana Vazm, Pablita Velarde (Tse Tsan)
Gisèle Vienne
WangShui
Charisse Pearlina Weston
Emmi Whitehorse
Will Wilson
Joseph E. Yoakum
Norman Zammitt
ZHANG Yunyao
ZHANG XU Zhan
The 12th International will go beyond SITE SANTA FE to several partner institutions and venues such as the New Mexico History Museum including the Palace of the Governors, the Museum of International Folk Art, the New Mexico Military Museum, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, and the St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art. The exhibition will also extend to spaces such as local parks, a movie theatre, empty storefronts and more.
The 12th SITE SANTA FE International runs from 27 June until 12 January 2026
