The Toronto Biennial of Art (TBA) has announced the details for its upcoming edition, which will take place from 26 September to 20 December.
The biennial, now in its fourth edition, will be curated by Allison Glenn, who has collaborated with the recently created National Curatorial Advisory, which is comprised of six curators from leading cultural institutions in Canada. Entitled Things Fall Apart, it will gather over 30 artists and collectives from Canada, the SWANA region, the Caribbean and South America, as well as further afield. Participating artists include Dala Nasser, Rouzbeh Akhbari, Céline Semaan and Jean-Marc Bullet, Dawoud Bey and Dawit L Petros, among others.
Glenn’s curatorial approach focuses on research and is deeply anchored in the physical sites that she engages with. Artists will create work for the biennial that directly engages with the city of Toronto, its surrounding areas and especially the waterways that feed the Great Lakes region. The title Things Fall Apart draws on the novel of the same name by Chinua Achebe, indicating breaking points that rupture and echo across time and space.
Here, these fractures are approached as an opportunity for creation and change, looking to understand contemporary systems while providing a departure point for generating future ones. Water serves as a guide to the historical and cultural exchanges that link disparate areas of the globe, with the power dynamics engendered by trade and migration still underpinning the world today.
“With the announcement of our 2026 curatorial theme and artist list comes an exciting milestone for the 2026 Toronto Biennial of Art,” comments founder and executive director of the Toronto Biennial, Patrizia Libralato. “As we introduce this year’s project, we expand outward as Canada’s biennial, reflecting the unique identity of Toronto by bringing together voices from across Canada and around the world. TBA 2026 sees us deepening existing partnerships, cultivating new ones, extending artist projects beyond the Toronto region, and bringing Allison Glenn’s thoughtful vision to life. We are proud to facilitate dialogue at a time when so much feels uncertain, reaffirming our shared commitment to access, cultural vitality, and recognition that contemporary art is not peripheral to public life, but central to it.”
For the first time in the event’s history, the biennial will extend past the Greater Toronto Area, to forge new connections across North America through institutional collaborations in cities such as Detroit, St Louis and New York. The Art Museum at the University of Toronto will continue to serve as the event’s primary exhibition venue partner, with work also showcased in other locations across the city. These encompass a diverse array of Toronto locales: CN Tower, Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Aga Khan Museum, Sankofa Square, CF Toronto Eaton Centre, Harbourfront Centre, Mercer Union, Gallery TPW, The Scarborough Gurdwara and Toronto Pearson Airport.
Full artist list:
Andrés Ramírez Gaviria
Antonio Obá
Bonnie Devine
Brendan Fernandes
Cameron Harvey
Carole Harris
Carolina Fusilier
Céline Semaan and Jean-Marc Bullet
Charisse Pearlina Weston
Chiedza Pasipanodya
Coco Fusco
Dala Nasser
Dawit L. Petros
Dawoud Bey
James Perkins
Julianknxx
Julien Creuzet
Kent Monkman
Lindsay Katsitsakatste Delaronde
Nanibah “Nani” Chacon
Naotaka Hiro
Nirbhai (nep) Singh Sidhu
Raphaël Barontini
Rebecca Belmore
Regina de Miguel
Rouzbeh Akhbari
Simranpreet Anand
Skawennati
Solange Pessoa
Taqralik Partridge
Tetsuya Yamada
Underground Resistance presents Drexciya and beyond
Wen Liu
