The Alexandria Biennale has announced its return following a 12-year hiatus and is set to take place from 18 September 2026.
The biennale is the third oldest in existence, after the Venice Biennale and Bienal de São Paulo, and was founded in 1955 by former president Gamal Abdel Nasser. The event intended to foster cross-Mediterranean and cross-region unity, a driving thread which will persist into the upcoming edition.
Curated by Egyptian artist Moataz Nasr, who represented Egypt at the Venice Biennale in 2017, the Alexandria Biennale will gather around 50 artists from countries around the Mediterranean, as well as a select few other locations. The artists will come together for the Egyptian coastal city’s largest art event, under the theme of This Too Shall Pass.
The Biennale will take place in multiple areas across the city, highlighting the city’s rich and layered history. These include several locations on Fouad Street, one of the oldest streets in the world, as well as the Qaitbay Citadel, the Roman amphitheatre, and the Alexandria Library. The Biennale will also seek to activate other parts of the city with events hosted in tandem in several local museums, in a bid to open up the event to younger Egyptian talent.
Organised by a committee made up of both state officials from the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, and art world individuals and patrons including Mai Eldib, Ahmed Shaboury, Hisham El-Khazindar, Rasheed Kamel, and Omniya Abdel Barr, the Biennale will depart from previous iterations to combine both public and private funding and input.
