As the year comes to an end, the Canvas team looks ahead to the most anticipated art events for 2026.
Desert X AlUla
Desert X will take place for the fourth time in AlUla, coinciding with the fifth AlUla Arts Festival. The site-specific exhibition will see Neville Wakefield and Raneem Farsi lead the artistic direction, joined by guest curators Wejdan Reda and Zoé Whitley. This year’s theme, Space Without Measure, brings together participating artists to explore how humans experience nature, using the poetry of Kahlil Gibran as a guide to notions of space and perception. Keep your eyes out for further details on participating artists and commissions as we move into the new year.
Desert X AlUla runs from 16 January to 28 February 2026
Colomboscope
The ninth edition of Colomboscope, entitled Rhythm Alliances and led by artistic director Natasha Ginwala with curation by Hajra Haider Karrar, will gather more than 50 artists and collectives from around the world. The theme of this iteration invites artists to reflect upon cross-cultural and intergenerational histories as points of departure for artistic creation, with sound art, visual art and performance as the primary media. Colomboscope will take place across a variety of venues in Colombo, including Barefoot Gallery, Colpetty Townhouse, Kamatha at BMICH, Liberty by Scope Cinemas, Musicmatters, Radicle Gallery, Rio Complex and Soul Studio. A number of new commissions are set to be unveiled in this edition, including works by Haseeb Ahmed, Sabeen Omar, Charwei Tsai and Farah Deen and collaborators.
Colomboscope runs from 21 to 31 January
Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale
The Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale returns for its third edition, under the theme of In Interludes and Transitions. Taking place in Riyadh’s cultural hub, the JAX District, the biennale will be led by artistic directors Nora Razian and Sabih Ahmed, along with curators Maan Abu Taleb, May Makki, Kabelo Malatsie and Lantian Xie. Over 70 artists and more than 22 new commissions will explore how creativity can serve as a tool to make sense of an increasingly challenging world while taking as a point of departure the shifts and migrations which link the Arab world to the rest of globe. So far announced artists include Rand Abdul Jabbar, Ahaad Alamoudi, Taysir Batniji, Nour Mobarak, among others.
Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2026 runs from 30 January to 2 May 2026 (extended from 23 April)
Art Basel Qatar
The inaugural edition of Art Basel Qatar ,for the first time, will take place as an open-format exhibition curated by Wael Shawky under the theme Becoming. A total of 84 participating artists will showcase their work, with 87 galleries from around the world. The event will take place across various locations in Doha’s M7 and the Doha Design District. Msheireb Downtown Doha will host the recently announced Special Projects programme, a series of nine site-specific large-scale interventions curated by Shawky and Vincenzo de Bellis, the Chief Artistic Officer and Global Director of Art Basel Fairs. Highlights include Khalil Rabah’s new adaptation of his ongoing project engaging in institutional critique, Transition, among other things, and Nour Jaouda’s ‘rest house’ made of steel, architectural sketches and textiles.
Art Basel Qatar runs from 5 to 7 February 2026
1-54 Marrakech
The Moroccan edition of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair returns to Marrakech returning with La Mamounia as the sole location. The leading fair for discovering established and emerging art from the African continent will see over 20 galleries take part, with four first-time participants including The Lobster Edition, The Art Affair, Imvelo Art Studios and ELEPHANT. Special Projects in tandem with the fair include a collaboration with the Fondation TGC who will showcase Constellations, an exhibition of work by Prix Mustaqbal recipients. Additionally, a number of cultural activations across the city from an exhibition at LE 18 entitled Organic Knowledge and curated by Maud Houssais and Yassine Balbzioui, three exhibitions at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent and a multitude of late-night gallery openings and events in the Gueliz neighbourhood.
1-54 Marrakech runs from 5 to 8 February 2026
82nd Whitney Biennial
The 82nd Whitney Biennial will be co-curated by Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer, with curatorial support from Beatriz Cifuentes and Carina Martinez. For the upcoming edition, the biennial will forego a single curatorial framework in favour of observing how artists respond to contemporary times through linking themes, with an emphasis on shared experiences and histories. A total of 56 artists, duos and collectives are set to participate including Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Kamrooz Aram, Ali Eyal, Samia Halaby and Nour Mobarak among others, in one of the most extensive surveys of American art today.
The 82nd Whitney Biennial will run from 8 March with end date to be confirmed.
Image courtesy of the artists and Milani Gallery © Hoda Afshar and Vernon Ah Kee
25th Biennale of Sydney
The 25th Sydney Biennale draws on a term coined by Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison for its theme, Rememory, brought to life by the artistic curation of Hoor Al Qasimi. So far, 53 artists and collectives have been announced, which include 15 First Nation artists from around the world. Participants will work to share overlooked or marginalised narratives, with a special programme dedicated to passing these stories on to the younger generations. The biennale will unfold across five key locations in the city, including the Campbelltown Arts Centre with Behrouz Boochani, Hoda Afshar and Vernon Ah Kee’s multi-channel video work as part of the commissioned Code Black/Riot which takes a close look at the experiences of incarcerated Indigenous youth as well as Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige’s new immersive multi-media installation examining human migratory patterns through storytelling in the same location. Offsite activations not to miss include Joe Namy’s Automobile, a large-scale multi-channel sound installation which engages with local auto-enthusiasts in each of its new iterations.
25th Biennale of Sydney runs from 14 March to 14 June 2026
Centre for Contemporary Arts Tashkent
The Centre for Contemporary Arts in Tashkent (CCA), led by the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF) and its chairperson Gayane Umerova, is due to open its doors in March of 2026. Sara Raza, the artistic director and chief curator of the CCA, will inaugurate the exhibition Hikmah (meaning “wisdom” in Uzbek) during the opening weekend, which will include work by Ali Cherri, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Kimsooja, Tarik Kiswanson, Vladimir Pan, Shukhrukh Rakhimov, Bakhtiyar Saipov, Daribay Saipov, Muhannad Shono and Nari Ward. The CCA, designed by Studio KO, is also running a range of programming in the lead up to their official opening, including artist residencies, a youth-led programme for 16 to 21 year olds entitled Clubistan, a CCA Radio and a professional development programme led by Sara Raza. Upcoming yearly initiatives include the Navruz Gala, a multidisciplinary event and the Tashkent Public Art Festival, alongside two landmark exhibitions.
Art Dubai
This year, Art Dubai celebrates its 20th anniversary under the theme of Future, Past, Present, overseen by new fair director Dunja Gottweiss. The upcoming edition pays tribute to artistic legacies with a focus on highlighting established practices while also bringing experimental and emerging practices to the forefront. Over 100 galleries from more than 35 countries, with 36 first-time exhibitors, are set to participate across a reworked structure comprising five sections: the Galleries section showcasing Contemporary and Modern work, and curated sections which include Zamaniyyat, curated by Dr Sarah A Rifky; Bawwaba, curated by Amal Khalaf; Art Dubai Digital curated by Ulrich Schrauth and Nadine Khalil and the newly conceived Bawwaba extended, curated by Amal Khalaf and Alexie Glass-Kantor, that will see a range of immersive installations embedded across Madinat Jumeirah.
Art Dubai 2026 runs from 17 to 19 April 2026
Image courtesy of the artist and Carnegie Museum of Art
59th Carnegie International
The 59th Carnegie International is set to take place at the Carnegie Museum of Art in what will be the most wide-ranging and collaborative edition of the longest-running art festival in North America. With curation by Ryan Inouye, Danielle A Jackson, and Liz Park, the exhibition will bring together contemporary practices across the domains of visual art, film, performance, theatre and music, set against historic artworks to foreground the ability of art to spark new conversations and to broaden perspectives. The event will also partner with institutions in the North Side and Hill District areas of the city, further expanding the contexts in which the dialogue surrounding contemporary art practices takes place. So far, fourteen artist commissions have been announced, including Alia Farid, Sanchayan Ghosh and Eric Gyamfi.
The 59th Carnegie International runs from 2 May to 3 January 2027
61st Venice Biennale
The 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia entitled In Minor Keys will follow the curatorial vision of the late Koyo Kouoh and take place at the Arsenale, the Giardini and various locations around Venice. Alongside the main exhibition, a range of national pavilions will showcase work by selected artists including Saudi Arabia with Dana Awartani, Türkiye with Nilbar Güreş, Lebanon with Nabil Nahas, France with Yto Barrada, Canada with Abbas Akhavan, as well as the UAE who are yet to announce their participant/s.
The 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia runs from 9 May to 22 November 2026
The Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement
The Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement (BIM) will take place for the first time outside of Switzerland, with the main exhibition happening during Jaou Tunis as the result of a collaboration between the Kamel Lazaar Foundation and the Centre d’ Art Contemporain Genève. For BIM, selected artists will create work which will be unveiled during Jaou Tunis, with this edition focusing on showcasing a plurality of voices and cross-cultural exchange, while providing a new platform for art hailing from the African continent. The 2026 edition of BIM will include Tunisian artist Younès Ben Slimane as well as Mona Benyamin, Hajra Waheed, among others.
The Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement with Jaou Tunis will open in October 2026
Alexandria Biennale
The Alexandria Biennale is returning next year after a 12-year hiatus. Founded by Gamel Abdel Nasser, former president of Egypt, it is the third-oldest biennale in the world. The upcoming edition will curated by Egyptian artist Moataz Nasr and will gather 50 artists predominantly from the shores of the Mediterranean to participate under the theme of This Too Shall Pass. It will seek to activate various locations around the city of Alexandria, including Fouad Street, the Qaitbay Citadel and Alexandria Library, with several local museums hosting events to coincide with the biennale.
The Alexandria Biennale will run from 12 September with end date to be confirmed.
Frieze Abu Dhabi
Formerly Abu Dhabi Art, the newly named Frieze Abu Dhabi will take place at Manarat Al Saadiyat, gathering local, regional and international galleries. The fair’s rebranding will lend a new approach to the regional art fair, with a renewed focus on platforming emerging practices, bringing artist-led projects to the forefront and connecting the region with the global art ecosystem. The fair, at the heart of Abu Dhabi’s thriving art scene, will continue to play a vital role in the region’s cultural sector, while further cementing its place in the wider art circuit’s calendar.
Dates for Frieze Abu Dhabi have yet to be confirmed.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi
The long-awaited Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is set to open to the public in 2026 on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi. With the museum’s design based on plans by the late renowned architect Frank Gehry, it will be the largest Guggenheim museum to date and Gehry’s final major building. The Guggenheim Abi Dhabi will house art galleries housing modern and contemporary art from around the world, with a focus on the WANASA region (West Asia, North Africa and South Asia). It will join other major cultural institutions on Saadiyat Island, with neighbours including the Louvre Abu Dhabi and Zayed National Museum.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Opening dates to be confirmed.
