The 25th Biennale of Sydney has launched under the title Rememory, a global contemporary art exhibition featuring more than 143 artworks by 83 artists and collectives from 37 countries and territories. Open free to the public from 14 March to 14 June 2026, the exhibition spans multiple venues across Greater Sydney, including the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence and Redfern Town Hall.
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The event is led by internationally acclaimed curator Hoor Al Qasimi, who has drawn the exhibition’s title from the work of celebrated American author Toni Morrison. The theme centres on the intersections of memory and history, with participating artists examining cultural roots, identity and belonging while engaging with Sydney’s communities and histories.
Al Qasimi has said that many of the works draw on personal, familial and collective histories, exploring how memory is carried across generations and how histories that have been fragmented or suppressed can be revisited through art. She has also noted that for many participating artists, creating work with and for community is fundamental to their practice, and that memory lives not only in archives and institutions but in people, places and shared experiences.
Biennale of Sydney CEO Barbara Moore has described the exhibition as one that brings people together through newly commissioned and presented artworks, fostering a sense of community and belonging at a time when the world can feel divided.
First Nations works and commissions
A major collaboration with Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, the Biennale’s Visionary Partner, has resulted in 15 new commissions by First Nations artists from around the world, developed with First Nations Curatorial Fellow Bruce Johnson McLean, from the Wierdi people of the Birri Gubba Nation.
Among the major works in the exhibition is the Ngurrara Canvas II, created by the Ngurrara artists of the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia. On display at the Art Gallery of NSW, its first showing in Sydney, the 80-square-metre floor canvas is one of the largest Aboriginal paintings ever produced. Originally presented to the National Native Title Tribunal in 1997 to demonstrate the Ngurrara people’s connection to Country, the work will be accompanied by a public performance from traditional owners, including two dance troupes who have travelled to Sydney for the occasion.
Also at the Art Gallery of NSW, Frank Young and The Kulata Tjuta Project present an installation of 2,000 hand-carved spears arranged in an arch-like structure, alongside paintings documenting community stories and the spear-making process. A ceremonial performance by community members will welcome the works to the gallery and Gadigal land.
Key works across the city
At White Bay Power Station, interdisciplinary artist Nikesha Breeze presents Living Histories, a two-storey immersive installation featuring towering fabric columns inspired by the African Baobab tree. The work draws on firsthand accounts of enslaved African-Americans in the Antebellum South as an act of archival reclamation. Also at White Bay, Argentinian artist Gabriel Chaile has constructed a hand-built adobe clay oven that will be activated throughout the festival, serving food to visitors in collaboration with Sydney’s Andina Peruvian Cuisine.
At Campbelltown Arts Centre, artists Behrouz Boochani, Hoda Afshar and Vernon Ah Kee present Code Black/Riot, a newly commissioned multi-channel video installation centring the experiences of Indigenous youth in detention and the continuing impact of colonial policy within Australia’s incarceration system.
At Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery, Yindjibarndi Elder Wendy Hubert is creating a large-scale native plant garden celebrating ancestral knowledge, with plants used for food, medicine and ceremony providing a gathering space for community conversations.
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Program and access
Alongside the exhibitions, the Biennale offers an extensive public program including weekly Memory Lane Food Markets every Saturday and Sunday at White Bay Power Station, an Africa Day celebration on 23 May, guided art and historical tours, family days, youth programs and accessibility-focused events. Friday evenings at White Bay Power Station will feature the Art After Dark series with live music and food markets, running from 20 March through to the closing night on 12 June.
The 25th Biennale of Sydney opens 14 March 2026, with a closing night party on 12 June 2026. Full program details are available at biennaleofsydney.art
Published 16-March-2026
