SAVE THE DATE AURORA BIENNIAL NOV 4 - 21, 2026 SAVE THE DATE AURORA BIENNIAL NOV 4 - 21, 2026 SAVE THE DATE AURORA BIENNIAL NOV 4 - 21, 2026

2026:
STATES OF BECOMING

Curated by Julia Kaganskiy and Tairone Bastien under the theme States of Becoming, the 7th AURORA Biennial responds to a moment of profound transformation⁠—from the climate crisis and the rise of artificial intelligence to the erosion of democratic norms.

From November 4–20, the Biennial will activate Dallas and Fort Worth with a program of free events, including performances, lectures, and artist-led experiences. Unfolding for the first time over three weeks, it reflects AURORA’s ongoing mission to expand access to the arts while helping shape a more connected, creative, and culturally ambitious Dallas. On November 21, the Biennial will culminate in a free, citywide outdoor exhibition across three iconic Dallas locations⁠—Dallas City Hall, the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, and the AT&T Discovery District⁠.

International in scope and representing the leading edge of contemporary art, the Biennial brings together artists whose work is shaping the global conversation on the evolving relationship between art, technology, and society.

Tramaine Townsend, SALLAD, 2022, Installation view at the AURORA Biennial 2024: FuturePresentPast, Photo by Kelly McNett

Doug Land, The Hedlund, 2024, Installation view at the AURORA Biennial 2024: FuturePresentPast, Photo by Can Turkyilmaz

AURORA Biennial
EVENTS Program

November 4–20, 2026

Locations: Multiple sites across Dallas and Fort Worth (announced soon)

Jess Garland, Behind the Strings, 2024, Performance at the AURORA Biennial 2024: FuturePresentPast, Photo by Can Turkyilmaz

Biennial Exhibition

November 21, 7PM–1AM

Locations: Dallas City Hall, J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, AT&T Discovery District

Featured Artists

The AURORA Biennial brings together leading regional, national, and international artists who use technology to revive old stories and share new ones about this moment of ecological urgency, technological disruption, and social transformation.

We’re excited to announce our initial group of participating artists

Monira Al Qadiri (Berlin)
Eduardo Cassina (Norway)
Melanie Clemmons & Zak Loyd (Dallas)
Josh Kline (New York)
Ksawery Komputery (Poland)
Ezra Masch (Austin)
LaJuné McMillian (New York)
Christopher Meerdo (Ohio)
New Red Order (New York)
Trevor Paglen (New York)
Diana Rojas (Dallas)
Sasha Stiles (New York)
Tramaine Townsend (Dallas)
Eric Trich (Dallas)
Derek Tumala (Philippines)
Holly Veselka (San Marcos)
Saya Woolfalk (New York)

Additional artists announced soon!

Through site-responsive installations, performances, new commissions, and community-engaged projects, the featured artists explore transformations taking place all around us and reflect on the experience of living through change.

Through site-responsive installations, performances, new commissions, and community-engaged projects, the featured artists explore transformations taking place all around us and reflect on the experience of living through change.

Curators

Julia Kaganskiy is a curator and cultural strategist working across art, science, and technology. She currently serves as Executive Director of Eyebeam in New York City. A leading voice in the field, she helped launch several groundbreaking programs, including NEW INC (New Museum) and The Creators Project (VICE/Intel). Most recently, she served as Curator-at-Large at LAS Art Foundation in Berlin. As an independent curator, she has worked with Barbican Centre (London), House of Electronic Arts (Basel), and many others.

Tairone Bastien is a Toronto-based curator, writer, and educator. He co-curated the first two editions of the Toronto Biennial of Art. As a curator at Performa in New York City, he co-organized the first three editions of the biennial dedicated to live performance art. His current research focuses on public art in the Global South. Previously, he established Alserkal Avenue’s art program and the Alserkal Residency (Dubai), and curated projects with Delfina Foundation (London), Art Dubai, Dhaka Art Summit, and Samdani Art Foundation (Dhaka).

Location

Dallas is a city shaped by transformation⁠; a microcosm of broader shifts unfolding across the United States and around the world. The sites of the AURORA Biennial are themselves experiencing change, marked by the uncertainties and possibilities of a city in flux.

For the first time, the Biennial expands across the city, culminating in a final outdoor exhibition in Downtown Dallas. Its main footprint, Dallas City Hall, a symbol of transformation from another era, is at risk of demolition. Downtown Dallas and the Discovery District are poised for further change as AT&T prepares to relocate. Elsewhere, neighborhoods such as South Dallas stand on the precipice of major revitalization projects that promise to breathe new life into the community. Situated within these shifting landscapes, the Biennial looks to Dallas as a city in its own state of becoming.

Theme

Under the title States of Becoming, Aurora Biennial 2026 responds to a moment of profound transformation—from the climate crisis and the rise of AI to the erosion of democratic norms. In the midst of this, the stories we use to make sense of the world are changing: myths about who we are, how we live together, and our understanding of what it means to be human are being rewritten.

This biennial aims to offer space for collective calibration—a means of sensing where we are, together, before deciding where to go. In a moment saturated with future-oriented promises and existential dread, it aspires to something quieter but no less urgent: an opportunity to remain with the present long enough to understand what kind of shift is underway and to consider who we want to become.