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Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art 2026 Review: Up Close and Personal

The 2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, titled 'Yield Strength,' features 24 artists across three venues, curated by Ellie Buttrose. The exhibition explores resilience under political and social pressures, with works like Erika Scott's fused assemblages from discarded domestic items, Jennifer Matthew's steel construction that manipulates visitor movement, and Nathan Beard's silicone arms critiquing exoticization of Thai culture. The title borrows an engineering term for the point at which materials transform under stress, reflecting the show's focus on art that strains formal boundaries without breaking.

25th Biennale of Sydney – Rememory

The 25th Biennale of Sydney, titled 'Rememory,' opened on March 14, 2026, across multiple venues including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, White Bay Power Station, and the Sydney Opera House. Artistic director Hoor Al Qasimi curated the event around the concept of 'rememory,' inspired by Toni Morrison's novel *Beloved*, featuring over 143 works by 83 artists and collectives from 37 countries. The biennale centers First Nations voices and diasporic communities, with standout pieces like the Ngurrara Artists' *Ngurrara Canvas II* (1997) and works by Yaritji Young. However, the event has faced controversy due to Al Qasimi's opposition to the war in Gaza, leading to criticism from donors and board members, as well as logistical disruptions from the Iran war affecting the curator and artists.

Khaled Sabsabi Unveils Biennale Arte 2026 Showcase

Khaled Sabsabi will represent Australia at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026 with two major installations. At the Australia Pavilion, he presents "conference of one's self," an immersive multisensory installation featuring eight monumental canvas paintings, suspended video projectors, and an analogue soundscape, all inspired by the 12th-century Sufi allegory "The Conference of the Birds." In a historic first for an Australian artist, Sabsabi also debuts a second work, "khalil," in the Biennale's main exhibition "In Minor Keys" curated by Koyo Kouoh at the Arsenale. Both works explore spirituality, migration, and shared humanity through a Sufi philosophical framework.

Your Australian art guide for May 2026 is here

May 2026 brings a packed calendar of art exhibitions across Australia, with highlights including Rone's 'Another TIME' at COMA Gallery in Sydney, the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes at the Art Gallery of NSW, and solo shows by Eleanor Louise Butt, Jordan Gogos, Natalya Hughes, Patricia Piccinini, and Michaela Gleave. Regional venues like Bundanon and Ngununggula also feature major exhibitions, including a posthumous show of Rosalie Gascoigne alongside new commissions by First Nations women artists.

Jemima Wyman

Jemima Wyman's retrospective "Deep Surface" surveys three decades of her work exploring DIY aesthetics of concealment, protest iconography, and political solidarity. Born in Sydney and based in Los Angeles since 2004, Wyman is known for collages of masked protesters, activist signage, and street rally residues, as seen in works like *Aggregate Icon (RBW)* (2016) and *Mass Monument (Y & B)* (2018). The exhibition highlights her early inspiration from Fluxus, Minimalism, and Yayoi Kusama, as well as the influence of Brisbane's late-1990s art scenes and postcolonial Indigenous Australian art debates. Wyman, who has Indigenous (Palawa) heritage, uses camouflage and disguise to blur boundaries between visibility and concealment, figure and ground.

Para verte mejor, en todo tiempo

The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney is presenting "Para verte mejor, en todo tiempo" (To see you better, at all times), a solo exhibition by Venezuelan-born artist Nadia Hernández. The show features an immersive textile collage, mural, and soundscape that draws on Venezuelan protest songs, musical traditions, and the artist's own diasporic experiences to explore memory, displacement, and resistance. It includes recent works such as "En todo tiempo (at all times)" 2024 and "El segundo verso (the second verse)" 2025, and is part of the gallery's Contemporary Projects series highlighting artists from New South Wales and wider Australia.