The 2026 Carnegie International, titled “If the word we,” opened at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, featuring 61 artists from around the world. Curated by Ryan Inouye, Liz Park, and Danielle A. Jackson, the exhibition emphasizes collective survival and interdependence, with works including Khalil Rabah’s video about Palestinian resilience, Shala Miller’s abstraction inspired by Toni Morrison, and a performance by Brooke O’Harra and collaborators celebrating teamwork through a historic basketball dunk by Julius Erving. The show extends to three other venues, including the Mattress Factory, where married artists Claudia Martinez Garay and Artur Kameya present a sprawling installation.
This edition matters because it marks a continued shift toward genuine internationalism—roughly half the artists are based outside the US and Europe, a significant increase from earlier iterations. By foregrounding collaboration and dissolving individual authorship, the curators challenge traditional notions of the solo artist and underscore art’s role in fostering solidarity amid global crises. The exhibition’s title, drawn from an essay by Haytham el-Wardany, reinforces the idea that survival and creativity are inherently collective acts.