Aspen Art Museum will host its second-annual AIR festival from July 27–31, 2026, as part of Aspen Art Week. The festival, themed “Figures in a Landscape” after Joseph Losey’s 1970 thriller, features a keynote address by American author, artist, and filmmaker Miranda July. A major exhibition of new works by Argentine sculptor Adrián Villar Rojas anchors the event, alongside performances by Camille Henrot (her first theatrical production), Ivan Cheng (his first U.S. performance), Los Thuthanaka, and Lyle Ashton Harris. Returning participants Matthew Barney and Lucy Raven will present new installations, with Raven debuting a site-specific version of her work *Murderers Bar* (2025).
The AIR festival matters because it is part of a decade-long, year-round initiative that builds on each previous edition, positioning Aspen as a hub for interdisciplinary art and discourse. This year’s program explicitly interrogates how human intervention shapes understanding of place and power, drawing on Aspen’s unique landscape. The lineup of internationally recognized artists—including July, Villar Rojas, Henrot, and Barney—signals the festival’s growing ambition and its role in convening leading voices across visual art, performance, film, and music to explore contemporary questions of orientation and creation.