Toronto Biennial Curator Allison Glenn On Creating Connections and What Happens When Things Fall Apart

The 2026 Toronto Biennial of Art is set to launch a far-reaching exploration of rupture and interconnected waterways, marking a significant evolution in the event’s scope and thematic ambition. Scheduled to open on September 26 and run through December 20, this edition will extend its presence beyond Toronto, engaging diverse North American sites and partnerships for the first time.

Allison Glenn, the curator behind this iteration, brings a research-driven and site-responsive methodology shaped by her extensive experience in public art and triennials. Glenn, whose Detroit upbringing fostered a nuanced understanding of water as both a natural and historical conduit, centers the Biennial on rupture as a creative and conceptual force that enables reimagining and rebuilding.

The exhibition’s title, “Things Fall Apart,” references a lineage of cultural works, notably Chinua Achebe’s novel, which itself draws from W.B. Yeats’s poetry and the socially charged music of The Roots. This title encapsulates the current cultural and political fractures while framing rupture as a necessary passage to new possibilities. Glenn emphasizes that the Biennial is conceived as part of an ongoing dialogue, connecting present experiences with past narratives linked through waterways and trade routes.

The Art Museum at the University of Toronto serves as the primary venue, hosting 18 projects across two gallery spaces. In total, 30 artists and collectives have been selected, representing a broad international presence including Canada, the U.S., the Caribbean, South America, Europe, Africa, the Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region, and South and Southeast Asia. These artists were chosen for their engagement with themes of rupture, waterways, and voyages, often through site-specific or contextually adapted works.

Noteworthy participants include figures established in biennial circuits such as Kent Monkman and Coco Fusco, alongside innovative projects like the Detroit-based Underground Resistance’s tribute to Drexciya. This legendary techno duo created an Afrofuturist mythology imagining an underwater world inhabited by descendants of Africans lost to the Middle Passage, blending sonic and visual storytelling to reframe histories of rupture.

Other compelling contributions examine colonial histories and ecological interdependencies. Dawit L. Petros’s work interrogates a British imperial Nile expedition, highlighting indigenous knowledge and resistance through a series of installations at the Aga Khan Museum. Cameron Harvey’s project draws connections across North American cities affected by climate crises, presenting simultaneous exhibitions in Toronto and Anchorage that reflect on resilience through ecological change.

The Biennial also expands its thematic lens beyond literal waterways. Colombian artist Andrés Ramírez Gaviria translates astronomical data into multisensory experiences, offering audiences an encounter with cosmic temporality. His site-specific light installation at the University of Toronto will extend to the CN Tower, marking a first foray into large-scale light intervention.

Performance plays an integral role, with works like Brendan Fernandes’s adaptive choral and dance piece aboard a tall ship on Lake Ontario, merging site specificity with embodied expression. The public programming, curated by Glenn herself, is designed to integrate fluidly with the exhibition, enhancing visitor engagement and fostering new ways to experience Toronto’s urban environment.

An innovative mobile arts curriculum and a digital collaboration with Bloomberg Connects will widen accessibility, inviting deeper exploration beyond physical venues. These strategies underscore the Biennial’s ambition to function as a network of artistic, historical, and ecological relationships that transcend geographic and temporal boundaries.

By situating rupture as both a point of fracture and possibility, the 2026 Toronto Biennial of Art aims to reflect and respond to contemporary global tensions through the prism of water and connected histories. This edition’s expanded scope and interdisciplinary approach position it as a significant cultural event that navigates complexity with nuance and inclusivity, offering new perspectives on connection in a fractured world.