Biennale Matter of Art 2026
Necessary Wishes
June 12 – September 13, Prague / Pardubice
The fourth edition of the Biennale Matter of Art, entitled Necessary Wishes will take place from June 12 to September 13, 2026. The international exhibition and public program will be held in three principal locations: The Great Hall of the Trade Fair Palace in Prague, GAMPA – City Gallery Pardubice, and Tusculum Prague.
The press conference, press preview, and opening ceremony will take place on June 11, and the opening weekend program will continue until Sunday, June 14, with performances, guided tours, and other events. Subscribe to our newsletter, where we will remind you of everything in time.
The last day to view the complete exhibition across all three venues will be September 13, 2026. The exhibition at GAMPA Pardubice will continue until September 26.
The biennale is organized by the nonprofit initiative for contemporary art tranzit.cz in cooperation with the National Gallery Prague and the City Gallery Pardubice. The project is cocurated by Jaroslava Tomanová, Jakub Gawkowski, and František Fekete. You can get to know the curators here.
More than 30 art projects will be presented at the Biennale, including six new art commissions produced by Noor Abed, David Apakidze, Yana Bachynska / Jan Bačynsjkyj, Adrián Kriška, Aliza Orlan, and the Tadamun Collective.
The exhibition will be open to the public free of charge for its entire duration, which is part of the broader efforts of the tranzit.cz initiative to mediate art to a wider audience.
Venues
Great Hall, National Gallery Prague – Trade Fair Palace ↓
After two years, the biennale is returning to the Trade Fair Palace, cementing the long-term cooperation between tranzit.cz and the National Gallery Prague. The exhibition will take place in the Great Hall, covering an area of more than 1,700 m².
Tusculum Prague ↓
Tusculum Prague is located in the Bubeneč district on the premises of the historic Chittussi Hospital, which lies on the border of a postindustrial river area with remnants of crop processing and water treatment facilities. The art center comprises artist studios and outdoor community spaces, and the collaboration shifts the attention of the biennale beyond established places of culture.
GAMPA Pardubice ↓
The cooperation with GAMPA Pardubice marks the biennale’s first expansion outside the wider metropolitan area of Prague. Pardubice is a regional hub of education, commerce, and culture, with a rich architectural heritage, and the city is currently undergoing a dynamic transformation, part of which included the reopening of GAMPA in a modernist building on the grounds of the former mill complex Automatické Mlýny in 2023.
The authors of the visual identity for the Biennale Matter of Art 2026 are Martin Czeller and Andrea Vacovská.