Biennale Matter of Art 2026

June 12 – September 13, Prague / Pardubice

Foto (c) Alex Sihelsk*

The fourth edition of the Biennale Matter of Art, entitled Necessary Wishes, foregrounds art that is born out of necessity and shaped by a reflexive, embodied engagement with the conditions people inhabit every day. The biennale is cocurated by Jaroslava Tomanová, Jakub Gawkowski, and František Fekete.

The three-month exhibition and program of events will take place from June 12 to September 13, 2026, at the National Gallery Prague – Trade Fair Palace, GAMPA – City Gallery Pardubice, and the Tusculum Prague art center, with several projects expanding the timeframe of the biennale beyond this period.

The public Opening Ceremony will take place on June 11 at 19:00 in the National Gallery Prague, and the Opening Weekend program will continue until Sunday, June 14, with performances, guided tours, and other events. All of the exhibition venues and events will be open to the public free of charge.

More than 49 artists and collectives will be presented in the Biennale – AntiGonna, Noor Abed, Szymon Adamczak, Željka Aleksić, Gleb Amankulov, David Apakidze, Yana Bachynska / Jan Bačynsjkyj, Jürgen Baldiga, Leila Basma & Zaher Jureidini, Rufina Bazlova / Stitch It Collective, Ștefan Bertalan, Cezary Bodzianowski, Tina Bxtq, Michal Durda / Izbová teplota, Jan Durina, Fůd, GALAS (Галас), Hana Garová, Ladislava Gažiová, Davyd Chychkan, Nosrat Karimi, Seba Kayan, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Adrián Kriška, Běla Kolářová, kroužek intersekce, Isadora Neves Marques, Nadia Markiewicz, Zoi Michailova, Shabu Mwangi, Aron Neubert, Aliza Orlan, Bronislava Orlická & Zuzana Smrkovská, Taring Padi, Cezary Poniatowski, Publik Universal Frxnd, Margaret Raspé, Nour Shantout, Shella Radio, Alex Sihelsk*, Felipe Steinberg, StonyTellers, Alina Sokolova, Fedir Tetyanych, Huda Takriti, Liliana Zeic, Jiří Žák. The list includes six new commissions.

Groups, collectives, as well as individuals seeking a temporary space to host events in Prague are invited to use The Tent, which can be found within the 2026 Biennale Matter of Art exhibition in the Great Hall of the National Gallery Prague’s Trade Fair Palace. Initiated by the grassroots reading platform kroužek intersekce, The Tent is a multi-use space for hosting community meetings, educational events, discussions, and more. Equipped with chairs, a loudspeaker, a microphone, a copy machine, and stationery, the space can be borrowed free of charge by anyone.

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Necessary Wishes

The curatorial approach draws on the notion of necessity as the vital force and political guiding principle behind one’s decisions. Art as a necessity appears as neither an aesthetic choice, a commodity, nor a professionalised activity but rather as an instinctive, embodied response to lived conditions—something unavoidable and embedded in the very structure of daily life and its politics. “Necessity may take the form of protest—as a means of survival and a manifestation of life—but it may also appear as an intimate gesture, an escape from visibility, or a turning inward toward the self. This year’s biennale proposes artistic form as a vehicle for solidarity and compassion, functioning as a carrier, proxy, and instrument for strengthening insurgent communities as much as addressing personal urgency. These practices sustain relationships from within, amplify silenced voices, and nourish hope by calling allies to action in response to oppression. Necessity is about learning to live with contradictions, embracing an irresistible rhythm, and navigating the choreographies of limitations. Art born of necessity is thus also an art of the poetics of reduction, involving not-doing as well as practices of restraint, refusal, boycott, and withdrawal,” the curators say in a joint statement.