2026 Biennial

The fourth edition of the Toronto Biennial of Art, Things Fall Apart, unfolds through a set of propositions anchored by the question: What can we learn from artists who explore rupture as an ontological tool or a way of understanding?

Things Fall Apart considers ideas of syncopation and disruption through the lens of shared thematics that emerged from artists’ voices: diaspora through movement and migration, syncretic traditions, notions of borders, water networks, maritime histories of empire, corporeality, calls to action, global climate justice, genocides, speculative and science fictions, material memory, the transformation of knowledge, and both water and land as conceptual links. 

Relying on the shared geographies of the Great Lakes as a place of departure, this Biennial also traces expansive, interconnected relationships between over twenty international waterways, trade routes, and voyages spanning five continents. The dialogue that emerges between these global waterways, voyages, and trade networks expands upon an inquiry into waterways seeded by the 2019 Biennial, which looked specifically at Toronto’s geographies. 

This framework was developed through a multi-year research process that I commenced with the publishing of a critical text: “Notes on Rupture” (in Others Shall Come: Curatorial Voices, JBE 2023), an essay that was grounded in how a group of Caribbean artists confront, incorporate, or explore rupture in their practices. Two of the artists in the 2026 Toronto Biennial were included in this text: Drexciya and Julien Creuzet.

The citational usage of the phrase “things fall apart” has historically been evoked by many as an indicator of the tumult of a moment. Most notably, of course, is Chinua Achebe, who adopts a stanza from a post-WWI era W.B. Yeats poem “The Second Coming”, which the poet wrote at a particularly trying, politically-charged moment. The first few words of a stanza became the titular phrase of Achebe’s iconic mid-twentieth century novel. The more contemporary citational bookend is The Roots fourth studio album, released in 1999, amongst the anxieties of the impending turn of the twenty-first century. There are many, many more people who participated in this citational dialogue. This clever sampling and re-sampling demonstrates how, across temporalities and global locations, and situated within different contexts, authors, poets, musicians, and others have been using the phrase “things fall apart” as an indicator of the conditions of the times with which their work is engaged. It is used here as a reflection of this contemporary juncture, and multiple artists within the exhibition respond to moments of political and social disruption across time. 

The question posed at the onset––what can we learn from artists who explore rupture as an ontological tool?––is considered within a central exhibition, series of performances, and artist-led programs that invite embodied engagements with these practices. As a counterpoint to this critical investigation of rupture, a collaboratively curated gathering in the form of a convening in three acts, called An Arrival, A Grounding, A Departure, consisting of dialogues, performances, meals, and moments of collectivity occurs October 16-18, 2026.  Coming together to share resources, ideas, and methodologies, the convening centers the voices of artists, community members, researchers, elders, scientists, community organizers, farmers, musicians, and more, asking What can we learn from those who hold and carry knowledge, including Elders, artists, musicians, growers, and more, and how can new forms of knowledge emerge from our shared, collective experiences?

– Allison Glenn