From a giant crab to Everything you need to know about the 2026 Canberra Art Biennial

Posted on 20 August, 2026

Your ultimate guide to Canberra’s contemporary public art festival.

Every two years, the Canberra Art Biennial adds a colourful spark to the city with mixed media artworks that pop up across the city and invite us to reflect on connection and life.

From mid-September to the end of October, major new commissions from local artists and curators will be presented, along with projects from national and international artists for the festival’s sixth edition.

Here is everything you need to know.

What is it?

Canberra Art Biennial is a biennial contemporary public art festival that engages the stories and aesthetics of Canberra’s designed landscape through site-specific artworks and events. The festival champions diverse and accessible approaches to public art, curating commissioned artworks by leading Australian and international artists as well as promising emerging artists, many of whom are creating public art or working with new media, scales and sites for the first time.

Founded by Dr Neil Hobbs, the festival was born from his research into how temporary public art interventions transform space.

Now, the festival supports diverse and accessible approaches to public art across the city, curating commissioned artworks by leading Australian and international artists.

When and where is it happening?

The festival runs from Friday 11 September to Saturday 31 October.

Newly commissioned, site-specific work by over 50 Australian and international artists will span 20 venues and public spaces, from Reconciliation Place and the Australian National Botanic Gardens to Canberra Contemporary and Nangari Street Carpark.

Make sure to check canberraartbiennial.com and follow @canberraartbiennial on Instagram to stay in the loop. 

What’s happening?

This year’s festival is packed with action – from visual to interactive mediums, the city will come alive with art that reflects our interactions with everyday places.

The 2026 program is presented across the diverse Canberra landscape, with many works being site-specific. Artists have spent months researching the gardens, lakes, plantings, buildings and pathways of the capital, responding to the histories embedded in a city that was itself designed as a landscape

Unlike many cultural experiences that occur behind the walls of galleries or theatres, public art meets people where they are, allowing people of all ages, backgrounds and circumstances to participate in cultural life. The festival reinforces our city’s position as a place where artists want to live, work and create.

A taste of what you can expect to see

ARI BANAL (E) is a two-day art fair that will take place at Hyatt Hotel Canberra during the festival’s opening week. Curated by Sydenham International, it will showcase artists from six Australian artist-run independent galleries from Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra.

Curated by Denise Thwaites and Mariam Ella Arcilla, the 2026 headline exhibition, Takeaway: Tales from the Flavour Superhighway, will be presented at Canberra Contemporary from Saturday 12 September to Saturday 24 October. This project explores ecological networks, food sovereignty, and decolonial cultural practices, and invites audiences to engage with the complex and regenerative stories that underpin eating and food cultivation. The show will feature works from ACT and NSW artists James Tylor, Gianna Hayes, Marley Dawson, Janhavi Salvi, Gillian Kayrooz, Zora Pang, and Keg de Souza.

Extending her painting practice into glass for the first time, Butchulla and Burmese artist Mia Boe will present a new commission, The Aboriginal Robot, at the ANU School of Cybernetics. With her practice focusing on cultural inheritances and disinheritances, she uses this exhibition to explore a dystopian future where the Australian landscape is ravaged by years of human extraction.

Kamilaroi and Bigambul artist Archie Moore’s kith and kin was featured in the Biennial’s program unveiling. The piece won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the 2024 Venice Biennale, the first Australian artist to do so. His other piece, Walk around like you own the place, will feature a large-scale installation in Reconciliation Place.

In the city, local curator Grace Blake will present In Service, a public artwork project featuring Sam Tonkin, Jennifer Matthews, and Minka Gillan.

Indonesian artist Tisna Sanjaya returns to Canberra to present prints, paintings and performance in the foyer of an office building in the city.

Jason Phu will present a new body of work titled Dreams of a cicada, waking in the summer heat at ANCA Gallery from Friday 2 to Sunday 25 October.

In the foyer of Canberra Airport, Netherlands/Sydney-based artist Bronte Cormican-Jones will present a glass sculpture. Using glass as architecture, it will reflect the many bodies transitioning through the space.

Sydney-based artist Harrison Witsey presents his sculpture of a giant crab on the façade of Canberra House. The Crab is a professor of architecture who tells his audience facts about the building he sits on.

And so much more! How can Canberra be boring with so much talent on our doorstep?

The full 2026 program, including artist talks, events and opening weekend events, will soon be available at canberraartbiennial.com