Art in an Age of Rupture

The Toronto Biennial of Art (TBA) returns this autumn for its fourth edition, Things Fall Apart (September 26–December 20), featuring works by 30 artists and collectives from around the world, including 17 new commissions. For the first time in its history, the biennial will extend beyond the Greater Toronto Area to venues across Canada and the United States.

Why This Edition Matters

The title Things Fall Apart—evoking both Chinua Achebe's novel and the fractures of the present moment—anchors an exhibition that positions art as a response to conflict and uncertainty. Curator Allison Glenn describes it as "an invitation to learn from artists who explore rupture as an ontological tool," noting that many participants are creating work amid active wars and escalating tensions in countries including Lebanon and Iran.

Among the featured artists are Kent Monkman, Rebecca Belmore, Bonnie Devine, Dawoud Bey, Coco Fusco, Nani Chacon, Julien Creuzet, Brendan Fernandes, Dala Nasser, Antonio Obá, Solange Pessoa, Dawit L. Petros, and Charisse Pearlina Weston.

From the Great Lakes to Global Waterways

Water is the biennial's central motif. Glenn, who grew up in Detroit near Lake Erie, drew inspiration from the Great Loop—a roughly 6,000-mile waterway network circling the eastern US and Canada. "Water, as both a physical resource and a historical witness, connects distant geographies through shared, fluid systems," she explains.

The main exhibition will be held at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, with programming at the Royal Ontario Museum, Aga Khan Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto Pearson Airport, and Scarborough Gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship founded in 1979. Beyond Toronto, partners include the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Musée des Beaux-arts de Montréal, Remai Modern in Saskatoon, the University of Victoria, and the Vancouver Art Gallery. In the US, Anchorage Museum and New York's Times Square Arts Midnight Moment programme will bring TBA works to public view every evening.

Art at the Center of Public Life

TBA director Patrizia Libralato affirmed the biennial's mission: "Contemporary art is not peripheral to public life but central to it." This year's geographic expansion reflects the biennial's ambition to trace shared histories along the waterways that connect communities across borders.