The story of contemporary art in the last decade is inextricably linked to the story of the Biennale. These 88 artists — selected through rigorous analysis of representation, critical reception, and institutional presence — have consistently articulated complex cultural narratives through their work on the global circuit.
B100 Artists
88 profiles
Installation, SculptureAbbas AkhavanLives and works in Montreal and Berlin • b. 1977, IranAkhavan creates subtle, ephemeral installations that explore the politics of space, from the home to the nation. His site-specific works often use living materials like plants to reflect on hospitality, hostility, and thBooks ↗NGC Profile ↗
Conceptual Art, SculptureAdel AbdessemedLives and works in London • b. 1971, AlgeriaA conceptual artist creating provocative works that confront violence, migration, and suffering. He uses charged materials like barbed wire and charcoal to create visceral experiences that translate personal history intoBooks ↗MoMA ↗
Audio Investigation, Video InstallationLawrence Abu HamdanLives and works in Dubai • b. 1985, JordanA "private ear" whose audio-visual investigations explore the politics of sound. His forensic analyses of "earwitness" testimony for human rights organizations expose how sound can become evidence ofBooks ↗Artist Website ↗
Conceptual Art, Architecture, ActivismAi WeiweiLives and works in Portugal, UK, Germany, and China • b. 1957, ChinaA dissident artist and activist whose monumental practice confronts authoritarianism, state corruption, and the global refugee crisis. His work masterfully blends traditional Chinese materials with provocative, conceptuaBooks ↗Official Site ↗
Film, Multi-Screen InstallationJohn AkomfrahLives and works in London • b. 1957, GhanaA pioneering filmmaker whose immersive, multi-screen video installations create symphonic meditations on memory, migration, and the climate crisis. His archival approach links the colonial past with our planetary presentBooks ↗Smoking Dogs ↗
Performance, Video, PaintingFrancis AlÿsLives and works in Mexico City • b. 1959, BelgiumA conceptual artist whose work consists of poetic and often absurd "actions" that intervene in politically charged landscapes. His documented gestures become fables about labor, futility, and resistance.Books ↗Artist Website ↗
Sculpture, InstallationEl AnatsuiLives and works in Nigeria • b. 1944, GhanaA celebrated sculptor who transforms thousands of discarded aluminum bottle caps into vast, shimmering tapestries. These works evoke traditional textiles while speaking to histories of trade, consumption, and colonialismBooks ↗October Gallery ↗
Painting, CollageNjideka Akunyili CrosbyLives and works in Los Angeles • b. 1983, NigeriaA painter who creates large-scale, layered works on paper depicting scenes of domestic intimacy. Her unique technique of layering paint with collage and photo transfers explores the "third space" of the immigraBooks ↗Victoria Miro ↗
PaintingMichael ArmitageLives and works in London and Nairobi • b. 1984, KenyaA painter who creates lush, dreamlike narrative paintings on Lubugo bark cloth. His work explores the social and political landscapes of East Africa, drawing on sources from current events to mythology and art history.Books ↗White Cube ↗
Video, Installation, PerformanceKorakrit ArunanondchaiLives and works in New York and Bangkok • b. 1986, ThailandA multidisciplinary artist whose sprawling video installations, performances, and "denim paintings" create a vibrant, chaotic cosmology weaving together Thai pop culture, animism, political history, and personaBooks ↗Carlos/Ishikawa ↗
Installation, Sculpture, VideoKader AttiaLives and works in Berlin and Paris • b. 1970, FranceA French-Algerian artist whose research-driven practice explores the concept of "repair." His work investigates the wounds of colonialism and contrasts Western ideals of perfection with non-Western traditions oBooks ↗Artist Website ↗
Sound Art, InstallationTarek AtouiLives and works in Paris • b. 1980, LebanonAn artist and composer who creates complex, collaborative sound installations. He designs new musical instruments that explore how sound is perceived, felt, and socialized, often working with deaf communities.Books ↗Tate ↗
Painting, InstallationFirelei BáezLives and works in New York • b. 1981, Dominican RepublicA painter and installation artist whose vibrant works dismantle historical narratives. She creates powerful new mythologies centered on female figures of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, often painting over colonial maps andBooks ↗Pace Gallery ↗
Photography, VideoSammy BalojiLives and works in Brussels and Lubumbashi • b. 1978, DRCA visual artist who conducts an archaeological investigation into the memory of the Democratic Republic of Congo. His photomontages superimpose archival images onto contemporary landscapes to expose colonial legacies.Books ↗Axis Gallery ↗
Photography, Film, InstallationYto BarradaLives and works in Tangier and New York • b. 1971, FranceA multidisciplinary artist exploring the social and political realities of Morocco. Her work focuses on themes of migration, urban development, and the subtle forms of resistance found in everyday life.Books ↗Pace Gallery ↗
Sculpture, Sound InstallationKevin BeasleyLives and works in New York • b. 1985, USAAn artist whose work in sculpture and sound transforms found materials—clothing, athletic gear, raw cotton—into powerful objects that resonate with personal and collective histories of the American South and the Black exBooks ↗Whitney ↗
Performance, InstallationRebecca BelmoreLives and works in Toronto • b. 1960, CanadaAn Anishinaabe artist whose powerful, often confrontational work addresses the violent histories of colonialism in Canada. Her performances use her body as a site to articulate trauma, resistance, and the ongoing strugglBooks ↗NGC ↗
Video, Sculpture, InstallationNeïl BeloufaLives and works in Paris • b. 1985, AlgeriaCreates complex installations examining power structures, digital culture, and global politics through game-like environments mixing video, sculpture, and participatory elements.Books ↗Zero2Infinity ↗
Installation, VideoDineo Seshee BopapeLives and works in Johannesburg • b. 1981, South AfricaAn artist whose immersive installations combine video, sound, and organic materials like soil and clay. Her work creates ritualistic spaces that explore land, memory, sovereignty, and the sacred from a Black feminist perBooks ↗Tate ↗
Photography, Video, SculptureMohamed BourouissaLives and works in Paris • b. 1978, AlgeriaAn artist who explores the realities of marginalized communities in the peripheries of Paris. His celebrated series 'Périphérique' staged scenes composed to echo classical paintings, questioning media representation andBooks ↗Artist Website ↗
Drawing, Performance, InstallationSonia BoyceLives and works in London • b. 1962, UKA key figure in the British Black Arts Movement whose socially engaged practice centers on improvisation and collaboration. Her work explores the politics of the voice, participation, and the performance of identity.Books ↗Tate ↗
Painting, InstallationMark BradfordLives and works in Los Angeles • b. 1961, USAAn artist known for monumental, abstract canvases that function as material maps of urban life. Through a process of layering and excavating found paper, his "social abstractions" reveal the forces that shape cBooks ↗Hauser & Wirth ↗
Performance, Installation, ActivismTania BrugueraLives and works in Cambridge, USA • b. 1968, CubaA Cuban artist and activist whose work, termed 'Arte Útil' (Useful Art), focuses on power, control, and political agency. Her projects often blur the line between art and life, creating platforms for social change.Books ↗Artist Website ↗
Sculpture, InstallationDora BudorLives and works in New York • b. 1984, CroatiaAn artist whose sculptures and installations reanimate cinematic histories and architectural environments. Using props, dust, and special effects, her atmospheric works explore the porous boundary between fiction and reaBooks ↗Swiss Institute ↗
Video, Virtual RealityCao FeiLives and works in Beijing • b. 1978, ChinaDocuments China's rapid transformation through surreal videos exploring urbanization, digital culture, and generational change, often using avatars and virtual worlds.Books ↗Serpentine ↗
Film, InstallationVajiko ChachkhianiLives and works in Tbilisi and Berlin • b. 1985, GeorgiaAn artist whose films and installations create poetic, often melancholic allegories about memory, trauma, and the human condition. His simple yet profound gestures explore complex psychological states in post-Soviet contBooks ↗e-flux ↗
Live Simulations, AI ArtIan ChengLives and works in New York • b. 1984, USAA pioneering artist who uses video game engines and AI to create "live simulations." These virtual ecosystems, populated by evolving AI characters, are a profound exploration of consciousness, chaos, and controBooks ↗Artist Website ↗
Cartography, Drawing, InstallationTiffany ChungLives and works in Ho Chi Minh City • b. 1969, VietnamA research-based artist who uses meticulously crafted maps and drawings to document histories of migration, conflict, and urban transformation. Her "counter-geographies" trace the human stories of displacementBooks ↗Tyler Parks ↗
Video, Real Estate, AIChristopher Kulendran ThomasLives and works in Berlin and Colombo • b. 1979, UKCreates projects examining art, technology, and politics post-Sri Lankan civil war, including "New Eelam"—a proposition for a transnational housing subscription replacing nation-states.Books ↗New Eelam ↗
Video, InstallationAlex Da CorteLives and works in Philadelphia • b. 1980, USAA video and installation artist who creates hyper-saturated, surreal worlds. His work remixes the visual language of pop culture, advertising, and cartoons into an unsettling exploration of consumerism, identity, and desBooks ↗Matthew Marks ↗
Counter-Cartography, TextileCian DayritLives and works in Rizal • b. 1989, PhilippinesAn artist who uses counter-cartography, sculpture, and installation to critique colonial legacies of power and land ownership in the Philippines. His work often involves collaboration with Indigenous and peasant communitBooks ↗Art Basel ↗
Social Practice, FilmJeremy DellerLives and works in London • b. 1966, UKA conceptual artist and cultural historian who orchestrates social events, such as his famed re-enactment 'The Battle of Orgreave.' His work explores the history and politics of the UK from the perspective of its people.Books ↗Tate ↗
Video, CGI, WritingEd AtkinsLives and works in Berlin • b. 1982, UKCreates unsettling HD videos featuring CGI avatars exploring death, loss, and technology's failure to capture authentic emotion, accompanied by melancholic soundtracks.Books ↗Cabinet Gallery ↗
Installation, Film, CollageHaris EpaminondaLives and works in Berlin • b. 1980, CyprusAn artist who creates meticulously composed installations of found images, objects, and sculptures. Her work constructs enigmatic, non-linear narratives that explore the nature of time, memory, and fragmented history.Books ↗Rodeo Gallery ↗
Installation, SculptureLatifa EchakhchLives and works in Switzerland • b. 1974, MoroccoA conceptual artist whose installations use simple materials and powerful gestures to create poetic and politically resonant works. Her art often evokes a sense of aftermath, exploring themes of memory, culture, and histBooks ↗Kaufmann Repetto ↗
SculptureMelvin EdwardsLives and works in New York • b. 1937, USAA pioneering African-American sculptor known for his abstract works in welded steel. His ongoing 'Lynch Fragments' series, begun in the 1960s, transforms industrial materials into powerful statements on race, violence, aBooks ↗Alexander Gray ↗
Painting, SculptureNicole EisenmanLives and works in New York • b. 1965, FranceA painter and sculptor whose work combines art historical references, cartoonish figuration, and sharp social commentary. Her vibrant paintings and sculptures offer a tender and critical vision of contemporary life and qBooks ↗Hauser & Wirth ↗
Research Agency, InvestigationForensic ArchitectureBased at Goldsmiths, London • f. 2010, UKA multidisciplinary research agency that uses architectural and media technologies to investigate human rights violations and state violence. Their work, presented in legal forums and art exhibitions, forges a new practiBooks ↗Official Site ↗
SculptureKatharina FritschLives and works in Wuppertal and Düsseldorf • b. 1956, GermanyA German sculptor known for her uncanny, meticulously crafted sculptures of everyday objects and figures. By casting familiar forms in multiples and painting them in vivid, monochrome colors, she transforms them into strBooks ↗Matthew Marks ↗
Conceptual Art, DrawingCharles GainesLives and works in Los Angeles • b. 1944, USAA pivotal figure in Conceptual art, Gaines creates rigorous, system-based works that explore the relationship between objective systems and subjective experience. His grid-based drawings often use political and historicaBooks ↗Hauser & Wirth ↗
Film, Sculpture, Land ArtCyprien GaillardLives and works in Berlin and New York • b. 1980, FranceCreates works exploring entropy, ruins, and landscape transformation, documenting the collision between nature and urban development in post-industrial environments.Books ↗Gladstone Gallery ↗
Social Practice, InstallationTheaster GatesLives and works in Chicago • b. 1973, USAA social practice artist whose work encompasses sculpture, performance, and urban renewal. He transforms abandoned buildings and discarded materials into vibrant cultural institutions and powerful archives of Black histoBooks ↗Rebuild Foundation ↗
Sculpture, InstallationIsa GenzkenLives and works in Berlin • b. 1948, GermanyA relentlessly inventive artist whose work in sculpture and installation captures the chaotic, fragmented beauty of contemporary life. Using a punk, DIY aesthetic, her anarchic assemblages reflect on modern architectureBooks ↗Hauser & Wirth ↗
Painting, SculptureSam GilliamLived and worked in Washington, DC • 1933-2022, USAA pioneering abstract painter of the Washington Color School, best known for his revolutionary "Drape" paintings. By freeing the canvas from the stretcher, he created immersive, architectural environments of puBooks ↗Pace Gallery ↗
Photography, ActivismNan GoldinLives and works in New York and Berlin • b. 1953, USAA legendary photographer whose raw, diary-like images chronicle her life and chosen family in queer counter-cultural communities. Her practice has fused with fierce activism through her organization P.A.I.N., targeting tBooks ↗MoMA ↗
Painting, PrintmakingBeatriz GonzálezLives and works in Bogotá • b. 1938, ColombiaPioneering Colombian artist using pop aesthetics to address political violence, creating furniture-paintings and prints that transform media images of tragedy into powerful memorials.Books ↗Hammer Museum ↗
Institutional CritiqueHans HaackeLives and works in New York • b. 1936, GermanyA pioneering conceptual artist who rigorously exposes the hidden systems of power—political, economic, and corporate—that underpin the art world. His work functions as sociological analysis, challenging the museum's neutBooks ↗Paula Cooper ↗
Installation, SculpturePetrit HalilajLives and works between Germany, Kosovo, and Italy • b. 1986, KosovoAn artist whose installations explore memory, freedom, and identity, drawing on his experiences of the Kosovo War. He uses humble materials like soil and twigs to create fantastical sculptures that are metaphors for survBooks ↗kurimanzutto ↗
Installation, SculptureAnthea HamiltonLives and works in London • b. 1978, UKCreates surreal, pop-inflected installations exploring desire, fetish, and cultural references through unexpected materials and imagery, often featuring legs, tiles, and kimonos.Books ↗Thomas Dane ↗
Installation, Video, PerformanceMona HatoumLives and works in London and Berlin • b. 1952, LebanonA Palestinian-British artist whose work uses the language of minimalism and surrealism to explore displacement and exile. She transforms familiar domestic objects into instruments of danger, confinement, and psychologicaBooks ↗White Cube ↗
Fiber Art, InstallationSheila HicksLives and works in Paris • b. 1934, USAA pioneering artist who has pushed the boundaries of fiber art for over six decades. She creates everything from small, intimate weavings to monumental, architectural installations of pure, sensuous color and texture.Books ↗Alison Jacques ↗
Video, Performance, InstallationHiwa KLives and works in Berlin • b. 1975, IraqA Kurdish-Iraqi artist who draws on his personal history as a refugee to create powerful stories of survival. His work highlights alternative modes of knowledge and the resourcefulness of those living on the margins.Books ↗Promis Gallery ↗
Installation, Social ExperimentsCarsten HöllerLives and works in Stockholm and Biriwa, Ghana • b. 1961, BelgiumAn artist with a background in science whose work takes the form of large-scale interactive installations, like his famous slides. He transforms the museum into a laboratory for exploring human perception, emotion, and bBooks ↗Massimo De Carlo ↗
Sculpture, Sound InstallationMarguerite HumeauLives and works in London • b. 1986, FranceAn artist whose sculptures and sound installations resurrect extinct life forms and speculate on future evolutions. Her "biological showbiz" blends scientific research with mythological fiction to explore the mBooks ↗CLEARING ↗
Performance, InstallationAnne ImhofLives and works in Berlin and New York • b. 1978, GermanyAn artist whose durational performances and installations create stark, stylish portraits of contemporary alienation. Featuring a recurring troupe of performers, her work is a tightly choreographed yet unsettling reflectBooks ↗Stedelijk ↗
Installation, Photography, FilmAlfredo JaarLives and works in New York • b. 1956, ChileAn artist, architect, and filmmaker whose installations explore the politics of representation and the ethics of bearing witness. His work critiques how media consumes tragedy, often by withholding graphic images to creaBooks ↗Artist Website ↗
Film, Video InstallationArthur JafaLives and works in Los Angeles • b. 1960, USAA filmmaker and artist who creates virtuosic video collages that articulate the complex spectrum of Black experience. Using found footage, he aims to create a "black cinema" with the power and beauty of black mBooks ↗Hauser & Wirth ↗
Conceptual Art, WritingJill MagidLives and works in New York • b. 1973, USACreates intimate relationships with systems of power—police, intelligence agencies, corporations—using their own protocols to reveal hidden operations and ethics of surveillance.Books ↗Artist Website ↗
Performance, Video, InstallationJoan JonasLives and works in New York • b. 1936, USAA foundational figure in performance and video art, Jonas creates multi-layered works that combine performance, drawing, video, and props. Her dreamlike, ritualistic performances explore mythology and the nature of femalBooks ↗MoMA ↗
Film, Multi-Screen InstallationIsaac JulienLives and works in London and Santa Cruz, USA • b. 1960, UKA filmmaker and installation artist whose visually sumptuous, multi-screen films explore the complexities of race, sexuality, and cultural identity, often through poetic portraits of key historical figures from the BlackBooks ↗Artist Website ↗
Performance, Video, MusicRagnar KjartanssonLives and works in Reykjavik • b. 1976, IcelandCreates durational performances and videos exploring romantic clichés, melancholy, and repetition, often collaborating with musicians in marathon performances of emotional endurance.Books ↗Luhring Augustine ↗
Sculpture, InstallationSimone LeighLives and works in New York • b. 1967, USACreates monumental sculptures celebrating Black femininity and vernacular architecture, drawing on African diasporic forms and traditions of care, beauty, and community.Books ↗Hauser & Wirth ↗
Sculpture, Installation, PaintingLiu WeiLives and works in Beijing • b. 1972, ChinaCreates monumental installations from urban detritus exploring China's urban explosion, transforming construction materials and cityscapes into dystopian architectural visions.Books ↗White Cube ↗
Photography, ActivismZanele MuholiLives and works in Johannesburg • b. 1972, South AfricaVisual activist documenting and celebrating Black LGBTQIA+ communities in South Africa, creating powerful portraits that assert queer presence and resist erasure.Books ↗Artist Website ↗
Painting, Installation, Social PracticeOscar MurilloLives and works in various locations • b. 1986, ColombiaCreates raw, energetic paintings and community projects exploring labor, migration, and globalization, including worldwide "Frequencies" project with schoolchildren.Books ↗David Zwirner ↗
Installation, Performance, DrawingOtobong NkangaLives and works in Antwerp • b. 1974, NigeriaExplores mineral extraction, land, and resources through tapestries, installations, and performances, tracing how materials move across borders and bodies.Books ↗Mendes Wood DM ↗
Photography, ResearchTrevor PaglenLives and works in Berlin • b. 1974, USAArtist-geographer documenting classified military sites, underwater internet cables, and surveillance systems, making visible the hidden infrastructures of power.Books ↗Artist Website ↗
Video, InstallationSondra PerryLives and works in Newark • b. 1986, USACreates immersive video installations exploring Blackness in digital space, using avatars, blue screens, and digital manipulation to examine racial representation online.Books ↗Serpentine ↗
Installation, PerformanceAmalia PicaLives and works in London and Mexico City • b. 1978, ArgentinaCreates poetic works exploring communication, censorship, and civic participation, often referencing Argentina's dictatorship through minimal gestures and participatory actions.Books ↗Tanya Bonakdar ↗
Video, InstallationLaure ProuvostLives and works in Brussels • b. 1978, FranceCreates immersive installations mixing video, objects, and text exploring language, translation, and misunderstanding through surreal narratives and sensory experiences.Books ↗carlier | gebauer ↗
Archive, Photography, PerformanceWalid RaadLives and works in New York • b. 1967, LebanonCreates fictional archives through "The Atlas Group" exploring Lebanese civil war's psychological aftermath, blurring boundaries between fact and fiction in historical narrative.Books ↗The Atlas Group ↗
Video, InstallationMika RottenbergLives and works in New York • b. 1976, ArgentinaCreates surreal video installations exploring labor, production, and female bodies in globalized capitalism through absurdist factory scenarios and magical realism.Books ↗Hauser & Wirth ↗
Installation, ArchitectureTomás SaracenoLives and works in Berlin • b. 1973, ArgentinaCreates floating sculptures and web-like installations inspired by spider webs, clouds, and bubbles, imagining alternative ways of living and sensing in the Anthropocene.Books ↗Artist Website ↗
Video, Performance, 3D AnimationJacolby SatterwhiteLives and works in New York • b. 1986, USACreates kaleidoscopic virtual worlds combining personal history, queer desire, and Afrofuturism, often incorporating his mother's drawings into fantastical digital landscapes.Books ↗Artist Website ↗
Textile Sculpture, PerformanceLara SchnitgerLives and works in Los Angeles • b. 1969, NetherlandsCreates exuberant fabric sculptures and processions celebrating female sexuality and protest culture, using textiles to create powerful statements about body politics.Books ↗Anton Kern ↗
Constructed SituationsTino SehgalLives and works in Berlin • b. 1976, UKCreates "constructed situations" using only human presence—no objects, documentation, or written instructions. His living artworks challenge art market conventions and material culture.Books ↗Marian Goodman ↗
Photography, Book ArtDayanita SinghLives and works in New Delhi • b. 1961, IndiaReimagines photography through innovative book forms and mobile "museums," creating portable exhibitions that challenge conventional display while documenting Indian archives and interiors.Books ↗Artist Website ↗
PaintingAvery SingerLives and works in New York • b. 1987, USACreates large-scale paintings using 3D modeling software and airbrush techniques, depicting art world scenes in stark black and white, merging digital and analog processes.Books ↗Hauser & Wirth ↗
Video Essay, InstallationHito SteyerlLives and works in Berlin • b. 1966, GermanyAn influential artist and theorist whose video essays offer a critical and humorous guide to the paradoxes of the digital age. Her work investigates the politics of the image, surveillance, and the flow of data.Books ↗e-flux ↗
Bio Art, Sound, VideoJenna SutelaLives and works in Berlin • b. 1983, FinlandWorks with biological materials and AI to create interspecies art, collaborating with bacteria, slime molds, and machine learning to explore non-human intelligence.Books ↗Artist Website ↗
Video, Installation, PerformanceMartine SymsLives and works in Los Angeles • b. 1988, USAExplores Black identity in digital age through videos, installations, and performances examining representation, gesture, and vernacular culture in contemporary media.Books ↗Artist Website ↗
Installation, Sound, SculptureSung TieuLives and works in Berlin • b. 1987, VietnamCreates installations examining bureaucratic violence and refugee experience through administrative aesthetics, using office furniture, sound, and light to evoke institutional control.Books ↗Sfeir-Semler ↗
Film, Performance, InstallationWu TsangLives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles • b. 1982, USACreates films and performances exploring queer and trans communities, collaboration, and solidarity. Works blur boundaries between documentary and fiction, performance and participation.Books ↗Anton Kern ↗
Installation, SculptureAdrián Villar RojasLives and works nomadically • b. 1980, ArgentinaCreates site-specific installations imagining post-apocalyptic worlds where nature reclaims civilization. Works with clay, found objects, and organic materials in monumental, ephemeral pieces.Books ↗kurimanzutto ↗
Installation, SculptureDanh VoLives and works in Berlin and Mexico City • b. 1975, VietnamVietnamese-Danish artist creating installations from found objects and personal artifacts exploring themes of migration, cultural identity, colonialism, and the Vietnam War's legacy.Books ↗Marian Goodman ↗
Drawing, Installation, VideoKara WalkerLives and works in New York • b. 1969, USACreates powerful silhouettes and installations exploring race, gender, sexuality, and violence in American history, using antebellum imagery to confront ongoing racial trauma.Books ↗Sikkema Jenkins ↗
Film, Video InstallationApichatpong WeerasethakulLives and works in Chiang Mai • b. 1970, ThailandAward-winning filmmaker creating dreamlike films and installations exploring memory, politics, and folklore in Thailand. Blends personal narratives with national histories and mythology.Books ↗Kick the Machine ↗
Video, PerformanceMing WongLives and works in Berlin • b. 1971, SingaporeRestages iconic films exploring cultural translation, gender, and identity, often playing all roles himself to examine representation and performativity across cultures.Books ↗Artist Website ↗