UNDONE, by Jeanne Motherwell, an entry from our 2026 Biennial Contest

Annnouncing The 2026 Biennial Project Biennial Contest at the Venice Biennale

The Biennial Project is thrilled to announce the inaugural The Biennial Project Biennial 2026 at the Venice Biennale, to be launched with an exclusive catalog-signing celebration with curators in attendance during the 2026 Venice Biennale.

Open Call for Artists

The Biennial Project invites artists worldwide to submit work for consideration in The Biennial Project Biennial 2026 at the Venice Biennale and its accompanying catalogue.

MORE  INFO AND ENTRY FORM

Opportunities for Selected Artists

· Permanent Virtual Exhibition: All selected artworks will be featured in dedicated galleries on The Biennial Project’s highly trafficked website, providing lasting international visibility.

· Promotion of Online galleries: Online galleries will be promoted through The Biennial Project Blog, reaching an audience of more than 20,000 readers.

· Promotion of Individual Entries: Dozens of entries will be highlighted across our widely followed social media platforms, leading up to the entry deadline.

· Publication in a High-Quality Published Catalog: Most importantly: For the first time, all finalists will have their selected artwork published in a beautifully produced hardcover volume, The Biennial Project Biennial 2026 at the Venice Biennale exhibition catalogue. Each finalist will receive a full page featuring their work and accompanying text. Three Grand Prize Winners will receive two full pages, including commentary from the juror

· Exclusive Launch Event in Venice: Copies of the printed catalog will be available at a celebratory signing event with our curators in attendance in Venice during the prestigious Opening/Press Week of the 2026 Venice Biennale

This is a unique opportunity to have your work showcased both digitally and in print, while being connected to the world’s most influential art event.

The book will be available for purchase online as well as at a glittering book-signing celebration during the Exclusive Press Preview Week of the Venice Biennale 2026, with curators in attendance to sign copies and give remarks.

Eligibility

Open to all artists residing on our dear little planet. We are proud to promote the work of artists from around the globe.

Reproduction of Artwork

The Biennial Project reserves the right to reproduce submitted works for Biennial Project promotional purposes, including printed materials, advertisements, and electronic media. Copyright remains with the artist.

Selection Process

Jurors will review the entries individually and make selections based on the merit of the work.

Entry Fee and Payment

The entry fee is $35 for 3 entries, with $5 for each additional entry. Payment is accepted via PayPal or credit card through PayPal (no PayPal registration required).
Register, pay the entry fee, and submit your work here:
https://the-biennial-project.com/contest_home.aspx

Application Deadline

All application materials must be submitted by January 31st, 2026.

Jurors

All work will be juried by the art collective The Biennial Project, with Special Prize winners chosen by our Special Guest Juror [Name to be Announced].
The Biennial Project is proud to announce that an extremely accomplished curator has agreed to participate as juror for our 2026 Biennial Project Biennial! Details will be announced soon.
All decisions of the jurors are final.

Conditions

· Incomplete or unpaid entries will not be considered

· Images of selected works may be retained for publicity purposes

· Digital images will not be returned

· The entry fee is non-refundable. Repeat after us: the entry fee is non-refundable!

· All entrants will be added to The Biennial Project mailing list

· Artists will not receive individual notification of acceptance. Repeat after us: Artists will not receive individual notification of acceptance!

Image Specifications

• File format: JPG or JPEG only
• Size: Up to 4MB closed file size
• Resolution: > 400 KB and < 4 MB
• Color space: sRGB recommended for both B&W and color

Video Specifications

• Video format: Youtube or Vimeo only.
• Size: Up to 10 minutes
• Access: Must be accessible to the public
• Representative image: Same requirements as above. Image will be used in online gallery and in book if entry is selected by the jurors.

Acceptance Notification

The names of all selected artists will be posted on the Biennial Project website the-biennial-project.com by March 15th, 2026.

Calendar

· Final Entry Deadline – January 31st, 2026

· Notification of Acceptance – March 15th, 2026 (website announcement only)

· Website Galleries Online – April 15th, 2026

· The Biennial Project Biennial 2026 at the Venice Biennale glittering book signing event – Exclusive Catalogue Signing Party with the curator, May 6th, 2026, at the Giardini Entrance to the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

Contact

The Biennial Project
1 Canal Street
North Adams, MA 01247
www.the-biennial-project.com
617.913.1871

MORE INFO AND ENTRY FORM

Does It Get Any Better?, Freedom Baird, an entry from our 2026 Biennial Contest

We wanted to share a little sample of some of the FABULOUS art continues to be submitted for this year's Biennial Project Biennial to be presented on our website and via video projection at the Venice Biennial 2022 Opening week!

Feast your eyes on a selection of this beautiful work:

Lorraine Motel, No Justice No Peace, and Seat at the Table, by Al Harden

Eternal frost and Scents for Forgotten Countries, by Anna Novakov

Arctic Pending: Surrender and Arctic Pending: Arctic Thaw, by Eileen Wold

Gaia Rise, The Perseids, Melancholia and Rape of Medusa, by Artemis Herber

Adinkrahene and Cymbal and Machine Noire, by Marcus Brown

John the Baptist, copresence and A Glorified Approach to Violence, by Matthew Keller

Ofrenda - a walking project and For The Forest, by Maria Villanueva

Memories of Family and Stories Told and Stories from the Photo Album, by Wendell Brown

Here it is only January, and yet so much FABULOUS art has been submitted for this year's Biennial Project Biennial to be presented on our website and via video projection at the Venice Biennial 2022 Opening week!

Feast your eyes on a selection of this beautiful work:

Outlier, Jeannie Motherwell

Fragments of Knowable Truth, Dee Hood

Preserving pain, Vortex artists Christiaan Diedericks and Shui-Lyn White

Lavender and Yellow I, Kelly Slater

Your humble servants here at Biennial Project Laboratories are hard at work on making The Biennial Project Biennial at The 2019 Venice Biennale a great big extravaganza of fantastic art from far and wide. Boy are we lucky to be able to be able to get to know so many amazing artists though this contest. We cherish being able to see and share, with you, the fascinating work that these artists create. It definitely beats obsessing 24/7 about The End Of The World As We Know It. But we digress. We have some great news. Some Kick Ass Art People have agreed to be Special Guest Jurors for our show! Each of them will pick their favorite piece from the show to receive recognition with a Special Juror’s Prize. Without further ado, The Special Guest Jurors for The Biennial Project Biennial at The 2019 Venice Biennale are:

Founder and Publisher of  New England’s highly respected and read-by-everyone ArtScope Magazine - Kaveh Mojtabai.

LEARN MORE ABOUT KAVEH MOJTABAI

Carrying on a family tradition of artistic excellence and innovation - the incredible artist Jeannie Motherwell.

LEARN MORE ABOUT JEANNIE MOTHERWELL

And a trio of trailblazing contemporary Cuban artists, activists and organizers of the recent 00Biennial de la Habana - Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, Yanelys Nuñez Leyva, and Nonardo Perea.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR CUBAN JURORS

INTERVIEW WITH CUBAN JURORS

Each of these Kick Ass Art People has stupendously good taste – so we can’t wait to see which five artists they single out for special recognition.

Because these five are now on board, we have decided to extend the deadline to enter The Biennial Project Biennial at The 2019 Venice Biennale until March 15th. What are you waiting for?

ENTER NOW

“We have art so that we shall not die of reality.” Friedrich Nietzsche

Some really great art is being submitted to The Biennial Project Biennial at the 2019 Venice Biennale. It is a joy to see and a joy to be able to share it with you. Here are six artists to brighten your day…..

Lifeboat, by Caleb Nichols, Stoughton, Massachusetts

American Inquisition, by Al Harden, Cincinnati, Ohio

The Juggernaut of Nought, by Richard Trupp, London, Great Britain

Women Dancing, by Faith Gabel, Brooklyn, New York

Reality as Memory, by Ruth Rosner, Watertown, Massachusetts

Looking for Level Ground, by Dee Hood, Ruskin, Florida

(SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO OUR BIENNIAL HERE)

We the undersigned entreat the Justly Venerated Authority of the Venice Biennale to acknowledge that a Grave Miscarriage of Justice has resulted from the failure of said body to include The Biennial Project in any of it's previous biennial exhibits.

This despite the demonstrable fact that the work of The Biennial Project and it's legally incorporated subsidiaries do so clearly merit inclusion in such exhibits.

We do hereby propose as remedy to this calamitous state of affairs that the Venice Biennale issue a formal invitation post haste to The Biennial Project to participate in an official and recognized capacity in the 59th Venice Biennale to be held in the city of Venice in the year 2021.

SIGN OUR PETITION HERE

Include The Biennial Project in the 2021 Venice Biennale

Watch our Video

and you know that we're half crazy, but that's why you want to be there.

As you may have heard, there is this large-ish art exhibition held in Venice once every two years known as the Venice Biennale.

And as you may or may not have heard, The Biennial Project hosts a big wonderful artist brigade that attends each Venice Biennale during the head-spinning week of press previews that lead up to the opening.

It is SO MUCH DAMN FUN - a chance to hang out with artist friends and get to know new ones in the mesmerizing backdrop of Venice while exploring a mind-bending amount of fascinating contemporary art.

And while here is never a shortage of receptions and parties to be had during this wild and crazy week,  just to be sure, The Biennial Project hosts a fantastic reception/gala of our own during the trip to display all the fabulous art work we have accepted into our very own “biennale within a biennale”.

We will of course give you more details on how to enter your work in our biennale in the months to come, but we wanted to get word about the trip out now for those intrepid souls who might be interested in going with us and experiencing this one of a kind experience for themselves.

Now, perhaps this idea intrigues you but you are thinking “oh come on now you crazy Biennial Project kids, it’s way too early to make plans for a trip so far in advance”. Well, one would think so, except that the Press preview week of the Venice Biennele is SOOO absurdly popular, and attended by so many collectors, gallerists, critics and various VIP-types, that to have any chance of booking a super nice flat close to the proceedings at a reasonable cost, one has to commit, well, yesterday.

Our group currently fills TEN absolutely perfect flats super near each other in a great area - over 40 artists so far! We have tentative holds on a few other lovely flats, and are looking to fill them up with old friends and new ones who want to come along for this glorious ride.

If you think you might like to go, let us know and we can help guide you thru the process. We will admit to being just a teensy weensy bit obsessed with this – we are the Biennial Project after all – and we have accumulated a fair amount of knowledge on the subject which we are more than happy to share with you. Come on now, live while you can.

VENICE CALLING YOU!

The Biennial Project blog and website

Bill Psarras, Messenger

'Messenger' constitutes a peripatetic poem, which combines site-specific elements of a walking performance for camera, the accompanying object of light bulb, personal poetry and soundscape. It explores the idea of returning to the intimate – in an imaginary and geographical matrix – as a solitary ambulatory process of transmitting the message with future potential.

China Blue Wong, Imagining Blue

“Imagining Blue” is an interactive brainwave sculpture that uses the participants’ minds to dynamically control the light, the motion and the sounds of the sculpture. This work gives the audience a previously unexplored view of the workings of their own minds. It enables users to observe their own current brain in action. The music is based on the sounds of neurons firing and breathing.

Francois-Xavier de Costerd, Maybe We'll Have Another Chance

As Trump explains how he does not believe in global warming and climate change, a simple green alpine valley turns into a theater for all threats to its pristine setting. A storm of digital flakes made of satellite views of Las Vegas, Boston, New York, London and Paris engulfs the valley. As the president declares that we should have kept the oil from Iraq, a satellite view of Baghdad hangs over the valley, quickly swallowed up by a view from Irving TX, home of the Exxon Corp. The abyss the world faces is reflected in the shell of our planet splintering into oblivion. The title double meaning echoes Trump’s wish to go back to Iraq and get the oil, but also our slim chance of fixing this crisis

Francois-Xavier de Costerd, The Death of Painting in the Age of Digital Over Production

This piece is an ode to painting inspired by Gerhard Richter's painting patterns. As a tongue in cheek Andy Warhol is interviewed by the BBC about his art practice, the production of his print screens, and how important it is to produce a lot of paintings, a digital maelstrom of paint colors ensues with infinite reproductions. Andy’s wish of painting like a machine is made real. The painting studio becomes the time studio, as Andy considers his age and mortality, his voice like a memory fading into a heavenly ether.

Kei Ito, Thirst

This work is based on the story my grandfather told me. If the death was the first thing the A-bomb gave to the people in Hiroshima, burnt flesh and unbearable thirst was the next. Many survivors jumped into a river to ease their deadly thirst though many of them were drown. By the next morning, the river was filled with bodies staring at the sky and the sun.

Tran Trong Vu, Correspondences of a solitary man

Installation of a text the artist has written for 21 days as a diary. Printed on A4 paper, and installed under fluorescent light.

Barbara Felix, Ribbon Dancer

A short experimental stop motion animation shot with green screen on a small green screen stage built for upcoming claymation animation work. I used transparent wide glittery ribbon that gave unanticipated but interesting results. It has original music created with Garage Band on my iPhone. It was edited with Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, Premier Pro and Audition.

Farzin Foroutan, Topography of soil emerge

To me, soil is the first abstraction of an archive; something more than what you walk and lie on. Soil is the memory of centuries; the archive of the memory of humankind; and when my body unites with it, I can experience those memories.

Farzin Foroutan, Anonymous Doors

Belonging to nowhere. Somewhere between the outside and inside.Among mute reality and blind imagination. Here could be an exact place not belonging to us but hence is closer than anywhere. Unknown and exotic places seem more familiar from faraway and between the doors.

Crystal Heiden, iceland on icleand

in this video I combine multiple fragments pulled from a single take while driving down a single road passing a single mountain to examine the landscape at all angles of that singular place

Dimitrije Martinovic, The Contorted Regard

At the heart of THE CONTORTED REGARD is the notion that the “rant” may be used as a method of explicating the prevalence of existential threats. Which is to say that the rant is in essence a form of purging of that, which is unwanted, that which we are haunted by - the rant is arrogance and mediocrity combined with pride, shame, and fear.

Elizabeth Michelman, CHANGE

A proselytizing church door beckons; a laundromat buzzes and thumps; snowbanks light up as cars blink past in the cacophony of an ordinary New England town on a winter’s night. Our pilgrim traverses the workaday world ---profane, tedious, grating, yet marked with moments of transcendence. Written language posted at the scene escorts us through and returns us to our own lives----changed?

CHRISTINE PALAMIDESSI, bodyofwork

artist as model riffing on 1. prehistory art when humans used their skin as canvas; 2. the work of Yves Klein, early pioneer of performance art 3. fingerprinting in the police station 4. sports fans painting their faces, etc, to show support of teams

Laura Torres, LOS HIJOS DE PAPÁ INOCENCIO (The Children of Papa Inocencio)

A family fights and schemes over who will be buried in a mausoleum built by their grandfather, after they discover that the mausoleum has historical significance.

Darlene DeVita

Hal Gage

Clint Imboden

Madeleine Lord

Jean Noon

Heather Park Hanlon

ENTER YOUR WORK HERE

More exceptional work

being submitted to the

Boston Biennial 5

Extraordinary art from

artists around the world:

          Coral Woodbury, Massachusetts

          Joan Ryan, Massachusetts

          Ruth Rosner, Massachusetts

          Crystal Heiden, Connecticut       

             WATCH VIDEO HERE

          Christine Comeau, Quebec, Canada

          Bill Psarras, Greece

      WATCH VIDEO HERE

          Myung Hwan LEE, South Korea

          Karen Burgess, Australia

Enter the Boston Biennial 5