Colombia's BIAM 2027 Returns Under the Theme "Cohabiting Common Worlds"

Editorial / News. This is an editorial news feature and has not undergone peer or editorial review.

Reported by Curatone.art

The Instituto de Cultura y Patrimonio de Antioquia (ICPA) has officially launched the next edition of the International Art Biennial of Antioquia and Medellín, BIAM 2027, at a public event held at the Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture in Medellín, Colombia. The new edition will take place across May and June 2027 under the theme "Cohabiting Common Worlds" (Cohabitar mundos comunes).

[Photo: Instituto de Cultura y Patrimonio de Antioquia / BIAM 2027]

A Biennial Built Around Its Territory

What sets BIAM apart from most international biennials is its territorial scope. Rather than concentrating in a single city, the Biennial extends across Medellín and the nine subregions of Antioquia: Urabá, Bajo Cauca, Nordeste, Oriente, Suroeste, Norte, Occidente, Magdalena Medio, and Valle de Aburrá. Exhibitions, artist residencies, research laboratories, and public programs are developed in dialogue with local communities in each region.

This model, which the organizers describe as the first biennial of departmental scope in the world, treats the territory not merely as a backdrop but as an active protagonist in the artistic conversation. Antioquia, crossed by mountains, rivers, the sea, cities, and rural areas, becomes the starting point for a reflection on how communities, ecosystems, and technologies coexist.

From "Freedom" to "Cohabiting Common Worlds"

BIAM returned in 2025 after a 44-year absence, reviving a tradition of Colombian biennials that had fallen silent for nearly four decades. That edition, built around the theme of "Freedom," reached close to 700,000 visitors in person across more than 15 venues, brought together 165 artists from 18 countries, and reached over 9 million people through digital channels.

For 2027, the focus shifts from the question of freedom to the question of what we share. The organizers present "Cohabiting Common Worlds" not merely as an exhibition theme but as a methodology of research and creation. It is an invitation to imagine new forms of coexistence among human beings, communities, non-human species, technologies, territories, and systems of knowledge, and to test situated forms of interdependence in response to inequality, environmental crisis, and technological acceleration.

[Photo: Instituto de Cultura y Patrimonio de Antioquia / BIAM 2027]

An International Curatorial Team

The 2027 edition will be led by artistic director Harold Ortiz Sandoval, working with an international curatorial team of two international and two national curators, all with experience across institutions, biennials, and contemporary art platforms in the Americas and Europe.

According to the organizers, BIAM 2027 is conceived as a platform for connections between art, science, technology, and territory, where artistic practices can spark new approaches to contemporary realities. The Biennial aims to move beyond the traditional exhibition model to become a space for encounter, exchange, and creation that links local artistic practices with international ones.

Roberto Rave Ríos, director of the ICPA, framed the project as a way to bring Antioquia into dialogue with the world while remaining rooted in its own territories. He recalled the effort of reviving Colombia's biennials after nearly four decades of silence, describing the ambition to give artists a public platform to gain visibility and reach the international stage.

Artistic director Harold Ortiz described the 2027 edition as a shift into a new dimension. "This new Biennial comes with a completely different dimension. It invites us to move between art, science, technology, and territories," he said, framing the Biennial as a multidisciplinary ecosystem that connects local and international artistic practices and builds, in his words, from empathy and from the territory.

[Photo: Instituto de Cultura y Patrimonio de Antioquia / BIAM 2027]

Looking Ahead

With the launch, BIAM 2027 enters a new phase of preparation leading up to the first half of 2027. An open call for artists, the exhibition program, and the full calendar of activities are expected to be announced in the coming months.

For artists and researchers following contemporary art in Latin America, BIAM 2027 is one of the notable events on the horizon, both for its scale and for its territorial approach to biennial-making.

More information is available through the Biennial's official site at bienalantioquia.com and the Instituto de Cultura y Patrimonio de Antioquia at culturantioquia.gov.co.

Curatone Art & Research Journal (ISSN 3054-6621) follows contemporary art initiatives worldwide. This is an editorial news feature, published outside the journal's peer-reviewed section, and is based on official materials provided by the Instituto de Cultura y Patrimonio de Antioquia (ICPA).