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On July 1, an announcement named Argentinian curator Ferran Barenblit as the chief curator of the 16th edition of the Shanghai Art Biennale. The biennale, which is a member of the International Biennial Association (IBA), and among the most influential art exhibitions in Asia, is set to open in November 2027 at the Power Station of Art in Shanghai’s Huangpu district.
Barenblit succeeds Kitty Scott, who curated the 15th edition titled Does the flower hear the bee?, which focused on differing nonhuman and human models of intelligence and featured over 250 works by 67 individual artists and collectives.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1968, Barenblit has over three decades of curatorial experience and is currently based in Barcelona. He has served as director of the MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and Centre d’Art Santa Mònica in Barcelona. He was also the founding director of CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo in Madrid, and worked at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York under its late founder Marcia Tucker. More recently, Barenblit curated the 16th Cuenca Biennial in Ecuador, which reflected on democracy and the conflicts of the contemporary era, with an emphasis on the nations of Latin America. The biennale comprised 31 projects of which 6 were Ecuadorian.
For the 16th Shanghai Art Biennale, Barenblit said in a press statement that he believes the biennale “should belong fully to the field of contemporary art without closing itself inside it. It should be demanding and legible, accessible and complex, capable of addressing broad publics while preserving art’s power to resist simplification.” He added that the ambition behind this edition “is to create a situation in which art generates encounters between local histories and international conversations, between critical thought and lived experience, between what is already visible and what has not yet found a form.”
Facts Only
* Ferran Barenblit was named chief curator of the 16th edition of the Shanghai Art Biennale on July 1.
* The biennale is set to open in November 2027 at the Power Station of Art in Shanghai’s Huangpu district.
* The well is a member of the International Biennial Association (IBA).
* Barenblit succeeded Kitty Scott as curator of the 16th edition.
* The previous exhibition, the 15th edition, was titled "Does the flower hear the bee?".
* The 15th edition focused on differing nonhuman and human models of intelligence and featured over 250 works by 67 artists and collectives.
* Barenblit was born in Buenos Aires in 1968 and is currently based in Barcelona.
* Barenblit served as director of the MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and Centre d’Art Santa Mònica in Barcelona.
* Barenblit was the founding director of CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo in Madrid.
* Barenblit worked at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York under Marcia Tucker.
* Barenblit curated the 16th Cuenca Biennial in Ecuador, focusing on democracy and contemporary conflicts among Latin American nations, including 31 projects, six of which were Ecuadorian.
Executive Summary
Ferran Barenblit will serve as the chief curator for the 16th edition of the Shanghai Art Biennale, scheduled to open in November 2027 at the Power Station of Art in Shanghai’s Huangpu district. This biennale is a member of the International Biennial Association (IBA) and is recognized as one of Asia's most influential art exhibitions. Barenblit succeeds Kitty Scott, who curated the 15th edition titled "Does the flower hear the bee?", which explored various models of intelligence across human and nonhuman perspectives and featured work by over 250 artists.
Barenblit, born in Buenos Aires in 1968, has over thirty years of curatorial experience and resides in Barcelona. His professional history includes directorships at MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and Centre d’Art Santa Mònica in Barcelona, as well as founding the CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo in Madrid. Previous roles include working at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York under Marcia Tucker. Barenblit recently curated the 16th Cuenca Biennial in Ecuador, which focused on Latin American democracy and contemporary conflicts across 31 projects, six of which were Ecuadorian.
Barenblit expressed a vision for the Shanghai Biennale, believing it should exist fully within contemporary art, demanding yet accessible, complex, and capable of engaging broad audiences while maintaining art's capacity to resist simplification. His ambition for this edition is to generate intersections between local histories and international dialogues, critical thought and lived experience, and visible versus unformed realities.
Full Take
The narrative positions Barenblit’s curatorial vision as a desire to position the Shanghai Art Biennale at the critical intersection of local historical context and global philosophical dialogue. The core implication is that successful contemporary art exhibitions should function not merely as showcases but as active sites for generating complex encounters between disparate realities—local versus international, visible versus latent. This suggests an underlying pattern where institutional exhibitions are framed as vehicles for epistemological synthesis rather than mere aesthetic display. The reference to succeeding Scott and curating the Cuenca Biennial suggests a lineage of focusing on complex systems (intelligence models, historical conflict) through exhibition practice.
The statement that the biennale "should belong fully to the field of contemporary art without closing itself inside it" indicates a tension between institutional boundaries and expansive critical function. This framing suggests an implicit critique of traditional categorization, seeking a mode of presentation that is both demanding and accessible, balancing complexity with public engagement. The pattern detected is ARC-0043 Motte-and-Bailey, as the aspiration for the biennale to be simultaneously "demanding and legible" acts as a necessary compromise between high critical theory (complexity) and mass accessibility (legibility). This speaks to the ongoing negotiation in contemporary cultural institutions about how knowledge is both structured and disseminated.
The implication for agency lies in defining what constitutes valid artistic experience when dealing with layered histories. If art functions as a medium for encountering "local histories and international conversations," then shifting the focus from artifact display to relational encounter empowers the audience by situating them within the site of artistic negotiation rather than passive reception. The question remains: how does an institution balance the demand for historical specificity against the imperative for universal accessibility?