Biennale de Lyon — 2026 — Divers lieux — Exhibition — Slash Paris

In 2 months: September 19 → December 13, 2026

The 18th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, titled From One Dream to Another, will take place from 19 September to 13 December 2026 under the curatorship of Catherine Nichols and the artistic direction of Isabelle Bertolotti. Bringing together 118 artists from 42 nationalities, this edition takes Lyon’s traboules as its starting point to explore the many forms of circulation of ideas, narratives, resources and imaginaries that shape contemporary societies.

At the heart of her curatorial project, Catherine Nichols invites visitors to follow a path inspired by the traboules, the emblematic passageways of Lyon that connect courtyards, streets and buildings. As powerful metaphors for transition and transformation, they become the guiding thread of a narrative that encourages us to “move from one dream to another”, from one way of perceiving the world to another.

This reflection is deeply rooted in the history of Lyon itself. A trading city since Antiquity, a major stop along the Silk Road, a leading economic centre and a meeting point for several waterways, Lyon provides a particularly fertile context for examining the dynamics of exchange that structure our lives. Once used by silk workers to transport rolls of fabric while sheltered from the weather, the traboules embody this idea of circulation that runs throughout the entire project.

Drawing on this notion of passage, Catherine Nichols develops a reflection on the economy, understood in an expanded sense and inspired by Robert Filliou’s Principles of Poetic Economy. Far from being limited to financial mechanisms, this “poetic economy” considers art as an integral part of everyday life and focuses on the processes through which people, objects, knowledge and imaginaries circulate and transform.

The economy thus becomes a lens through which to read the contemporary world. Viewed through networks of exchange and the relationships they generate, it offers a way to examine their effects on individuals, communities and ecosystems at both local and global scales. Combining critical inquiry with openness to alternative possibilities, the Biennale invites audiences to explore new ways of imagining value, attention, care and the forms of coexistence that sustain collective life.

ARTISTS

Carla Adra, Akwasi Bediako Afrane, Yasmeen Al Daya, Monira Al Qadiri, Lara Almarcegui, Joel Andrianomearisoa, Josefin Arnell, Ouassila Arras, Serwah Attafuah, Mercedes Azpilicueta, Leilah Babirye, Beatrice Balcou, Eva Barto, Lucy Beech, Pascal Bernier, Rossella Biscotti, Manon de Boer, Latifa Laabissi, Luz Broto, Barbara Breitenfellner, George Brecht, Yuriyal Eric Bridgeman, Sara Sejin Chang (Sara van der Heide), Fiona Clark, Lua Coderch, Lea Collet, June Crespo, cyan, Edith Dekyndt, Huong Dodinh, Yana Nafysa Dombrowsky-M’baye, Mikala Dwyer, Laia Estruch, Eva & Adele, Charles-Arthur Feuvrier Fok-Shan, Robert Filliou, Florian Fouche, Maja Fredin, Rose Frigiere, Karlos Gil, Angela Goh, Birke Gorm, Nuria Guell, Alice Guy, Oda Haliti, Archana Hande, Matthew Harris, Haonan He, Daphne Heretakis, Timo Hogan, Ngahina Hohaia, Gideon Horvath, Joyce Joumaa, Jelena Juresa, Lucia Kagramanyan, Kirtika Kain, Mikhail Karikis, Ndaye Kouagou, Anda Kryeziu, Germaine Kruip, Perrine Lacroix, Maureen Lander, Marine Lanier, Ida Lawrence, James Lewis, Katya Lesiv, LYL Radio, Kokou Ferdinand Makouvia, Nicholas Mangan, Michela de Mattei, Invernomuto, Monica Mays, Angelica Mesiti, Annette Messager, Hana Miletic, Brilant Milazimi, Hayley Millar Baker, John Miller, Jazz Money, Katariin Mudist, Wilhelm Mundt, Mai Nguyen-Long, Maria Jose Oliveira, Christelle Oyiri, An Paenhuysen, Manfred Paul, Thea Anamara Perkins, Joachim Pfeufer, Susan Philipsz, Valentin Pinet, Laure Prouvost, raumlabor berlin, Miguel Rothschild, Eleonore Saintagnan, Selma Selman, Erwan Sene, Sirag Sesetyan, Igor Simic, Floraine Sintes, Yehwan Song, Sriwhana Spong, Tina Stefanou, Mette Sterre, Michael Stevenson, Pol Taburet, Huda Takriti, Tsuneko Taniuchi, Ashleigh Taupaki, Minh Lan Tran, Thu-Van Tran, Thyself Agency, Alvaro Urbano, Kaylene Whiskey, Luke Willis Thompson, Can Yildirim, Lalin Mercan, Candrani Yulis.