SONSBEEK 2026 Artists and Theme Announced
Inleiding
Sonsbeek art projects is pleased to announce the full list of participating artists for Sonsbeek 2026. Taking place at Park Sonsbeek, partner institutions, and various locations across the city, Arnhem will become the stage for newly commissioned and existing works by 18 artists from the Netherlands and abroad. Featuring 12 new commissions, the works encompass site-specific installations, sculptural presentations, and performances that expand one’s understanding of art in public space.
The participating artists and collectives in Sonsbeek 2026 are:
- Larry Achiampong (b. 1984, London)*
- Korakrit Arunanondchai (b. 1986, Bangkok)*
- Alvaro Barrington (b. 1983, Caracas)*
- Fanja Bouts (b. 1997, Nijmegen, the Netherlands)*
- Forensic Architecture (est. 2010, London)
- Femke Herregraven (b. 1982, Nijmegen, the Netherlands)*
- Afaina de Jong (b. 1977, Amsterdam)*
- On Kawara (29,711 days)
- Loesje (est. 1983, Arnhem)*
- Jumana Manna (b. 1987, Princeton, NJ)
- Jota Mombaça (b. 1991, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil)*
- nasa4nasa (est. 2016, Cairo)
- Ipeh Nur (b. 1993, Yogyakarta)
- Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo, b. 1989, Dallas, TX)*
- Sahej Rahal (b. 1988, Mumbai)*
- Mounira Al Solh (b. 1978, Beirut)*
- Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven (b. 1951, Antwerp)*
- Esma Yiğitoğlu (b. 1944, Zincidere, Türkiye; d. 2009, Rotterdam)
*Newly commissioned works for Sonsbeek 2026
More information about the participating artists and collectives will follow in spring 2026.
Sonsbeek 2026 Theme: Memory as Living Action
From 2 July through 11 October 2026, Arnhem hosts the thirteenth edition of Sonsbeek, curated by Amira Gad and Christina Li, with assistant curator Berber Meindertsma. Sonsbeek 2026 approaches memory as a living, generative force—an action that resists erasure, transforms histories, and shapes possibilities for tomorrow. Unfolding amid persistent conflict and global crisis, the exhibition engages with Arnhem’s layered history, where traces of war remain embedded in the landscape and collective consciousness. Memory is explored as a dynamic space in which remembering and forgetting interact, and where loss and preservation operate as complementary forces, enabling both rupture and renewal. Read more