Ekow Eshun Named Curator of 13th Site Santa Fe International Biennial
32Feb. 4, 2026
The organizers of theSITE Santa FeInternational Biennial today announced the appointment ofEkow Eshunas curator of the biennial’s thirteenth iteration, opening summer 2027 and running through 2028. Eshun, a former director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts London, was the first Black person to helm a major UK arts institution. He is currently chair of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group in London’s Trafalgar Square, where he oversees one of the world’s most widely recognized art commissions. He is also the curator of the tenth edition of the British Art Show, set to open in September.
“New Mexico, known as the Land of Enchantment, is a place where land, imagination, and lived experience are deeply entwined, and where ecological forces have profoundly shaped cultural and human relations,” said Eshun in a statement. “Santa Fe is a site where multiple histories, cultures, and stories intersect, and that richness offers a compelling starting point for an exhibition. I’m excited to collaborate with artists to shape a project that moves between the local and the global, the real and the imagined.”
The SITE Santa Fe International Biennial was launched in 1995 as the SITE Santa Fe Biennial before undergoing a name change, to the SITE Santa Fe International. The event went on hiatus after its 2018 iteration, owing to the Covid-19 crisis; it returned in 2025, curated by Cecilia Alemani. Previous curators of the event—whose readoption of “Biennial” in its title signifies its renewed commitment to a cyclical model—include José Luis Blondet, Francesco Bonami, Dave Hickey, Candice Hopkins, Ruba Katrib, Rosa Martínez, and Robert Storr.
“The Biennial thrives on dialogue and experimentation, and with each edition, SITE Santa Fe invites curators whose unique perspectives challenge us to see the world differently,” said SITE Santa Fe director Louis Grachos in a statement. “Eshun’s visionary approach, informed by Black diasporic histories, transnational experience, and an engagement with art, literature, music, and film, is both intellectually rigorous and globally resonant. We are confident he will extend and reimagine the Biennial’s legacy.”