Bienal de Arte Contemporânea de Coimbra (Anozero '26)
To hold, to give, to receive
Apr 11 – Jul 5, 2026

The 2026 edition of Anozero – Coimbra Biennial of Contemporary Art opens on April 11, presenting an ambitious curatorial project that rethinks the exhibition as a space of encounter, reciprocity and transformation. 

Titled To hold, to give, to receive, Anozero'26 is co-curated by Hans Ibelings, an assistant professor, teaching stream at the Daniels Faculty, and independent curator John Zeppetelli, with assistant curator Daniel Madeira, a graduate of the University of Coimbra.

The biennial unfolds across multiple venues throughout the Portuguese city of Coimbra. Participating artists include Associate Professor Charles Stankievech and Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Adrian Phiffer (Office of Adrian Phiffer). Their work will be shown at the centre of the project, the Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova, a Baroque-style monastery initiated in 1649. 

The monastery's monumental architecture and layered history – from religious sanctuary to military barracks and now a contemporary art venue – serves as a key interlocutor for the exhibition. Rather than functioning simply as a container, the monastery’s spaces become active participants, resonating with artworks that engage themes of memory, testimony, grief, extraction and resistance.

Daniels bachelor of arts, visual studies graduate Auden Tura (BAVS 2024) also collaborated with Ibelings on a historical overview of Anarchism and Planning.

Exterior of Monastery de Santa Clara - 2 © Jorge das Neves (courtesy of Anozero – Bienal de Coimbra). 

Taking as its conceptual point of departure the Proto-Indo-European root ghabh – the origin of the word habitat – the biennial explores the gestures of holding, giving and receiving as fundamental conditions of both artistic practice and social life. For the curators, the exhibition becomes a living environment where artworks, architecture, audiences, and ideas coexist and interact.

“This biennial is an opportunity not only to present work we consider relevant,” explains co-curator Ibelings, “but also to reflect on what an exhibition is as a place that hosts art, architecture, people, and ideas. Exhibition and habitat share the same etymological root and a logic of reciprocity.”

Drawing inspiration from Peter Kropotkin’s concept of mutual aid, Anozero’26 foregrounds collaboration, interdependence, and horizontality as alternatives to the individualism and polarisation of contemporary society. In this context, the biennial proposes art and architecture as spaces capable of imagining and articulating other ways of living together.

“The biennial becomes a space where artists and audiences enter into an ethical, intellectual, and emotional relationship,” notes co-curator Zeppetelli. “It is less an exhibition than a shared condition of attention and responsibility.”

More than a material legacy, Anozero 2026 aims to leave behind a collective experience, an intensified capacity for attention and new forms of listening, solidarity and imagination. Admission is free.

Learn more at all.anozero-bienaldecoimbra.pt

Read the e-flux announcement

Photography by Jorge das Neves and files courtesy of Anozero – Bienal de Coimbra