Join us for a dynamic curator talk exploring the evolving role of contemporary art biennials as platforms for disseminating knowledge, fostering storytelling, and generating lasting community impact. Moderated by art critic and author Ben Davis, this panel brings together three visionary curators who have curated SITE SANTA FE Biennials, Cecilia Alemani, Rosa Martínez, and Francesco Bonami.

Together, they will reflect on the biennial as a site of cultural exchange and experimentation, examining how these large-scale exhibitions serve not just as showcases for contemporary art, but also as engines for critical discourse, and transnational dialogue. The conversation will also spotlight their individual and collective experiences with SITE SANTA FE, one of the earliest and most influential biennial platforms in the United States, tracing its legacy as it marks over 30 years of curatorial innovation.

This is a rare opportunity to hear from leading voices in the field as they share insights into the curatorial processes, challenges, and transformative potential of biennials in a changing global landscape.

Moderator

Ben Davis is the author of 9.5 Theses on Art and Class (Haymarket, 2013), which ARTnews named one of the best art books of the decade in 2019, and Art in the After-Culture (Haymarket, 2022), which was named an art book of the year by the New York Times and the Times Literary Supplement. He has been Artnet News's National Art Critic since 2016. His writings have also been featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Baffler, Jacobin, Slate, Salvage, e-Flux Journal, Frieze, and many other venues. In 2019, Nieman Journalism Lab reported that he was one the fifth most influential art critics in the United States. He lives in Brooklyn.