IAADB 2026

IAADB 2026

India Art, Architecture & Design Biennale 2026

The Second Edition · A Visual Arts Biennale, the City as Venue

New Delhi · 4 December 2026 to 21 March 2027

About the Biennale

The India Art, Architecture & Design Biennale 2026 is the second edition of the largest platform of its kind that the Ministry of Culture has offered to artists, curators, galleries, corporates, architects, designers, cultural institutions and other stakeholders connected to the culture and creative world.

Following the success of the inaugural edition in 2023, this second edition opens Delhi itself as the venue: for four months, from 4 December 2026 to 21 March 2027, the city's most significant monuments and institutions will host a single, connected celebration of contemporary art, architecture and design under a unique public-private partnership.

For the first time ever, a wide range of heritage monuments, institutional spaces and precincts across Delhi are open for curators and partners to choose from. Participants select the venue that speaks to their work; they curate their exhibition, pavilion or artwork with complete creative freedom, aligned to the theme; and the Ministry of Culture stands behind them, facilitating the venue and offering cross-branding and promotion, so the whole effort reads as one city, one canvas, together.

At a Glance

Venue: Delhi — one interconnected cultural canvas

Duration: 4 Dec 2026 – 21 Mar 2027 · Four months across the city

Programme components: Curated art, architecture and design presentations · Exhibitions · Public Art · Monument activation · Student Biennale · Heritage Walks · Workshops · Performances · Market linkage.

About the Theme

Tat Tvam Asi, You Are That

Reconnecting in an Age of Distraction

We live in the most connected moment in human history, and often the least attentive. The pace of modern life, its speed, its abundance, its endless claims on our attention, has thinned three essential connections: with ourselves, with each other, and with the built and natural world we inherit.

This is not the fault of any single force. Technology, like the city itself, is what we make of it: it can scatter attention or gather it, distance us or draw us close.

The second edition of the India Art, Architecture & Design Biennale 2026 takes its title from the oldest answer to this newest condition, Tat Tvam Asi, You Are That, the Upanishadic insight that the self is not separate from the world it beholds.

Across Delhi, its monuments and museums, its institutions, galleries, embassies, studios and streets, artists, architects and designers are invited to make works that slow the eye, return the body to the city, and restore what haste has worn thin.

All languages of making belong here: the handmade and the digital, the ancient craft and the immersive new medium. Digital and new-media art are also welcomed, not as an ailment but as instruments of encounter, technology turned back toward attention, presence and wonder.

Through the four threads of Reflection, Rejuvenation, Renewal and Resilience, and through the five senses as a shared lens, the Biennale proposes every venue, monument, museum, gallery or precinct, not as backdrop but as mirror. To stand before it is to stand before yourself. You are that.

Four Pillars, Five Senses

The shared curatorial lens across every venue.

Pillar	What it reads
Reflection	The individual and the self; contemporary life in dialogue with inherited tradition.
Rejuvenation	Attention recovered in an age of constant connectivity.
Renewal	People and community; tradition read afresh through contemporary practice.
Resilience	The human presence in dialogue with the built and natural world.

The five senses, as one shared lens:

Sight and Time · Touch and the Body · Taste and Material · Hearing and Reflection · Smell and Space

The Venues

Venues across Delhi (on offer). This list is indicative of the range on offer and continues to grow as further sites are confirmed. Once you indicate interest, venue capacities and specifics will be shared so you can choose the site best suited to your work.

Major ASI / Heritage Venues	Institutional Venues	Historical Precincts & Clusters	Venues External to MoC
Purana Qila	National Gallery of Modern Art	Hauz Khas	Crafts Museum
Red Fort	IGNCA	Maidan Garhi	AIFACS
Qutub Minar Complex	Lalit Kala Akademi	Chandni Chowk	Bikaner House
Humayun's Tomb	PMML	Shahpur Jat	Lodhi Gardens
Safdarjung Tomb	Sangeet Natak Akademi	Chaar Gumbadh – Defence Colony
Jantar Mantar	National School of Drama	Sabz Burj Area
Qila Rai Pithora	Sahitya Akademi	Tughlaqabad Fort
Mehrauli Archaeological Park	National Archives of India
Jamali Kamali
Agrasen ki Baoli
Sunder Nursery

* Many minor heritage sites and lesser-known monuments of Delhi may also be considered. This is not an exhaustive list of venues — if your favourite venue or heritage site is not in the list, please write to us; we might be able to include it. A detailed list of protected monuments is attached below in Downloads.

The Submission

The Biennale is designed to be entered from wherever you stand — as a curator, gallery, corporate partner, embassy, institution, collector or student. Whichever path fits, the approach is the same: choose a venue, curate freely within the theme, and the Ministry helps carry the reach and the branding.

Models of Participation

Model of participation	What it involves
The Ministry of Culture Pavilion, Purana Qila	The Biennale's principal venue, carrying the flagship Ministry-curated exhibition that anchors the second edition.
State & UT Pavilions, Purana Qila	Selected States and Union Territories are offered dedicated pavilion space. The Ministry provides the pavilion shell and overall event management; each State designs, curates and builds its own pavilion.
Adopt a monument	Curators and corporate partners may adopt an individual heritage site across Delhi for the Biennale's duration, commissioning and installing site-specific artworks in collaboration with the Ministry, with programming aligned to the theme.
Host in your own precinct	Embassies may host artworks and programming within their own precincts as part of the Biennale's international layer, bringing their own artists, curators and cultural voice into the citywide conversation while retaining full ownership of their space.
Open a private collection	Studios, collectors and institutions holding private collections may open them to the public for the Biennale's duration, placing a personal or institutional collection within a citywide cultural moment under shared branding and promotion.
Partner as an institution	Museums, foundations and cultural institutions, public or private, may mount independent exhibitions aligned with the Biennale, with shared branding, collaborative programming, and space for workshops, lectures and public engagement.
Present a collateral show	Private galleries may present collateral exhibitions cross-branded with the Biennale identity, independent in curatorial direction and linked to the wider public through a citywide art trail connecting galleries to Biennale venues.
Support the Student Biennale	Run through the National School of Drama, Lalit Kala Akademi and other venues, the Student Biennale is a national open call for young artists and design students across India, with curatorial mentorship and limited grant support for selected projects. Corporates and institutions are invited to support and mentor this platform.
Knowledge & Innovation	IITs and other institutions leading talks and discussions on digital heritage, immersive/XR, built-heritage documentation, Indian Knowledge Systems and craft/material research.
Performances (Music & Theatre)	Programmes across monuments, public places and auditoria, aligned to the Biennale theme.