Things Fall Apart

The fourth edition of the Toronto Biennial of Art, Things Fall Apart, unfolds through a set of propositions anchored by the question: What can we learn from artists who explore rupture as an ontological tool or a way of understanding?

Relying on the shared geographies of the Great Lakes as a place of departure, this Biennial traces relationships between the expansive but interconnected waters of the Great Lakes region and over sixteen global waterways that span five continents. Things Fall Apart considers ideas of syncopation and disruption through the lens of shared thematics that emerged from artists’ voices: diaspora through movement and migration, syncretic traditions, notions of borders, water networks, maritime histories of empire, corporeality, calls to action, global climate justice, genocides, speculative and science fictions, material memory, the transformation of knowledge, and both water and land as conceptual links.

Things Fall Apart is organized in three parts: a central exhibition that grounds itself in methodologies of collectivity, sovereignty, reflection, and refusal; a series of performances and artist-led programming that invites embodied engagement with these practices; and a collaboratively curated gathering.

The Art Museum at the University of Toronto is the main exhibition site partner for TBA 2026.

About the Toronto Biennial of Art
The Toronto Biennial of Art’s mission is to make contemporary art accessible to everyone. A twelve-week event every two years, the Biennial commissions artists to create new works for a city-wide exhibition in dialogue with Toronto’s diverse local contexts. The Toronto Biennial of Art is open from September 26 to December 20, across 13+ exhibition sites across Toronto.

Please visit torontobiennial.org for more information, including a schedule of Biennial programs.