Ferran Barenblit appointed Chief Curator of the 16th Shanghai Biennale

Ferran Barenblit has been appointed chief curator of the 16th Shanghai Biennale, opening in November 2027 at the Power Station of Art (PSA).

Established in 1996, the Shanghai Biennale was China’s first international biennial of contemporary art and remains the country’s longest-running. The Power Station of Art has organised the event since 2012.

For its 16th edition, Barenblit plans to reconsider the traditional curatorial model of the biennial, shifting attention away from a single overarching theme and towards the relationships between artworks, artists, audiences, and their historical and social contexts. He envisions an exhibition that is “demanding and legible, accessible and complex,” engaging diverse audiences while preserving art’s capacity to resist simplification.

The edition will explore how art can create encounters between local histories and international debates, critical thought and everyday experience, and what is already visible and what has yet to find a form. The PSA has described the proposed format as open and flexible, with dialogue between individual works taking precedence over the construction of a unified curatorial narrative.

Barenblit previously served as director of MACBA in Barcelona from 2015 to 2021. He was also the founding director of the Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M) in Móstoles and director of the Centre d’Arts Santa Mònica in Barcelona.

In 2023, he curated the 16th Cuenca Biennial in Ecuador, titled Perhaps Tomorrow. Bringing together 31 projects, the exhibition examined challenges to democracy and contemporary conflicts, with particular attention to the Latin American context. It approached art as a space for uncertainty, open questions and collective reflection rather than definitive answers.

The 16th Shanghai Biennale will open at the Power Station of Art in November 2027.