Ekow Eshun to curate 13th SITE Santa Fe International
SITE Santa Fe has selected Ekow Eshun, a British curator, to lead the 13th edition of its international biennial, set to debut in the summer of 2027. Eshun, who is also a writer, currently oversees the Fourth Plinth public arts initiative in London and has previously served as the director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. He is scheduled to curate the tenth British Art Show, which will launch in Coventry in September 2026 and subsequently travel to Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield, and Newcastle Gateshead. The 12th edition, curated by Cecilia Alemani and titled Once Within a Time, commenced in June 2025 and will continue until January 2026, marking the first biennial since 2018. Eshun emphasized that New Mexico's unique landscape and cultural dynamics provide an intriguing foundation for the upcoming exhibition, which aims to investigate the links between local and global narratives, as well as reality and imagination.
Key facts
- Ekow Eshun will curate the 13th SITE Santa Fe International.
- The 13th edition opens in summer 2027.
- Eshun is chairman of The Fourth Plinth and former director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.
- Eshun is also curating the tenth British Art Show, opening in Coventry in September 2026.
- The 12th edition, Once Within a Time, curated by Cecilia Alemani, opened in June 2025 and runs through January 2026.
- There was no edition of the biennial between 2018 and 2025.
- Eshun cited New Mexico's entwined land, imagination, and lived experience as inspiration.
- The exhibition will move between the local and the global, the real and the imagined.
Entities
Artists
- Ekow Eshun
- Cecilia Alemani
Institutions
- SITE Santa Fe
- The Fourth Plinth
- Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
- British Art Show
Locations
- Santa Fe
- New Mexico
- London
- Coventry
- Swansea
- Bristol
- Sheffield
- Newcastle Gateshead
- United Kingdom
- United States