The Jerusalem Biennale 2026, the largest international platform for contemporary Jewish art, will open for its seventh time on Sept. 24, dedicated this year to the collective trauma and healing process in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
The festival will showcase more than 250 Israeli and international artists displaying their artwork in 42 exhibitions across 21 venues throughout Jerusalem, the event’s organizers said on Wednesday.
Its theme, De Profundis—“from the depths” in Latin and the opening words of Psalm 130—invites artists and curators to explore what emerges from the deepest places of the human experience in the intersection of memory and identity, spiritual searching, and the impact of Israel’s close to three years of war.
Rooted in Jewish tradition and inspired by the belief that, like prayer, art can transform sorrow into meaning and elevate the spirit, De Profundis asks whether powerful art can emerge from times of crisis and uncertainty, according to the organizers.
Rami Ozeri, founder and creative director of the Jerusalem Biennale, said in the statement that this year’s event will host three internationally acclaimed Israeli contemporary artists: Yehudit Sasportas, who will premiere a video and sound installation at the Tower of David Jerusalem Museum; Belu-Simion Fainaru, the artist currently representing Israel at the 61st Venice Biennale, and who will participate in Or Chozer at the Jerusalem Biennale’s central exhibition; and Hanita Ilan, winner of the prestigious 2025 Rappaport Prize, who will present a solo exhibition at Hamiffal Gallery.
“Art creates passage from the depths of our personal and collective subconscious toward expression, encounter, and light. From the depths, art emerges. And once again, we gather here in Jerusalem to share it with one another,” Ozeri added.
Among the exhibitions is “Open Wound,” which is curated by Udi Urman, and brings together 14 leading Israeli and Diaspora artists responding to the events of Oct. 7 and their continuing emotional, historical and spiritual reverberations.
“Or Chozer (‘Reflected Light’): An Active Vision,” is a display curated by Dr. David Sperber and artist Porat Salomon, which stages a confrontation between contemporary works and the Ardon Windows, dedicated to prophet Isaiah’s utopic vision, “and they shall beat their swords into plowshares [...] nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
American-Israeli artist Caron Tabb will present “On the Face Of It,” curated by Dr. Alissa Schapiro. Tabb will bring the many Jewish and universal associations with the color white into a multimedia art exhibition, referencing the significance of white in Jewish funerary and ritual customs.
Since the Biennale’s establishment in 2013, its mission has been to provide professional artists and curators with a prestigious platform for artworks and exhibitions that relate to Jewish thought, spirit, experience or tradition, creating an ongoing contemporary conversation about Jewish and Israeli art.
The full list of exhibitions can be found on the Jerusalem Biennale website.
