Unleashing the present

The present is the time that calls upon us. No longer the past, which we have too often viewed with nostalgia, nor the future, which we have imagined as excessively apocalyptic, but the time we share now, marked by challenges that today are entirely unavoidable. In cities, these challenges—and the tensions they entail—become more visible. Yet it is also in cities that alternatives can be tested.

The 2026 Biennial invites us to think about the here and now: the present and cities, brought together in a dialogue that seeks to turn the urban square into a public, shared space. In doing so, it aims to address the questions that run through this edition’s programme: how can we foster solidarity in the face of the pressures of neoliberalism? What tools can enable the city to become a stronghold of democratic resistance against authoritarianism? How can we put into practice ways of improving the material and symbolic conditions of life in the city?

This is the ultimate aim of the 2026 Biennial: to seek answers to these questions. And to do so in the belief that plural dialogue can create unexpected alliances of solidarity. In the conviction that informed, critical and collective thinking is indispensable to protecting democracy and human rights. Unleashing the present, without longing for yesterday or waiting for tomorrow.