IBA Stage 2026 opens with the 24th Bienal de Arte Paiz

Photo credit: Voluspa Jarpa. Extinction, 2025. Installation view. Venue: Museo Nacional de Arte de Guatemala. Photo: Byron Mármol. Courtesy: Fundación Paiz / Bienal de Arte Paiz

IBA Stage: 24th Bienal de Arte Paiz

Friday, 23 January 2026
9:30 AM CST
https://fundacionpaiz.org.gt/bap/eng/

We are pleased to open the 2026 programme of IBA Stage with a dedicated session on the Bienal de Arte Paiz, one of the most historically significant and longer running biennials in Latin America.

Founded in 1978, the Bienal de Arte Paiz has long occupied a pivotal position in Central America’s contemporary art landscape. Today, it is increasingly recognised nationally and internationally as La Bienal de Guatemala, a designation that reflects its deep local anchoring, institutional continuity, and renewed international visibility.

The IBA Stage session focuses on the 24th edition of the Bienal de Arte Paiz, The World Tree (El Árbol del Mundo), which opened in November 2025 and is curated by renowned Italian curator Eugenio Viola. The presentation will focus primarily on this edition, with a presentation by Viola, but also reflect on the Bienal’s current institutional transformation, expanded curatorial ambition, and evolving role within regional and global biennial ecologies.

Eugenio Viola, Artistic Director of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá (MAMBO), shaped the 24th edition to be the most extensive iteration of the Bienal to date, bringing together artists from all five continents, activating eleven historic venues in Guatemala City and Antigua Guatemala, and unfolding over a three-month period.

At the core of this edition is a conceptual framework drawn from the Tree of Life and its significance within Maya cosmogony, explored through new site specific artistic commissions, in dialogue with pre-Hispanic archaeological artifacts, and including works from the Fundación Paiz Collection. The Bienal’s public program further situates contemporary art within broader cultural, educational, and civic contexts – key objectives of the Fundación Paiz that is responsible for delivering the biennial since its inception.

Sonia Hurtarte, Executive Director of Fundación Paiz, board member of IBA and one of our guest in this IBA Stage, has noted how this edition signals a new institutional phase, one oriented toward greater openness, international dialogue, and long-term impact.

The IBA Stage presentation then brings together Eugenio Viola and Sonia Hurtarte in conversation, reflecting on:

• the Bienal’s repositioning as a national and international cultural platform

• the curatorial and organisational shifts shaping its current edition

• and the challenges and possibilities of sustaining large-scale exhibitions and in complex sociopolitical contexts

This session also marks the beginning of a refined IBA Stage format for 2026, combining recorded presentations with moderated exchanges designed specifically for IBA members, while continuing to introduce biennials not previously featured within the program.

For a comprehensive overview of the 24th Bienal de Arte Paiz, including its curatorial framework, participating artists, and venues, readers are invited to consult our previously published article on biennialassociation.org as well as the website of the Fundación Paiz 

To have the possibility to hear and discuss with the individuals behind biennials has been a key component of what we believe IBA can offer to our members and the wider public and we value your participation through our live streams. As always IBA Stage events are meant as a moment to hear about a project through its makers and have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session at the end of the presentation.

Register here for the event!