Chengdu Biennale Kicks off This Week with Prominent Artists

On February 8, 2026, “Chengdu Biennale—Pulse of Life”, an international contemporary art event attracting artists from across five continents, will launch at Chengdu Art Museum.

The biennale will bring together 251 artists from 29 countries and regions, including the US, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Morocco, and Thailand, to present 328 pieces/sets of artworks. Among them, 116 overseas artists contribute 133 pieces/sets that account for over 40% of the exhibition, setting a historical record for international representation in the history of Chengdu Biennale.

Prominent Global Artists Shine at Chengdu Biennale

Conceptual artist Bernar Venet, a national treasure of France, will present three iconic works that trace the milestones of his career—the pioneering conceptual sculpture Pile of Coal (1963), the installation created the same year Miroir Noir (1963), and the video work Saturated Poetry (2018).

French spatial art pioneer Daniel Buren will exhibit his relief works that blend colors, reflection, and architectural quality.

Leading British contemporary artist Julian Opie will bring his lightbox installation series Landscape and stainless-steel sculpture Figure 2, position 1 to the biennale.

Additionally, two large-scale installations specially created for Chengdu Biennale by Polish visual and sound artist Andrzej Wasilewski will be unveiled.

Leading Chinese Artists Present Classic and New Works

Chinese artists will shine with equal brilliance at the biennale with their collective representation of the deeper meaning of the “Pulse of Life”.

Everything is for the People and Everything Relies on the People, a calligraphy work by modern art master Qi Baishi, will be exhibited in Chengdu for the first time outside Beijing.

Leading figures of the contemporary art community will present their works at the biennale. Xu Bing’s “Square Word Calligraphy” piece Art for the People will be displayed alongside Qi Baishi’s calligraphy, offering a joint reflection of two art giants on the relationship between art and the public. He Duoling’s new series Grass on the Plain (2025) translates the poetic line “Luxuriant is the grass upon that plain” into a vast landscape hovering between impressionism and realism. Zhang Enli’s easel paintings capture the essence of everyday life with concise brushstrokes…

Furthermore, a group of outstanding artists of new generations will grace the stage of Chengdu Biennale with their youthful, avant-garde energy and reflections on the new era.

Source：锦观新闻