MEMORY AND PUBLIC SPACE: THE 18 ARTISTS OF SONSBEEK 2026

Sonsbeek art projects announced the full list of participating artists for its thirteenth edition. From July 2 through October 11, 2026, Arnhem will host the event, curated by Amira Gad and Christina Li with assistant curator Berber Meindertsma, and directed by Orlando Maaike Gouwenberg.

Taking place at Park Sonsbeek, partner institutions, and various locations across the city, Arnhem will become the stage for newly commissioned and existing works by 18 artists from the Netherlands and abroad. Featuring 12 new commissions, the works encompass site-specific installations, sculptural presentations, and performances that expand one’s understanding of art in public space.

The participating artists and collectives in Sonsbeek 2026 are: Larry Achiampong (b. 1984, London), Korakrit Arunanondchai (b. 1986, Bangkok), Alvaro Barrington (b. 1983, Caracas), Fanja Bouts (b. 1997, Nijmegen, the Netherlands), Forensic Architecture (est. 2010, London), Femke Herregraven (b. 1982, Nijmegen, the Netherlands), Afaina de Jong (b. 1977, Amsterdam), On Kawara (29,711 days), Loesje (est. 1983, Arnhem), Jumana Manna (b. 1987, Princeton, NJ), Jota Mombaça (b. 1991, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil), nasa4nasa (est. 2016, Cairo), Ipeh Nur (b. 1993, Yogyakarta), Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo, b. 1989, Dallas, TX), Sahej Rahal (b. 1988, Mumbai), Mounira Al Solh (b. 1978, Beirut), Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven (b. 1951, Antwerp), and Esma Yiğitoğlu (b. 1944, Zincidere, Türkiye; d. 2009, Rotterdam).

Theme of the Edition: Memory as Living Action

Sonsbeek 2026 approaches memory as a dynamic space, shaped by what we choose, inherit, or must share—especially when memories are vulnerable, contested, or fading. The exhibition unfolds amid persistent conflict and global crisis, in stark contrast with Sonsbeek's founding after the Second World War, a period of reflection and rebuilding.

In Arnhem’s layered history, traces of war persist in architecture, landscape, and collective consciousness. The exhibition unravels memory as a space where forgetting and remembering interact; where loss and preservation act as complementary forces, enabling both rupture and renewal. Today, the question is no longer how to represent the past, but how to live with it.

“For Sonsbeek 2026, we see memory as a living, generative force—an action that resists erasure, transforms histories, and shapes possibilities for tomorrow. It is through this lens that this edition’s artists will engage with Arnhem, a city where history is deeply embedded in the landscape”, expressed Amira Gad & Christina Li, Sonsbeek 2026 curators.