“VOCAL”, MEXICO'S FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART BIENNIAL, OPENS IN MÉRIDA
From November 26, 2026 to February 28, 2027, a circuit of 16 venues will bring together 76 artists from 20 countries under the artistic direction of Abraham Cruzvillegas.
From November 26, 2026 to February 28, 2027, Yucatán will host the Bienal de Yucatán, an international contemporary art festival unprecedented in Mexico. Founded by Catherine Petitgas and directed by Daniela Pérez, the initiative is conceived as a long-term project, with editions scheduled every two years through 2030.
The first edition, titled VOCAL, brings together 76 national and international artists —42 Mexican, including 18 from the peninsular region, and 34 from 20 countries— across a circuit of 16 venues throughout Mérida's historic center and the municipality of Maní. Admission is free to the public.
Under the artistic direction of Abraham Cruzvillegas, the central exhibition VOCAL reflects on language, languages and the multiple forms of communication, featuring 38 new commissions and the participation of linguists, filmmakers, poets, musicians and dancers. The show unfolds at the main venue, the Casa de la Cultura del Mayab—a 16th-century former convent under the Secretaría de la Cultura y las Artes de Yucatán (SEDECULTA)— and extends across venues in Mérida's historic center and Maní.
Cruzvillegas stated that the exhibition "will address language, languages, idioms, the written, the spoken, what needs to be said" and that it will make this biennial "one of inclusion and diversity, of languages that dialogue and contradict one another."
Participants at the Casa de la Cultura del Mayab include Jimmie Durham, Teresa Margolles, Minerva Cuevas, Óscar Murillo and David Lamelas. Other venues feature, among others, Yoko Ono, Cecilia Vicuña, Jenny Holzer, Lawrence Weiner, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Mario García Torres, Jorge Pardo, Jean-Luc Moulène, Ulises Carrión and Mónica Mayer.
Alongside the central exhibition, the Biennial presents three parallel curatorial projects: El don de lenguas, organized by Museo Jumex under Kit Hammonds' curatorship at the Museo de la Ciudad; Pocos cocodrilos locos: Mathias Goeritz y su legado en la poesía concreta, curated by David Miranda at Casa de Cultura Banamex - Museo Casa Montejo; and Imágenes hechas con palabras: Los trabajos y los días de la poesía visual en México, curated by Antonio Saborit and Patrick Charpenel at Centro Cultural Olimpo.
The Biennial is backed institutionally by SEDECULTA, the Municipality of Mérida, the Universidad de las Artes de Yucatán, the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Fomento Cultural Banamex, Fundación La Cúpula and the Municipality of Maní. Transformación, Arte y Educación A.C. (TAE) will develop the accompanying public and educational program, which will include lectures, gatherings, workshops and guided visits.
As part of this first edition, a printed catalogue designed by Estudio Herrera, with editorial coordination by Julia Madrazo, will be published, including selected translations into Maya.
VOCAL, the first edition of the Bienal de Yucatán, runs from November 26, 2026 to February 28, 2027 at the Casa de la Cultura del Mayab and 15 additional venues in Mérida and Maní, Yucatán, Mexico.
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