59th Carnegie International’s inaugural artist commissions revealed – The Art Newspaper

Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh has announced the first 14 artist participants for its 59th Carnegie International (2 May 2026-3 January 2027). Torkwase Dyson, Alia Farid, Sanchayan Ghosh, Jonathan González, Abraham González Pacheco, Eric Gyamfi, G. Peter Jemison, Liz Johnson Artur, Arturo Kameya and Claudia Martínez Garay, Cinthia Marcelle, Shala Miller, Brooke O’Harra, Sofu Teshigahara and Ginger Brooks Takahashi will debut commissions and projects as part of the longest-running international art exhibition in North America (since 1896).

An additional 30 to 40 participating artists will be announced in the coming weeks. The 2026 edition is curated by Carnegie Museum of Art’s Ryan Inouye and Liz Park, and Danielle A. Jackson of Artists Space in New York.

“Our co-curators have created an International that will unfold across many disciplines and forms,” Eric Crosby, Carnegie Museum of Art’s director, tells The Art Newspaper. “From Torkwase Dyson’s new planetarium animation (which intertwines environmental science, spatial theory and histories of extraction) to Eric Gyamfi’s camera experiments grounded in Ghanaian ecologies and Alia Farid’s sound installation (which will sync the daily rhythms of the Shatt Al Arab marshlands with those of Pittsburgh), each project exemplifies how art can transmit knowledge and perspective across social, political and cultural contexts.”

In another newly announced project, the Indian artist Sanchayan Ghosh will create site-specific workshops and a public outdoor installation exploring the meaning of “home”. And the Seneca artist G. Peter Jemison will present works from seven other Indigenous artists alongside his own new paintings in a van parked in front of Carnegie Museum of Art. Other commissions will feature photography, performance, a mural, architectural interventions and immersive multimedia installations.

New works will be hosted at Carnegie Museum of Art, the Children’s Museum, Kamin Science Center, the Mattress Factory art space and Thelma Lovette YMCA.

“These partnerships are not just about sharing space. They’re about mutual transformation through the work of artists,” Crosby says. “With each iteration of the International, the museum renews its role as a meeting place for Pittsburgh and the world and as a platform for artistic exchange where new ideas and relationships can take shape. The process of planning the International is as generative as the exhibition itself: it catalyses acquisitions, partnerships and ways of working that shape our museum moving forward.”

News of the Carnegie International’s first confirmed artists and projects follows on the heels of the appointment of a new director of curatorial affairs at Carnegie Museum of Art. John Tain—who has worked at the Getty Research Institute, Asia Art Archive and Lahore Biennale—will begin in the role on 8 December.

“John brings an artist-centred curatorial ethos and a sensitivity to multiple art histories—qualities that resonate strongly with our vision for the 59th Carnegie International,” Crosby says. “His arrival coincides with a broader period of renewal for us as we explore how collaboration, inquiry and care inform our daily work in the museum and the world.”

The spring of 2026 is shaping up to be a busy one for recurring exhibitions, with the Carnegie International, Venice Biennale and Whitney Biennial all due to open within two months of each other.