At a press event on Wednesday, Feb. 11, Eric Crosby, the\u00a0Henry J. Heinz II director of Carnegie Museum of Art and vice president of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, called this edition \u201cthe most collaborative and expansive to date.\u201d The last Carnegie International opened in the fall of 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the start, the International was conceived as a living archive,\u201d Crosby said. \u201cIt has evolved through the work of many curators into a lens for understanding how artists respond to the specific conditions of our current moment.\u201d<\/p>\n This year\u2019s title, \u201cIf the word we,\u201d comes from an essay commissioned by writer Haytham el-Wardany that contemplates the complexity of the first-person plural pronoun. According to its curators, the exhibit as a whole carries itself similarly, exploring various places, memories and lived experiences.<\/p>\n \u201c[\u2018If the word we\u2019 is] an invitation to consider how collective life and culture are shaped through listening, through relationships and our shared responsibility,\u201d said Liz Park, the museum\u2019s Richard Armstrong curator of contemporary art.<\/p>\n Park previously served as associate curator of the 57th Carnegie International. Also on this year\u2019s curatorial team are Ryan Inouye, Carnegie Museum of Art\u2019s curator of international art, and Danielle A. Jackson, a curator and artist based in New York.<\/p>\n The 59th Carnegie International comprises the works of 61 artists or collectives of artists, including Torkwase Dyson of New York; Liz Johnson Artur of London; Sanchayan Ghosh of Santiniketan, India; Eric Gyamfi of Accra, Ghana; and Ginger Brooks Takahashi of Pittsburgh, among many others<\/a>.<\/p>\n Additionally, 36 projects are new commissions for the 2026 International. The 58th Carnegie International only had 22 commissioned works, according to a museum spokesperson.<\/p>\n Jackson said this year\u2019s exhibition came from a relational approach to the artists. While visiting artists, the curators carried a list of \u201cplaces\u201d they wanted artists to explore but chose not to develop specific themes to give them more freedom.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cArtists are working in all different kinds of ways, and that felt important to capture \u2014 it\u2019s not just a painting on a wall, it\u2019s deeper and more vast than that,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cThere are some very good painters, but with, like, Dineo Seshee Bopape, the primary material is earth \u2014 it\u2019s soil. What are the complications of bringing that into the gallery, and what does it mean to bring earth into a space?\u201d<\/p>\n Jackson adds that there are additional works being created exclusively for the exhibition\u2019s publication, representing an expansion of how artists often work beyond gallery space.<\/p>\n The International will also expand beyond the Museum of Art. Crosby said installations will also appear at four \u201cpresenting partners:\u201d Thelma Lovette YMCA in the Hill District, The Mattress Factory, Kamin Science Center and the Children\u2019s Museum of Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n At the Children\u2019s Museum, for example, artist Sanchayan Ghosh developed a site-specific project with precise input from local families and youth. It\u2019ll remain on-site permanently after it closes in 2027.<\/p>\n A museum spokesperson told NEXTpittsburgh that the last Carnegie International drew approximately 238,000 visitors from about 40 countries.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2023_CMOA_Portraits_Curators-scaled.jpg\")
Portrait of curators Danielle A. Jackson, Ryan Inouye and Liz Park, 2023. Photo by Sean Eaton. Courtesy of Carnegie Museum of Art.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/09_Ghosh.jpg\")
Sanchayan Ghosh, \u2018mergEmerge,\u2019 2004 \u2013 2014, A ten year long shadow casting process with the Final year students of Kala Bhavana Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan.<\/p>\n