AURORA Biennial 2026 announces expanded program, plans to highlight Dallas City Hall

With a theme of “State of Becoming,” the contemporary art experience expands to nearly three weeks, running Nov. 4-21 in Dallas and Fort Worth.

In a month, AURORA Biennial 2026 will reimagine some of North Texas’ most important civic spaces with contemporary art created by internationally renowned artists. For the first time, the Biennial will take place over nearly three weeks, from Nov. 4 to 21 in Dallas and Fort Worth.

This year’s theme is “State of Becoming,” and the Biennial will activate spaces and communities across North Texas, including Dallas and Fort Worth. The culminating event on Nov. 21 will be a free outdoor exhibition on display across Dallas City Hall, the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, and the AT&T Discovery District. The theme of the Biennial was selected with Dallas City Hall and the discussion about its future in mind. AURORA is using the building as a platform for artists and the public to consider what a city becomes when places that define it are in transition.

The first tranche of artists features creators whose work includes AI and computational poetry, generative art, immersive media, experimental film, digital performance, public art, ecological futures, and technology-driven installations.

The artists are Monira Al Qadiri (Berlin), Eduardo Cassina (Norway); Melanie Clemmons & Zak Loyd (Dallas); Josh Kline (New York); Ksawery Komputery (Poland); Ezra Masch (Austin); and LaJuné McMillian (New York), Christopher Meerdo (Ohio); New Red Order (New York); Trevor Paglen (New York); Diana Rojas (Dallas); Sasha Stiles (New York); Eric Trich (Dallas); Tramaine Townsend (Dallas); Derek Tumala (the Philippines); Holly Veselka (San Marcos); and Saya Woolfalk (New York.)

One of the AURORA Biennial 2026 curators, Julia Kaganskiy, and co-founder/executive director Joshua King discuss plans for the expanded AURORA Biennial 2026.

NBC DFW: There are a lot of concerns about technology, especially AI. How is AURORA using technology, specifically AI, to amplify, enhance human artistic expression?

Julia Kaganskiy (Kaganskiy): Several of the artists featured in AURORA this year are renowned for their critical interrogation of AI, machine learning, and autonomous systems. Trevor Paglen, whose work Faces of ImageNet will be projected onto the facade of City Hall, has spent over a decade investigating how machines learn to “see,” examining the human judgments and biases these systems are trained on, as well as the real-world impact they have on people today. 

Many artists working with digital technology approach it both critically and creatively to help us better understand these tools, how they work, their potential uses and misuses are, and whose interests they actually serve. The artists engaging AI at AURORA represent both sides of that spectrum — demonstrating how it can extend the artist’s unique voice and vision, as in the case of Sasha Stiles and Tramaine Townsend, while also examining how these technologies affect larger social, political and ecological issues. 

NBC DFW: Why did you want to expand AURORA Biennial to nearly three weeks?

Joshua King (King): Having an event that reaches across the entire city has always been part of AURORA’s vision. We wanted to create a collective momentum around contemporary art and technology that expands beyond a single night or weekend. 

Expanding the Biennial to nearly three weeks gives artists, cultural organizations and communities across Dallas more ways to participate, while allowing audiences to encounter AURORA in different parts of the city and at different points throughout the program.

The goal is for the Biennial to become a citywide cultural experience and an increasingly meaningful part of Dallas’ cultural landscape. 

NBC DFW: Why is the public discussion about Dallas City Hall important for the Dallas artistic community?

King: The Dallas artistic community has a vital role in moments like this because artists ask questions, challenge assumptions and turn the issues we are discussing as a community into new ways of seeing and understanding the places we share.

The arts can make complex civic questions tangible and accessible. They can help us consider not only what Dallas is today, but what kind of city we want it to become.

That is one of the reasons AURORA believes artists have an important role in Dallas’ civic life. Artists help us pause and ask a question we can lose sight of as we get older and our cities become more complex: Why? Why is this place the way it is? Who is it for? What could it become? And how can we create a city where everyone feels a sense of belonging?

NBC DFW: What perspective can AURORA add to the Dallas City Hall conversation?

King: Most people never stand on the front steps of Dallas City Hall as the sun sets and the city begins to light up for the night. AURORA has always been interested in creating those kinds of moments—inviting people into places they may pass every day and giving them a reason to stop, gather and spend time there. 

The conversation around City Hall is an opportunity to think not only about the building itself, but about the civic life that happens around it. What makes a public space feel welcoming? What makes people want to gather and stay? What role can culture play in activating a place that belongs to everyone? 

AURORA can explore those questions through experience rather than discussion alone. By bringing ambitious, museum-caliber art into the public realm, we can temporarily transform a familiar civic space and invite thousands of people to inhabit it together in a completely different way. 

NBC DFW: What is the future of public art in Dallas and what role do you think AURORA will play in it?

King: The future of public art is evolving alongside the way we experience the world. As technology becomes a greater part of everyday life, public art has an opportunity to engage people in new places and in new ways. Temporary, site-specific, and performative works play an important role because they allow artists to respond to places, communities and moments in ways that permanent works cannot always do. 

Public art also gives us an opportunity to think differently about access and geography. It can happen on a building, in a plaza, across a neighborhood or through technology, allowing artists to reach people beyond traditional cultural spaces.

AURORA sees its role as helping push that evolution forward, supporting artists, embracing new technologies, and bringing meaningful art experiences into the life of the city. Our goal is to help build a generation of people who see art as part of civic life and understand that art belongs to everyone, wherever they are in Dallas.

Learn more: AURORA