The Artists Who Ruled The Biennial Circuit Over The Last Four Years

A new survey of recurring international art events from after the 2022 Venice Biennale through the 2026 Venice Biennale points to a familiar pattern in contemporary art: a small group of artists keeps reappearing across the global exhibition calendar. The dataset, which includes slightly more than 15,000 artists across 130 events, singles out those who appeared in nine or more shows - and among the most visible is Kapwani Kiwanga (b. 1978), the Hamilton, Ontario-born artist whose work has become a fixture of biennials and triennials.

Kiwanga first gained wide attention in the mid-2010s with Flowers for Africa, her ongoing project in which she recreates floral arrangements documented at African independence ceremonies. The work established a language that has remained central to her practice: plants, botanical histories, and the colonial systems that shaped both. In one interview, she described the organic and geological materials she uses as“witnesses,” a formulation that captures the quiet force of her installations and the historical pressure they carry.

That sensibility helps explain why Kiwanga has traveled so widely through the biennial circuit. Her recent appearances include Bienalsur in 2023 and 2025, the 35th São Paulo Biennial in 2023, Manif d'art 11 - La Biennale de Québec in 2024, the 15th Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art in 2024, FotoFocus Biennial in 2024–25, Hawai'i Triennial in 2025, Desert X 2025, the Biennale des Arts et de l'Océan in Nice, Art Encounters Biennial in Timișoara, the Singapore Biennale in 2025–26, the 25th Biennale of Sydney in 2026, and Klima Biennale Wien in 2026.

The breadth of that list is not just a measure of visibility. It also reflects how Kiwanga's work speaks to institutions looking for art that can move between local histories and larger systems of power. Her practice is precise rather than declarative, but it has proved unusually adaptable to the scale and ambition of international exhibitions.

The same survey also places other artists in sharp relief, including Nolan Oswald Dennis, whose 14 biennial appearances in four years underscore how quickly certain practices can become central to the global conversation. But Kiwanga's repeated presence suggests something slightly different: a sustained interest in work that treats history not as backdrop, but as material still actively shaping the present.

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