The Artistic Director of the first edition of Bienal de Yucatán is Abraham Cruzvillegas, whose practice privileges the principles of working with what is at hand, improvisation, and collaboration. His sensitivity to Yucatán’s cultural and social conditions is fundamental to the development of this project. As part of the curatorial framework, Cruzvillegas notes: “This exhibition, of an international nature, will focus primarily on language, languages, tongues, what is written, what is spoken, and what must be said.”

Titled Vocal, Bienal de Yucatán 2026 is conceived as Mexico’s first large-scale international biennial, this initiative seeks to position Yucatán as a strategic hub for critical thought, artistic experimentation, and contemporary cultural dialogue. Bienal de Yucatán will unfold across approximately 15 venues distributed throughout Mérida’s Historic Centre, consolidating a cultural circuit that will connect institutions, heritage complexes, and public spaces.

The Bienal brings together 75 artists from Mexico and across the world, including Jean-Luc Moulène and Rirkrit Tiravanija.

Jean-Luc Moulène presents Monochromes - Echantillons (Mexican Craft) Série 1, Paris, juin 2011 (2011), a meditation on colour and industrialisation carried out through the most ordinary of objects: the Bic pen. Begun in 2009, the series is held in international collections, including the Jumex Collection in Mexico City. It takes the monochrome, an emblematic image of modernity, and moves it into the realm of mass production. Made with the coloured inks of ordinary Bic pens, each surface becomes a sample: the monochrome is a test object, just like any mass-produced item.

Rirkrit Tiravanija contributes an ongoing text publication to the local newspaper, based on Francis Picabia’s poetry book Who Knows, translated into Spanish and Mayan.


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