Home: A Glossary for Place and Belonging

The notion of home extends far beyond the boundaries of four walls. It lives in the spaces we inhabit together, in the streets we traverse, in the moments of connection that define a place as ours. This November, Abu Dhabi invites us to contemplate this very question through the 2026 Public Art Biennial, a sweeping initiative that transforms the city itself into a gallery without walls.

Running from 15 November 2026 through 15 February 2027, the Biennial unfolds across multiple sites and landscapes throughout Abu Dhabi, engaging with the city’s distinctive geography and character. Under the artistic direction of Elvira Dyangani Ose, the thematic framework takes shape around a deceptively simple yet profoundly resonant question: what does home mean to you?

Titled “Home: A Glossary for a Communal Sense of Place,” the Biennial approaches this enquiry as both a personal and collective meditation. Rather than offering answers, it creates a space for reflection, drawing visitors into dialogue with artworks positioned throughout the urban and natural landscape. The very structure of the exhibition suggests that home is not a singular concept but rather a vocabulary we build together, layer by layer, through shared experience and individual interpretation.

This commitment to integrating art with the city’s existing topography reflects a sophisticated understanding of public space as lived experience. By positioning artworks within the rhythms of daily Abu Dhabi life, the Biennial honours the ways in which people actually move through and relate to their surroundings. The exhibition becomes less a destination and more a discovery, an unfolding narrative that accompanies those who navigate the city.

In asking what home means to us all, the Biennial recognises that Abu Dhabi itself is a place of convergence, where diverse communities have built lives and created meaning. The question becomes a bridge, inviting reflection on belonging, memory, aspiration and the spaces that shape our sense of self.