sā Ladakh Biennale announces its inaugural 2026 edition: Signals from Another Star

• Taking place from 1–10 August 2026, the Biennale is curated by Vishal K Dar, with Tsering Motup Siddho as Associate Curator, and brings together 12 international and Ladakhi artists and artist duos responding to land, ecology and the quiet urgencies of our time.
• Positioned as the world’s highest regenerative art biennale at over 3,000 metres, it unfolds as a journey across 230 kilometres and 8 sites along the Leh–Kargil corridor, historically a key node of the Silk Route.
• The programme extends to three Special Projects, spanning exhibitions, residencies, workshops and community-led initiatives.
• Embracing regeneration as a methodology, the biennale pushes a new model for art responding to climate and ecology

sā Ladakh Biennale presents its inaugural edition, taking place from 1–10 August 2026 across the high-altitude terrains of Ladakh, India. Grounded in the meaning of ‘sā’, ‘soil’ in Ladakhi, the Biennale unfolds across eight sites along the Leh-Kargil corridor – Leh, Basgo, Likir, Nurla, Lamayuru, Henasku, Mulbekh and Kargil – activating villages, learning spaces and open landscapes at over 3,000 metres, and positioning itself as the world’s highest regenerative art biennale.

sā Ladakh Biennale 2026: Signals from Another Star

The 2026 Biennale is guided by Vishal K Dar’s curatorial vision, Signals from Another Star, with Tsering Motup Siddho as Associate Curator. Bringing together 12 international and Ladakhi artists and artist duos from diverse geographies and practices, it takes the form of a field of signals, foregrounding attentive, site-responsive practices that engage with the land, its memory, weather, trade routes, communities and histories. In doing so, it invites new ways of seeing and understanding these conditions, while asking how art might take responsibility for climate through close engagement with place.

Participating artists include Agnieszka Kurant (Poland), Amrit Kakri (Nepal), Anna Jermolaewa (Russia / Austria), Arunima Dazess Wangchuk (Leh, Ladakh), Avantika Bawa (USA/India), Ayan Biswas (Likir, Ladakh), Chemat Dorjey (Sakti, Leh, Ladakh), David Soin Tappeser (Germany), Denizay Apusoglu (Switzerland), Grazia Toderi (Italy), Himali Singh Soin (India), Jigmet Angmo (Sakti, Leh, Ladakh), Jitish Kallat (India), Jonas Kissling (Switzerland), Peter Kogler (Austria), Shupiwe Chongwe (Australia), Skarma Sonam Tashi (Sapi, Kargil, Ladakh), Stanzin Samphel (Chemday, Leh, Ladakh), Stanzin Tsepel (Rangdum, Zanskar, Ladakh), Stanzin Wangail (Stok, Leh, Ladakh), Tashi Namgial (Skurbuchan, Leh, Ladakh), Tenzin Olden (Shilling-Skit, Zanskar, Ladakh), Tom Mùller (Switzerland), Tundup Dorjay (Igoo, Leh, Ladakh), Urgain Zawa (Igoo, Leh, Ladakh), Zahara Batool (Pashkum, Kargil, Ladakh).

With regeneration as a guiding principle, the Biennale will host residencies, workshops and community-led initiatives, making space for art, ethical engagement with local communities, and urgent issues of global concern.

Special Projects

Beyond the Biennale exhibition, the programme extends to three Special Projects: an exhibition supported by Ladakh Arts and Media Organisation in Leh’s Old Town featuring five Ladakhi artists, reactivating the site as a community-led cultural space; an international collaboration with museum in progress (Austria) as part of the raising flags project, presenting six flags across Biennale sites, including a new work by Ladakhi artist Skarma Sonam Tashi; and an intervention led by Ayan Biswas supported by Quiet Art Movement (India), documenting medicinal plants in Kargil through alternative processes and school workshops, culminating in a biomass-based installation.

Partners

sā Ladakh Biennale 2026 is developed in collaboration with a wide network of partners, including Ladakh Arts and Media Organisation (LAMO), People’s Action Group of Inclusion and Rights Ladakh (PAGIR), Dolkhar, Roots Ladakh, Local Futures Ladakh, the Crashpad, and Unexplored Ladakh.

Cultural exchange includes the German Embassy to India, the Austrian Embassy to India, the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Embassy of Switzerland in India and Bhutan under the initiative Sustainability With a Plus, the Swiss Arts Council-Pro Helvetia and the Royal Enfield Social Mission (India), the Western Australia Government.

Institutional partners include Fremantle Biennale (Australia), Disability in Arts, Disadvantage in Art (Australia), Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art (US), Neekoee Foundation (India), the Gujral Foundation (India), The Ford Family Foundation (US), Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (US), Dharamshala International Film Festival (India), museum in progress (Austria), Quiet Art Movement (India), Good Life X (Sri Lanka), STIRworld (India), and Black Sheep Media House (India).

About sā Ladakh Biennale

sā Ladakh Biennale is situated at the intersection of climate, culture and community. Unfolding at altitudes above 3,000 metres in the fragile landscapes of Ladakh, it is the world’s highest regenerative land art biennale. Founded in 2023 by Tenzin Jamyang, Raki Nikahetiya and Sagar Singh, ‘sā’ meaning ‘soil’ in Ladakhi, began as a land art exhibition in Leh before evolving into a biennale in 2026. The Biennale operates as a living, learning and evolving platform that brings together artists from Ladakh, across India and internationally, through residencies, workshops and educational programmes that engage deeply with its landscapes, cultures and ecological realities.

About Vishal K. Dar

Vishal K Dar (b. 1976) is an artist based in India. His practice employs satire and scale to address personal and political anxieties through site-specific projects that create iridescent overlays across diverse public spaces. These interventions often occupy abandoned or disused sites, as well as well-known landmarks, combining analogue elements drawn from architecture with ephemeral materials such as light and water. These layered environments are further extended through digital insertions and programmed interventions.

About Tsering Motup Siddho

Tsering Motup Siddho (b. 1992) is a multidisciplinary artist from Ladakh and Mysore with a post-graduate degree from Shiv Nadar University, Delhi. His practice spans video, installation, and painting, exploring Ladakhi identity, material culture, and socio-cultural shifts, particularly through the lens of transforming kitchen spaces.