KEBAL: JAKARTA BIENNALE 2026

Jakarta Biennale is an international contemporary art biennial that has been held since 1974. Throughout its history, Jakarta BIennale has consistently engaged with themes rooted in the everyday realities of urban life, gradually becoming a reflection of Jakarta itself. This year’s edition centers on the theme of resilience under the title “Kebal” (Immune).

Resilience has been chosen as the central theme to reflect the perseverance of Jakarta’s residents in navigating the demands of life in the capital. Year after year, many are gradually being displaced from the city they call home. Escalating property prices and the rising cost of living continue to force people to relocate, pushing them further toward the city’s margins.

Yet Jakarta remains the country’s economic center and a place where livelihoods are made. As a result, waves of commuters have become part of the city’s everyday reality. Many of us spend hours in transit each day, packed into public transportation—at Transjakarta shelters, railway stations, buses, and commuter trains—or trapped in the endless traffic that stretches across the city’s roads.

The image of Jakarta’s displaced residents is not unique to this city. It echoes the experiences of communities across the world. Social, political, and geopolitical conditions have uprooted countless peoples and nations, forcing them to relocate with their families or remain where they are while confronting immense uncertainty and risk.

Some of us survive; others do not. Jakarta Biennale: Kebal is presented as a space to reflect on these realities while celebrating the resilience that emerges in the face of adversity.

The perseverance of Jakarta’s residents, alongside that of people in many other parts of the world who continue to endure under such conditions, serves as the inspiration for the artists participating in this year’s Jakarta Biennale. Amid today’s uncertain social, political, geopolitical, and economic landscape, their works aspire to inspire audiences in Jakarta and beyond to find ways of enduring. Whether they have survived or not, every struggle deserves recognition. In honoring resilience, we also acknowledge those who could not endure, and we remember that the work of building a more just future remains unfinished.