The New Museum in New York has announced the artists for its fifth triennial, titled “Soft Water Hard Stone” and running from October 27, 2021, to January 23, 2022. Cocurated by Margot Norton and Jamillah James of the New Museum and Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, respectively, the exhibition will devote four floors to showcasing new output by forty artists working across twenty-three countries.

“In this moment of profound change, where structures that were once thought to be stable are revealed to be precarious, broken, or on the verge of collapse, the 2021 Triennial recognizes artists reimagining traditional models, materials, and techniques beyond established institutional paradigms,” states the press release for the show, which is titled after the Brazilian proverb Água mole em pedra dura, tanto bate até que fura (Soft water on hard stone hits until it bores a hole). “The works included in the exhibition look back toward overlooked artistic traditions and technological building blocks, while at the same time look forward toward the immaterial, the transitory, and the creative potential that might give dysfunctional or discarded remains new life.”

The exhibition’s catalogue, copublished by the New Museum and Phaidon Press Limited, will feature contributions from Jamillah James, Margot Norton, Karen Archey, Eunsong Kim, and Bernardo Mosqueira.

Below is the full list of participating artists, the majority of whom have never exhibited in a US museum before: 

Haig Aivazian (b. 1980 Beirut, Lebanon)
Evgeny Antufiev (b. 1986 Kyzyl, Russia)
Alex Ayed (b. 1989 Strasbourg, France)
Nadia Belerique (b. 1982 Mississauga, Ontario, Canada)
Hera Büyüktaşcıyan (b. 1984 Istanbul, Turkey)
Tomás Díaz Cedeño (b. 1983 Mexico City, Mexico)
Gabriel Chaile (b. 1985 San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina)
Gaëlle Choisne (b. 1985 Cherbourg, France)
Krista Clark (b. 1975 Burlington, VT, United States)
Kate Cooper (b. 1984, Liverpool, United Kingdom)
Cynthia Daignault (b. 1978 Baltimore, MD, United States)
Jes Fan (b. 1990 Toronto, Canada)
Goutam Ghosh (b. 1979 Nabadwip, India)
Harry Gould Harvey IV (b. 1991 Fall River, MA, United States)
Clara Ianni (b. 1987 São Paolo, Brazil)
Kahlil Robert Irving (b. 1992 San Diego, CA, United States)
Arturo Kameya (b. 1984 Lima, Peru)
Laurie Kang (b. 1985 Toronto, Canada)
Bronwyn Katz (b. 1993 Kimberly, South Africa)
Ann Greene Kelly (b. 1988 New York, NY, United States)
Kang Seung Lee (b. 1978 Seoul, South Korea)
Amy Lien and Enzo Camacho (b. 1987 Dallas, TX, United States) and (b. 1985 Manila, Philippines)
Tanya Lukin Linklater (Alutiiq) (b. 1976 Kodiak, AK, United States)
Angelika Loderer (b. 1984 Feldbach, Austria)
Sandra Mujinga (b. 1989 Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Gabriela Mureb (b. 1985 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Brandon Ndife (b. 1991 Hammond, IN, United States)
Erin Jane Nelson (b. 1989 Neenah, WI, United States)
Jeneen Frei Njootli (Vuntut Gwitchin) (b. 1988 Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada)
Ima-Abasi Okon (b. 1981 London, United Kingdom)
Christina Pataialii (b. 1988 Auckland, New Zealand)
Thao Nguyen Phan (b. 1987 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
Nickola Pottinger (b. 1986 Kingston, Jamaica)
Rose Salane (b. 1992 New York, NY, United States)
Blair Saxon-Hill (b. 1979 Eugene, OR, United States)
Samara Scott (b. 1984 London, United Kingdom)
Amalie Smith (b. 1985 Copenhagen, Denmark)
Iris Touliatou (b. 1981 Athens, Greece)
Ambera Wellmann (b. 1982 Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, Canada)
Yu Ji (b. 1985 Shanghai, China)