The Immigrant Artist Biennial has announced an impressive line-up of artists, catalog contributors, venues, and partners for its third edition. Shifting from a hybrid—online and exhibition-based format—in 2020, to entirely exhibition-based in 2023, to its third edition, which will present seven performances, panels, workshops, and a potluck at BRIC, Brooklyn Art Haus, Essex Street Market, Residency Unlimited, Nguyen Wahed, and Shiva Gallery at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The Immigrant Artist Biennial seems to reinvent itself in form for every new edition. A reflection of the immigrant experience itself—unfixed. Identity Card, as the third edition is titled, was announced yesterday and will feature nineteen artists and organizations that, as per the press release, will “explore collective memory, institutional censorship, embodied forms of knowledge, territorial sovereignty and mutual aid—conditions continually denied by occupying authorities as the capacity for mobility.” 

In a moment that, as the press release stated, is “marked by artistic suppression and a global rise of fascism,” the four curators, Sanna Almajedi, the Iana Safina Co-curator, Sofia Thiệu D’Amico, the Lesley Bodzy Co-curator, Eva Mayhabal Davis, the Bailey Coleman Co-curator, and Anna Khimasia, use “identity card” as a metaphor to explore nationality, immigration status, occupation, criminalization, class, and what might restrict or enable mobility. At a time of mounting political tension, this biennial takes a more global approach, a welcome reminder that immigration is a topic that crosses borders—both cultural and geographic—and that cannot be contained. 

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The lineup for Identity Card is:

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Artists

Behar Behbahani

Rawya El Chab

Stephanie Comilang

Ivana Dama

Rachelle Dang

Tasha Douge

Bel Falleiros

Maya Jeffereis

Andrew Yong Hoon Lee 

Pearlynn Lii

Sujin Lim

Simon Liu

mandla

LuLu Meng

National Coalition Against Censorship

Charlie Perez-Tlatenchi

Lita Vinueza

Anh Vo

Layqa Nuna Yawar

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Catalog Contributors

Judith Butler

Natalie Diaz

Rebecca Ruth Gould

James Hoff

Elizabeth Larison and Minji Lee 

Summer Kim Lee

Sarah Rifky

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“The Immigrant Artist Biennial was founded to create a space where immigrant artists can be seen, heard, and celebrated,” explains founding Artistic Director, Katya Grokhovsky. “As an immigrant, I know that belonging is something we build together. With Identity Card, we continue that mission by convening artists, audiences, and communities in conversation, affirming that immigrant voices are an essential part of the cultural fabric of our past, present, and future.”