Biennale 9: Contemporary Art and the Changing City of Thessaloniki

Recently, Thessaloniki hosted the 9th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, titled “everything must change. Radical Intelligence. Saloniki 9.” For me, this exhibition was not only an art event inside a museum. It was also a way of thinking about the city, its future, its public spaces, and the role of art in a changing world.

The Biennale took place mainly between 23 May and 5 July 2026, with MOMus as the organising institution. Its main spaces included the MOMus-Museum of Contemporary Art, the Thessaloniki International Fair, HELEXPO pavilions, and Kalochori Lagoon. This choice of venues is important because the exhibition did not remain only inside the traditional museum space. It moved between art institutions, urban infrastructure, and ecological landscapes.

The title, “everything must change,” feels very powerful in today’s world. We hear similar phrases everywhere: in politics, activism, technology, climate discussions, and social movements. But the Biennale does not treat change as a simple slogan. Instead, it asks deeper questions: What really needs to change? Who decides what change means? Can art help us imagine different futures?

One of the most interesting parts of the Biennale is the idea of “Radical Intelligence.” At first, this may sound connected only to artificial intelligence or technology. However, the exhibition seems to suggest a wider meaning of intelligence. Intelligence is not only machines, data, or algorithms. It can also be collective, emotional, artistic, ecological, political, and social. It can come from communities, memories, bodies, activism, and alternative ways of living.

This is why Biennale 9 connects strongly with Thessaloniki as a city. Thessaloniki itself is a place of change. Its history includes Greek, Jewish, Ottoman, Balkan, refugee, Mediterranean, and contemporary European layers. The city has always been shaped by movement, transformation, loss, and rebuilding. In this context, contemporary art becomes a way to read the city differently.

The use of HELEXPO is especially meaningful. The Thessaloniki International Fair is not just an exhibition area; it is connected to ideas of economy, development, politics, and the public future of the city. By placing contemporary art in this space, the Biennale asks us to think about what kind of urban life we want. Who has access to public space? What should be preserved, changed, or reimagined? How can culture become part of these debates?

Kalochori Lagoon also adds another important layer. It reminds us that Thessaloniki is not only an urban environment made of buildings, streets, and museums. It is also connected to nature, water, wetlands, birds, biodiversity, and ecological fragility. Including this landscape expands the meaning of art. It shows that contemporary art can speak not only about humans, but also about non-human life, environmental crisis, and coexistence.

For an Erasmus volunteer, visiting or reflecting on this Biennale is meaningful because it shows how art can become a tool for dialogue. Contemporary art is not always easy to understand immediately, and maybe this is part of its value. It forces us to slow down, question, feel, and think. It does not always give clear answers, but it creates space for new questions.

Biennale 9 also fits very well with Thessaloniki’s plural identity. The city is not a simple or single-layered place, and the Biennale does not present a simple idea of change. Instead, it brings together different artists, materials, spaces, communities, and ways of thinking. It shows that change is not only something political leaders or institutions create. Change can also begin through imagination, collective action, artistic expression, and everyday encounters.

For me, the most important message of Biennale 9 is that art should not be separated from life. Art can help us think about climate, technology, public space, identity, community, and the future. It can make invisible questions visible. It can connect the museum with the street, the city with nature, and the individual with society.

In this sense, the 9th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art was more than a recent cultural event. It was a reflection of Thessaloniki itself: restless, layered, experimental, political, and open to transformation. It reminded us that cities are never finished. Like art, they are always being created, questioned, and changed.