Connecticut’s Aldrich Museum Plans a Recurring Survey of Local Artists Every Ten Years

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut will launch a new recurring survey, called the Aldrich Decennial, and true to its name will take place every 10 years.

In its role as “the state’s only institution exclusively dedicated to contemporary art,” per a release, the Aldrich has decided to focus its decennial on artists living and working in Connecticut. Additionally, selected artists will not have exhibited in Connecticut previously, and the work on view will have been made within the last decade.

Running June 27, 2026, to January 10, 2027, the first iteration of the decennial will take the title “I am what is around me” and is organized by chief curator Amy Smith-Stewart and publications manager Caitlin Monachino, who conducted over 100 studio visits as part of their research.

The curators have pared that down to an international group of 40 artists, including some high-profile names like Dominic Chambers, Tammy Nguyen, Em Rooney, Aki Sasamoto, and Julia Wachtel. The oldest artist in the exhibition is Lucy Sallick, who was born in 1937, while the show’s youngest is Remy Sosa, who is nearly six decades younger than Sallick, having been born in 1995.

The first decennial will span the entirety of the Aldrich’s campus, from its 8,000 square feet of galleries to its recently renovated three-acre grounds, which includes a sculpture garden. The exhibition, which will be accompanied by a catalog, aims to “explore the varied artistic expressions of generations of artists who have chosen to live and work outside major art centers,” per a release.

“While The Aldrich’s expansive mission highlights the work of living artists from around the United States and the world, over the past 60 years the Museum has also had an enduring interest in artists living and working in Connecticut,” executive director Cybele Maylone said in a statement. “With the debut of this inaugural series we are so proud to spotlight the immense talent in our small but mighty state.”

The pacing of the Aldrich Decennial is unusual within the art world. The only other major exhibition to follow this model is Sculpture Projects Münster in Germany, which will hold its sixth edition in 2027. Most recurring exhibitions take place every two years (biennials) or every three years (triennials). The Carnegie International now takes place every four years and the Getty Foundation’s PST ART recently switched to a quinquennial model. Documenta in Kassel, Germany, has occurred every five years since the gap between its fifth and sixth editions in the 1970s.

“Connecticut has always been a site for visionary artists and daring ideas,” Smith-Stewart said in a statement, which noted that artists like Anni and Josef Albers, Kay Sage and Yves Tanguy, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Jasper Johns, Barkley Hendricks, and Sol LeWitt once called the state home. “This survey spotlights artists who call this place home—artists whose work is deeply rooted in the Museum’s community yet resonates far beyond it. It’s an honor to share their powerful voices with the world through this new exhibition series.”

The full artist list for the 2026 edition follows below.

Faustin Adeniran (b. 1988)

Ellen Altfest (b. 1970)

Scott Carrillo Azevedo (b. 1983)

Jen Bervin (b. 1972)

Carlos Bautista Biernnay (b. 1969)

Lula Mae Blocton (b. 1947)

Gary Burnley (b. 1950)

Dominic Chambers (b. 1993)

Carl D’Alvia (b. 1965)

Chris Domenick (b. 1982)

Anindita Dutta (b. 1973)

Azza El Siddique (b. 1984)

Anoka Faruqee (b. 1972) & David Driscoll (b. 1964)

Enrique Figueredo (b. 1980)

Lizzie Gill (b. 1989)

Renee Gladman (b. 1971)

Dan Gunn (b. 1980)

Edward Henderson (b. 1951)

Huê Thi Hoffmaster (b. 1982)

Kristy Hughes (b. 1987)

Jilaine Jones (b. 1959)

Arghavan Khosravi (b. 1984)

Sonja Langford (b. 1994)

Emily Larned (b. 1977)

Jihyun Lee (b. 1979) 

Beck Lowry (b. 1980)

Danica Lundy (b. 1991)

Tammy Nguyen (b. 1984)

Grace O’Connor (b. 1974)

Em Rooney (b. 1983)

Lucy Sallick (b. 1937)

Kern Samuel (b. 1990)

Aki Sasamoto (b. 1980)

John Shen (b. 1990)

Remy Sosa (b. 1995)

Philip Taaffe (b. 1955)

Felandus Thames (b. 1974)

Amanda Russhell Wallace (b. 1986)

Julia Wachtel (b. 1956)