2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Yield Strength

2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Yield Strength

Editor: Ellie Buttrose, with essays from more than 20 contemporary writers

ISBN 978-1-921668-68-5

Paper cover, in large magazine format

220 pages, 248 x 340 mm

119 colour illustrations

RRP: $39.95

Yield strength is an engineering term denoting the extent of force that can be placed on a material before it distorts irreversibly. It is an apt metaphor for understanding the 2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, given the broad return to materials used in recent contemporary art and in what, at times, feels like a place of no return on environmental and political fronts.  

The exhibition and catalogue reveal how materials, selfhood and society are tested – and transformed – under pressure. Twenty-four artists push their mediums to build visual complexity or contort them to convey the curious side of existence, while remaining attentive to aesthetic details and receptive to the intricacies of life.

Yield Strength features new works by Australian contemporary artists Robert Andrew, Nathan Beard, Lauren Burrow, Francis Carmody, Mark Maurangi Carrol, Milminyina Dhamarrandji, Matthew Teapot Djipurrtjun, George Egerton-Warburton, Prudence Flint, Brian Fuata, d harding, Matthew Harris, Helen Johnson, Kirtika Kain, Jennifer Mathews, Archie Moore, Josina Pumani, Julie Nangala Robertson, Erika Scott, Joel Sherwood Spring, Charlie Sofo, John Spiteri, Isadora Vaughan and Emmaline Zanelli.