The 2026 Adelaide Biennial, titled Yield Strength, requires slow looking and quiet consideration

These are troubled and changing times – a view of the zeitgeist that permeates Yield Strength, the 2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.

The stresses and anxieties navigated on a daily basis include political extremism, challenges to social cohesion, ecological collapse, the enduring effects of colonialism, and social and economic inequality.

Yield strength is also a technical term. Taken from engineering, yield strength refers to the maximum stress a material can withstand before starting to break down.

But as the exhibition’s curator Ellie Buttrose explains…

© La Conversation - lundi 2 mars 2026