After 44 years, the International Art Biennial of Antioquia returns.

After more than four decades, the International Art Biennial of Antioquia and Medellín (BIAM) returns in 2025 with an edition that seeks to position the region as a benchmark for global contemporary art. This initiative, organized by Governor Andrés Julian Rendón and the director of the Institute of Culture and Heritage of Antioquia (ICPA), Roberto Rave, will take place from October 2 to November 25 and will feature the participation of more than 100 artists from Colombia and other countries. The BIAM will be a cultural platform that will promote national and international art and talent, fostering a dialogue between voices from the region and the global scene .

The return of the BIAM revisits the legacy of the Coltejer Art Biennials (1968, 1970, 1972) and the IV Biennial held in 1981, which presented emblematic works of conceptual and experimental art by artists from more than 25 countries and brought together hundreds of thousands of visitors, consolidating the city as an epicenter of contemporary art in the region. Now, with a renewed and more regionally open vision, the BIAM 2025 seeks to reconnect Antioquia with the international art scene, promoting cultural exchange, the circulation of ideas, and dialogue between creators from different countries.

“The central theme of BiAM 2025 is 'Art, a Window to Freedom,' an invitation to think of freedom as a perceptible force that springs from the territory, from its voices and experiences. We don't understand it as an abstract idea, but rather as a gesture, a creative impulse, a real possibility of imagining other worlds. We want art to circulate strongly throughout the department, with works and artists that challenge paradigms and activate freedom as a living practice,” stated Roberto Rave, director of the ICPA.

The various exhibitions and activities of BIAM 2025 are organized into four conceptual strands: Urban-Regional Identities, which examines the construction of identities at the intersection of urban and rural areas; Ancestral Knowledge and Technologies, which proposes a dialogue between traditional knowledge and contemporary technological systems; Memory – Transhumance, which explores migration and displacement as forms of resistance and freedom; and Human Ecologies, which blur the boundaries between nature, the body, community, and territory.

In addition, this edition will include a Historical Lineup featuring works by more than 10 artists who participated in previous biennials, connecting the past with new proposals and showcasing how art has evolved in Antioquia.

According to the director of the Institute of Culture and Heritage of Antioquia, the exhibitions will be presented in iconic Medellín venues such as the Antioquia Museum, the Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture, the Chamber of Commerce, the Bello Arts and Crafts Park, the Coltabaco Building, and the Antioquia and National Universities.

Furthermore, the biennial will take place primarily in Medellín, El Retiro, La Ceja, and Rionegro, where artistic activities, exhibitions, and community meetings will be concentrated. Satellite events will also be launched to reach the municipalities of Antioquia's nine subregions—Bajo Cauca, Norte, Occidente, Urabá, Suroeste, Oriente, Nordeste, Magdalena Medio, and Valle de Aburrá—with the goal of making art present throughout the country and providing more people with access to artistic and cultural experiences.

Art, a window to freedom, which inspires the BIAM, also pays tribute to the cultural legacy of Antioquia and emblematic figures such as Epifanio Mejía, considered one of Colombia's greatest poets and author of the lyrics to the Anthem of Antioquia. His work, which is in itself an ode to the freedom and dignity of the Antioquian people, evokes the resilient and creative character that has defined the region throughout its history. By integrating this symbolic legacy into the biennial, we seek to highlight the power of words and art as manifestations that strengthen the identity and values of a territory that has made freedom one of its greatest achievements .