Hawai‘i Triennial is the state’s largest exhibition of contemporary visual art from Hawai‘i, the Pacific, Asia, and around the world. The exhibition is held every three years in multiple venues (such as museums, galleries, and gardens) across the Hawaiian Pai Aina.
Hawai‘i Triennial 2025
The next Hawai‘i Triennial for 15 February – 04 May 2025. Exhibitions will be held and Hawai‘i Island, Maui, and O‘ahu.
The theme for Hawai‘i Triennial 2025 (HT25) is ALOHA NŌ, a call to know Hawaiʻi as a place of rebirth, resilience, and resistance; a place that embraces humanity in all of its complexities — with a compassion and care that can only be described as aloha.
ALOHA NŌ invites everyone to embrace the kaona (layered meaning) of aloha in a myriad of forms, including aloha ʻāina (love of land), mo‘okū‘auhau (genealogy to people and place), mo‘olelo (storied traditions), and ho‘opono (healing through speaking truth, forgiveness and mutual emergence).
Native islanders, settlers, immigrants, and tourists can experience HT25 to un/learn how to enter and center a place called Hawaiʻi. ALOHA NŌ is a call to know, an invitation to form new understandings of love as acts of care, resistance, solidarity, and transformation.
More information and calendar of events: Hawai‘i Triennial 2025 ALOHA NŌ programs (hawaiicontemporary.org)
For each Triennial, Hawai‘i Contemporary selects a curatorial team. Artists are invited to participate by Triennial curators, who conduct studio visits and have ongoing conversations with potential artists ahead of the exhibition. There is no open call for the Hawai‘i Triennial.
Venues for the exhibition are determined through a collaboration with Triennial curators and Hawai‘i Contemporary.
Selected free HT25 events
Hawai‘i Triennial events are free, unless noted otherwise.
- Oʻahu: February 15, 6-8:30 pm Block Party in Honolulu’s Chinatown. The Hawai‘i Triennial 2025 Opening Celebration Block Party is a family-friendly, all ages evening of food, music, and activities. RSVP requested.
- Oʻahu: February 17, 7-9 pm film screening in downtown Honolulu. Film screening and discussion about “Homegrown” (2024). The short video offers a dynamic portrait of HT25 artist Russell Sunabe, a Japanese-Okinawan painter and community educator. Born in Hakalau, Hawaiʻi Island, and currently based in Honolulu, Russell’s journey as both an artist and educator sheds light on the challenges and triumphs of maintaining a creative practice in Hawai‘i, as well as the broader cultural implications of his work.
- Oʻahu: February 18, 3:45-5pm film screening at Leeward Community College in Pearl City, overlooking Pearl Harbor. Film screening and discussion of “Wreckage” (2024), a profound meditation on war, memory, and its aftermath. The 12-minute film juxtaposes underwater footage of the ravenous sea with archival propaganda footage produced by the US Army, filmed in Jeju in October 1945. The archival footage shows soldiers discarding massive piles of weapons and artillery into the sea, left behind by the Japanese after WWII. The Jeju 4.3 Massacre occurred shortly after, where civilians were killed and thrown into the sea under the authority of the U.S. Army. The film powerfully echoes the devastating impact of imperialism on both human lives and the natural environment.
For more information on any of these events, visit HT25 programs (hawaiicontemporary.org)
History of the Hawaiʻi Triennial
The Honolulu Biennial Foundation first hosted the Honolulu Biennial in 2017. and 2019, a contemporary art platform welcoming guests from Hawai‘i, the US, and abroad. In 2020, the event transformed into the Hawai‘i Triennial and the Foundation was renamed Hawai‘i Contemporary.
Since then, Hawaiʻi Contemporary has cultivated a diverse network of cultural alliances and partnerships to create a resilient and accessible gateway for contemporary art in Hawai‘i nei. The non-profit organization does not have a physical location that’s open to the public.
Hawai‘i Contemporary is a member of the Art ‘Ennials Alliance, a cohort of presenters of biennials and triennials in North America. They are also a member of the International Biennial Association, a nonprofit arts association created for institutions and professionals who plan periodic art events such as biennials and triennials.
More info: Hawaii Contemporary (hawaiicontemporary.org)
Event calendar of free and affordable things to do
Listed below are all types of free and affordable things to do in the next 30 days across the Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina.
Featured Events are listed first each day, highlighted by a photo. These are unique, popular, or annual events that we or our advertisers don’t want you to overlook.
You might also like: Hawaiʻi on the Cheap – affordable living and things to do (hawaiionthecheap.com)
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