To pass from one dream to another, 18th Lyon Biennale

Photographers Fiona Clark and John Miller are among ten artists from Aotearoa participating in the 18th Lyon Biennale, in the city of Lyon, France

19 September - 13 December 2026.

Fiona Clark, Su and Julie, Beauty consultants at the Elizabeth Arden cosmetic counter, Downtown shopping centre Auckland New Zealand, 1975

John Miller, Honour the Treaty, 2001, installed at the 18th Lyon Biennale, with the artist. Image courtesy of the artist and OCAA. Photography by Clara Jane.

To pass from one dream to another
Fiona Clark, Ngahina Hohaia (Taranaki Iwi, Te Atiawa, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Mutunga, Parihaka), Rangi Kipa (Te Āti Awa,Taranaki, Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Tama), Maureen Lander (Ngāpuhi, Te Hikutū), Yana Nafysa Dombrowsky M’Baye, John Miller (Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Tawake ki te Tuawhenua, Te Uritaniwha, Ngāti Rēhia, Te Whiu),, Sriwhana Spong, Michael Stevenson, Ashleigh Taupaki (Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāti Kahungunu) and Luke Willis Thompson will each present works in the Biennale following research visits by Artistic Director Isabelle Bertollotti and Curator Catherine Nichols to Aotearoa in May 2025 and February 2026.

Titling the exhibition To pass from one dream to another, Australian-born, Berlin-based curator, Catherine Nichols has chosen to centre this exhibition on the notion of economy — not in the conventional sense, but as articulated by French artist Robert Filliou: a “poetic economy” that intertwines art with life. Rarely explored from this angle, it proves profoundly revealing of our world’s state. Viewed through the lens of exchanges and relationships, it probes the ripple effects on local and global ecosystems.

Hear John Miller speak about his experience of the opening of the Lyon Biennale on RNZ