Terrain Biennial Newburgh is a grassroots exhibition of public art installations by artists and hosted by Newburgh residents and businesses on front yards, porches, windows, and building facades throughout the city, free and accessible to all who pass by. Artists and hosts work together to display artworks in everyday spaces where it is most visible and least expected. The 2023 exhibition opens during Newburgh OPEN Studios, September 30 + October 1, and runs through November 15.

The Newburgh exhibition is part of the international Terrain Biennial 2023, an initiative of Terrain Exhibitions, founded in 2013 in Oak Park, Illinois by artist Sabina Ott. The biennial was created on a volunteer basis in the spirit of community building through free and accessible public art installations and events staged in residential neighborhoods across the US and worldwide. The Biennial relies on self-organizing, and I serve as the producer of Newburgh’s exhibition and point of contact (“superhost”) with the Chicagoland Terrain Biennial team.

The 2023 Terrain Biennial theme is Mycelium Connection to honor and expand Terrain’s mission to make unexpected, vital, human, and environmental connections. Mycelium is a thriving underground network of fungal threads, essential for many ecosystems. While its geographical reach is immense, mycelium is invisible to many. Likewise, Terrain Biennial is connected through neighborhoods around the globe and cultivates solidarity across differences. Both art and mycelium spring up in unexpected spaces and deserve to be shared with all.

This is the third time Newburgh is participating in the international exhibition and each year it grows and matures in new ways. This year, 25 host sites and 23 artists have been paired that align with each other and the year’s theme, and that are suitable, safe, and sound for outdoor installation. A suite of programs encourage community building amongst the participants, partner orgs, and local schools.