VÖLKLINGEN, GERMANY — The Urban Art Biennale 2026 opens on May 9, 2026 at the Völklinger Hütte in Völklingen, Germany, presenting works by 50 artists from 17 countries. The exhibition runs until November 15, 2026 at the former ironworks near Germany's border with France.

The 6-hectare site has been on UNESCO's world heritage list since 1994. UNESCO recognizes the Völklinger Hütte as the only intact example in western Europe and North America of an integrated ironworks built and equipped in the 19th and 20th centuries. No new installations were added after the mid-1930s, and the furnaces have been cold since production ended in 1986.

The biennale has been held every two years for the past decade and a half. "This location is at the core of street art and graffiti art," general director Ralf Beil said. "It all began in industrial places like this."

Among the works on view, Tomas Lacque's installation features a small van, a pile of tires, toys and debris covered in paint. Spanish artist Ampparito painted large white letters reading "no hay nada de valor" on the roof of a shed, visible from a platform 45 meters above ground. Boris Tellegen, known as Delta, contributed a massive green-and-black wooden sculpture that lights up the interior of the ironworks. The French-based collective Vortex-X stretched rays of white industrial fabric across a hall in a work titled "Memory in transit."

British artist Remi Rough described his approach to the industrial setting. "What I've done makes you kind of just perceive it in a bit of a different way," he said.

Danish artist Anders Reventlov reflected on the transformation of the former production site. "Now it's not hell. It's like a nice place, people walking around, there are bees, there are beautiful flowers, but yeah, we still remember the history and that's super important," he said.

"This is pure art," Beil said.