The New Museum is back after a five-year break, and this time it is bigger. The institution’s sixth triennial for emerging artists opens February 4, 2027, in its newly expanded building in Manhattan, and it has a title drawn from a protest act in 1970s Brazil.
The show is called The Outside Expands. It features 36 artists and collectives from 34 nations, which makes it the most internationally focused edition to date. That number alone is notable — 34 countries represented in a single exhibition.
Curators and Inspiration
New Museum Curator Vivian Crockett co-organized the triennial with Isabella Rjeille, a curator at Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) in Brazil. The pair drew inspiration from a specific moment in Brazilian history.
Their starting point was “X Galeria (X Gallery)” (1979), an urban intervention staged by the Brazilian collective 3NÓS3. The collective worked during a period of profound repression and human rights violations in Brazil, a dictatorship backed by the United States that gripped the nation for over 20 years.
What 3NÓS3 Actually Did
Members of 3NÓS3 duct-taped large X’s on the entrances of various galleries in São Paulo. They accompanied those X’s with a message:
“O que está dentro fica, o que está fora se expande” (“What is inside remains, what is outside expands”).
The gesture was a call to action. During a period of profound repression and human rights violations, 3NÓS3 asked Brazil’s artists and scholars to practice beyond institutional frameworks. The curators describe the demand as becoming increasingly relevant today.
The Title
The title The Outside Expands comes from the collective’s work. The show takes its name from a statement about working outside official structures.
For a museum triennial, this is a notable choice. Most such shows are about who gets into the building. This one is explicitly about what happens when artists refuse to play by the usual rules.
The List of Participants
A complete list of the 36 artists and collectives is included at the end of the article.
What is clear is the scale of the project. Thirty-four nations means a wide geographic spread, and the theme of expanding beyond official frameworks suggests the work will engage with borders, institutions, and the limits of cultural production.
The Expanded Building
The show runs in the New Museum’s newly expanded building in Manhattan. The expansion itself is part of the story — a physical extension of the institution’s capacity to host larger, more ambitious projects.
For audiences in New York, the expanded space will be a draw in itself.
A Demand That Endures
The curators frame the 1979 intervention as a demand that is now increasingly relevant. That is a claim worth holding onto.
Dictatorships change, but the impulse to control culture does not disappear. Institutions remain powerful. The gesture of 3NÓS3 — taking over gallery entrances with X’s — was a small act of defiance, and it has now been given a major platform.
Key Facts
- Show: The Outside Expands
- Date: February 4, 2027
- Location: New Museum, Manhattan
- Participants: 36 artists and collectives
- Nations represented: 34
- Curators: Vivian Crockett (New Museum) and Isabella Rjeille (MASP)
The Running Order
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| February 4, 2027 | Opening of The Outside Expands at the New Museum |
What We Make of It
The decision to name the show after a Brazilian collective’s act of protest is significant. It treats a historical intervention as living material, not just a footnote.
It also sets a tone. A triennial that begins with a refusal to stay inside the lines is likely to produce work that questions the museum itself.
The international scope is a bonus. Thirty-four nations is a lot of voices in one room, and the theme of expanding beyond official frameworks suggests the work will engage with borders, institutions, and the limits of cultural production.
This is a museum taking a stand, even if it is a quiet one. The Outside Expands is not just a show — it is a reminder that art can still be political, and that the outside is worth expanding.
The Outside Expands opens February 4, 2027, at the New Museum in Manhattan.
See the a run of 15 images at Hyperallergic.
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