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A Rust Belt Biennale

A conversation with Eric Crosby, the director of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Art, about the Carnegie International, meeting the political moment, and freeing artists from the financial pressure to produce.

Eric Crosby
"When you come to an exhibition as expansive as the Carnegie International, my hope is that there’s something for everybody to identify with. Each visitor to the museum brings their own investments, interests, research, politics, and feelings to the encounter with any artwork that’s presented," says director Eric Crosby. Photo: Sean Eaton
Marion Maneker
May 3, 2026

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The first Carnegie International was presented in 1896, directly inspired by the Venice Biennale, and now takes place every four years. The 59th edition, which opened in Pittsburgh yesterday, features the work of 61 artists and collectives, including 36 works commissioned for the event. These commissions, in fact, are one of this year’s distinguishing features, according to Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, who told me the aim was to offer artists “the time and space to create work that is site-specific, unique to the moment, and unique to the conditions of display here in Pittsburgh.”