New Mexico has been a vessel for fantasy over centuries—whether linked to alien invasion, Indigenous folklore, or wayward artists like Agnes Martin and Georgia O’Keeffe. Site Santa Fe’s 12th International doesn’t just nod to that thorny web of regional mythology: The exhibition, opening June 27, aims to pull it apart and restitch it through the lens of more than 70 artists.
Curated by Cecilia Alemani (who made history with her approach to another art-world milepost, the 59th Venice Biennale), this year’s edition channels the dreamlike logic of the film that gives it its name. Released in 2022, Once Within a Time is the brainchild of Santa Fe legend and erstwhile monk Godfrey Reggio, best known for a movie he made 40 years prior: the relentlessly experimental, Philip Glass–tracked Koyaanisqatsi.
A Boschian joyride through the apocalypse and back, Once Within a Time is at its core an ode to the restless yet repetitive act of storytelling. The 12th International picks up that thread and gives it both polymorphous and hyperlocal legs, using 27 figures with ties to the region as narrative springboards for over 300 new commissions, archival interventions, and contemporary selections. Among its cast of “catalysts”: Navajo code talker Chester Nez, novelist Willa Cather, and the Fire Spirit (the archenemy of Zozobra, a marionette that’s burned ahead of the Fiestas de Santa Fe year after year).
Alemani developed “Once Within a Time” with the family album in mind. Among the dozens of “relatives” invited to contribute are artists Simone Leigh, David Horvitz, and Dominique Knowles, as well as writers and poets Tommy Orange, Lucy R. Lippard, and Estevan Rael-Gálvez. The other protagonist? Santa Fe itself.
For the first time, the International will be fully embedded within the city’s fabric: A historic foundry, a toy store, and a dispensary are just a few of the sites that will be activated alongside the more expected cultural partners. This joyous call-and-response between location and lore will be echoed by a suite of public programming, including an August run of Autumn Chacon and Laura Ortman’s experimental opera Malinxe, a contemporary reworking of the La Llorona folk tale.
As abundant as it promises to be ambitious, the 12th International’s own story is just beginning. You have until January 2026 to find out where it transports you.
