The Gardiner Museum presents the return of the International Ceramic Art Fair (ICAF), its biennial celebration of innovation and contemporary directions in ceramics, running May 28 to August 16, 2026.

At the heart of this year’s edition is the theme “the city and the commons,” presenting ceramics as both material and method for examining how we live together in rapidly changing cities. Across ICAF 2026, the artists engage directly with the political realities that shape how land is defined, divided, and experienced, employing ancestral practices and new technologies.

The fair invites audiences to engage with urgent questions shaping contemporary life: How do we nurture communal relationships amidst dramatic change? How can material intelligence inform how we navigate cosmopolitan living? And how might emerging ceramic technologies reshape our sense of home, security, and belonging?