Boston Public Art Triennial Announces Risa Puleo as Artist Director and Chief Curator of 2028 Citywide Exhibition
Puleo will lead an expanded curatorial team with broad public art experience, deep connections to Boston’s artists and communities, and a commitment to creating new opportunities for cultural and civic participation across the city
BOSTON, MA (October 6, 2026) — Boston Public Art Triennial (The Triennial) today announced an expanded curatorial team for Triennial 2028, led by Risa Puleo as artistic director and chief curator. Puleo will shape the curatorial vision for the second edition of the free citywide exhibition taking place from May through November 2028, with the support of curator Sam Rauch, Boston-based special projects curators Jeffrey De Blois of the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and Audrey N. Lopez of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, and assistant curator Jasper Sanchez of the Boston Public Art Triennial.
The Triennial 2028 curatorial team will create an exhibition that, in partnership with the City of Boston, presents bold, contemporary public art experiences for people across Boston to encounter the city differently and participate in cultural and civic life. The exhibition will spur unexpected connections across the city and open new conversations about shared places.
“Building on the momentum of the inaugural exhibition, which drew 2.7 million people, we’re crafting a citywide public art exhibition that connects people to each other and to the rich histories and creative energy of Boston,” said Kate Gilbert, executive director of Boston Public Art Triennial. “Risa, whose projects often anticipate emerging conversations in contemporary art, curates exhibitions that bring people into nuanced conversations about the complexities of our present moment. She has brought together a remarkable group of collaborators whose different perspectives and relationships will help bring that vision to life. Triennial 2028 will be an exhibition that feels deeply of Boston while opening the city to new ideas, new perspectives, and new possibilities.”
Together, the team represents an approach to public art grounded in artistic ambition, with a deep understanding of place and a commitment to communities. Over the next year and a half, the team will connect local, national, and international artists with the people, histories and ideas that make Boston’s communities distinctive.
“Art can help us see our city differently, connect with each other, and imagine new possibilities for Boston. The Triennial brings ambitious contemporary art into the everyday life of the city, while giving artists and communities a real role in shaping Boston’s cultural life” said Joseph Henry, chief of arts and culture for the City of Boston. “I’m excited to see what Risa and this team bring to Boston in 2028, and how the Triennial can help more people feel that art and culture are part of their city and something they can take part in.”
As artistic director and chief curator, Risa Puleo will lead the overall artistic and curatorial vision for Triennial 2028. A Chicago-based independent curator, writer and scholar, Puleo approaches curatorial practice as a form of social practice, building her work through a deep understanding of place and relationships with the artists and communities who shape it. Her timely projects have explored social justice, ecology, Native sovereignty, migration and the intersections of contemporary art and public life. She most recently co-curated the 2023 Counterpublic Triennial in St. Louis, where in collaboration with Counterpublic Director, James McAnnally, and the artist collaborative New Red Order, she supported the rematriation of a sacred site.
“Boston is a city shaped by people coming together—across neighborhoods, cultures, disciplines— for generations,” said Risa Puleo, artistic director and chief curator of Triennial 2028. “My practice begins by listening and learning from a place and its people, and Boston is a place with lessons to offer far beyond the region. This curatorial team is committed to creating public art experiences that reflect Boston’s long history of collective action, coalition building, and social movements. The Triennial and I believe public art can create encounters that open space for curiosity, conversation, and connection. We are committed to working with artists and communities to create those possibilities across Boston.”
Sam Rauch, curator of Triennial 2028, brings nearly two decades of experience realizing ambitious public art and site-specific projects. Through senior roles at Public Art Fund, the New Museum, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery and Madison Square Park Conservancy, Rauch has worked with leading artists to create projects ranging from participatory performances to monumental commissions in parks, streets and civic spaces. The expanded team also places Boston-based curatorial voices at the center of shaping the 2028 exhibition.
Boston-based Jeffrey De Blois and Audrey N. Lopez will serve as Triennial 2028 special projects curators, bringing distinct relationships with artists, communities and cultural organizations across the city.
Mannion Family Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, De Blois draws on a decade of outstanding artist-forward, research-based exhibitions that he has organized and written about at the ICA/Boston. He recently curated Say It Loud: AAMARP, 1977 to Now, a landmark exhibition focusing on the history of the African American Master Artists-in-Residence Program in Boston.
Lopez brings a decade of curatorial expertise developing socially-engaged and site-responsive public projects for contemporary art spaces across Southern California and more recently, at Boston's Rose Kennedy Greenway. Their involvement will deepen the exhibition's connections to Boston's artistic ecosystem and ensure a wider range of local perspectives informs the development of Triennial 2028.
Jasper Sanchez, the organization’s assistant curator responsible for leading the Triennial’s Public Art Accelerator, will continue his work supporting early-to-mid-career Boston-based artists as they develop temporary public art projects in neighborhoods across the city. Through mentorship, professional development and grant funding, the Accelerator creates opportunities for local artists to expand their practices into public space and strengthens the pipeline of artists helping shape Boston’s cultural future. Sanchez will manage an open call for Accelerator artists to participate in the 2028 exhibition, which will launch on November 2, 2026.
Triennial 2028 is being developed with leadership support from the Linde Family Foundation, Barbara and Amos Hostetter, Richard K. Lubin Family Foundation, with additional support from Wagner Foundation and New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). Generous support for the Boston Public Art Triennial also comes from the Barr Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, local businesses, and other donors. Philanthropic support makes it possible for the organization to commission ambitious new work, invest in artists and community partnerships, and keep the exhibition free and accessible.
Together, the curatorial team advances a larger ambition for Triennial 2028: to use art as an invitation to discover and participate in Boston. By creating extraordinary contemporary public art experiences in the places where people already live, work and gather, the Triennial aims to foster relationships between artists and the public that open minds, conversations, and spaces across Boston, resulting in a more open, equitable, and vibrant city.
Additional details about the artistic vision, participating artists, projects and exhibition locations for Triennial 2028 will be announced at a later date. To learn more about the Boston Public Art Triennial and to support its work, visit thetriennial.org.
Learn more about Triennial 2028.
About Boston Public Art Triennial
Established in 2025, the Boston Public Art Triennial is the city’s first and only public art organization dedicated to supporting artists and communities through bold, contemporary, public art. Through its free, citywide Triennial and year-round programs, the organization brings artists and the public together in Boston’s neighborhoods and shared spaces, creating opportunities for discovery, connection and participation in the cultural life of the city. The Triennial commissions ambitious new work, invests in Boston-based artists, and builds partnerships across communities and institutions to expand who can experience and shape contemporary art. Its mission is to create bold public art experiences that open minds, conversations and spaces across Boston, contributing to a more open, equitable and vibrant city. Follow us @thetriennial on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube.
MEDIA CONTACT Julia Covelle 781.507.3120 jcovelle@thecastlegrp.com
