Dhaka Art Summit Becomes "Tondra," Postponing Physical Edition Until After Elections

Bangladesh's largest international art platform, the Dhaka Art Summit (DAS), is presenting its seventh edition not as a conventional biennial but as a reimagined initiative called TONDRA. Meaning a liminal state where dreams and reality collide in Bangla, TONDRA launched on 1 November 2025 and runs through 31 December 2026.

Run by the Samdani Art Foundation, the initiative unites ten Bangladeshi artists with a global team of curators and mentors. Participating artists include Joydeb Roaja, Kamruzzaman Shadhin, Munem Wasif, Promiti Hossain, Reetu Sattar and Sumi Anjuman.

The artists are producing score-based works that transcend time and place; rather than opening in a single venue, these commissions will unfold across partner institutions at the end of 2026.

The Foundation said that with international mobility more limited than when the Dhaka Art Summit began in 2012, and with Bangladesh approaching democratic elections in 2026, its focus is shifting from producing exhibitions to empowering artists to connect their ideas with the world.

The physical summit in Dhaka will reopen to visitors only after Bangladesh has elected its future leadership, a move the Foundation frames as contributing to a forward-thinking civil society through art and culture.

The postponement of an event that drew 477,000 visitors in its 2020 edition illustrates how political uncertainty is reshaping one of the region's largest contemporary art gatherings.