From L-R: Papo Colo, Look Outside Your World from the series Photopoems, 1979, from the portfolio Photogenics: Photopoems / Acting as Behavior, 1983. Duotone prints from the original monoprints. Collection of El Museo del Barrio, New York. Gift of the artist with additional support from “PROARTISTA: Sustaining the Work of Living Contemporary Artists,” a fund from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust, 2003. Photo by Jason Mandella. R: Teddy Sandoval, Untitled, c. late 1970s–1980s. Color photocopy with spray paint, 8 1/2 x 11 in. (21.6 x 27.9 cm). Courtesy of Paul Polubinskas, Teddy Sandoval Estate
El Museo del Barrio is pleased to announce its Fall 2026 season, featuring two major exhibitions, a robust lineup of public programs, and new opportunities for audiences to engage with Puerto Rican, Latine, and Latin American art and culture. Anchored by Octopus & Others: Acts of Collaboration & Poetics and the traveling Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art, the season explores themes of collaboration, chosen community, and artistic experimentation across generations.
Through artist talks, film screenings, family programs, educator workshops, performances, community conversations, and beloved annual traditions such as Día de Muertos and the Three Kings Day Parade, El Museo invites audiences to engage with art as a catalyst for dialogue, discovery, and connection.
“This fall, El Museo del Barrio presents a season of exhibitions and public programs that celebrate creativity, collaboration, and community,” said Patrick Charpenel, Executive Director of El Museo del Barrio. Through artist-led experiences, conversations, performances, films, and family programs, we invite audiences to engage with the art, ideas, and cultural histories that shape our communities. Together, these offerings reflect El Museo’s commitment to serving as a dynamic gathering place for dialogue, learning, and creative expression.”
EXHIBITIONS
Opening this Fall
Octopus & Others: Acts of Collaboration & Poetics
August 6 – November 15, 2026
Press Preview: 10:00 AM on September 9, 2026. RSVP here
El Museo del Barrio is proud to present Octopus & Others: Acts of Collaboration & Poetics, an exhibition inspired by a significant project from the museum’s history by artist, poet, and Exit Art co-founder Papo Colo. Octopus: An Act of Sculpture (1982)—an accordion-style outdoor book composed of eight-by-four-foot plywood panels—was first staged in El Museo’s courtyard in 1982. Anchored by a recent gift of several panels from the project to El Museo’s Permanent Collection by Colo, presented here for the first time in more than four decades, Octopus & Others showcases the power of collaboration between artists and poets and of artworks that embrace and subvert the book form and its function.
Each “page” of Octopus was made onsite by an artist and/or poet from New York City’s uptown and downtown scenes that Colo invited to contribute. The resulting participatory sculpture represents an anthology of the various currents in poetry and art of New York’s artistic ecosystem of the early 1980s. Participants included writers and poets such as Nicholasa Mohr and Pedro Pietri, alongside artists Vito Acconci, Tehching Hsieh, and Juan Sánchez, among others. Octopus not only reflected Exit Art’s interdisciplinary and multicultural ethos, but the project also underscores El Museo’s role within New York’s alternative cultural network and its longstanding commitment to experimentation, innovation, and cultural exchange.
Taking Colo’s transformation of the book into sculpture and public action as its point of departure, Octopus & Others brings together cross-generational contributions of artists and poets that share its collaborative ethos. Through a grouping of collection works, archival materials, and select loans, the exhibition also considers how artists have embraced and reconsidered the book form in response to shared social, political, and environmental concerns.
The exhibition is curated by El Museo del Barrio’s Assistant Curator, Zuna Maza.
Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art
September 10, 2026 – January 10, 2027
Press Preview: 10:00 AM on September 9, 2026. RSVP here
El Museo del Barrio presents Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art, a major exhibition examining the life and work of Teddy Sandoval (1949–1995), an innovative yet historically underrecognized artist whose practice explored gender, sexuality, identity, and belonging with humor and political urgency. Rooted in Los Angeles’s queer and Chicane artistic communities, Sandoval’s work engaged the social and cultural movements shaping the United States and Latin America from the 1970s through the 1990s.
Curated by C. Ondine Chavoya and David Evans Frantz, the exhibition takes its title from Butch Gardens, a gay bar in Los Angeles frequented by Sandoval and fellow Chicane patrons in the early 1970s. Sandoval adopted the bar’s name for the fictional “Butch Gardens School of Art,” a conceptual framework through which he fostered collaboration, experimentation, and creative community while challenging traditional art world structures.
Expanding beyond a conventional retrospective, the exhibition places Sandoval’s work in dialogue with a multigenerational group of queer, Latine, and Latin American artists whose practices share related visual languages and political concerns. Spanning photography, painting, drawing, collage, conceptual art, and performance, the exhibition foregrounds interconnected histories of queer and diasporic artistic production across the Americas.
The exhibition features artworks from across Teddy Sandoval’s career, alongside those by Yolanda Andrade, Félix Ángel, Myrna Báez, Ester Hernández, Hudinilson Jr., Marisol, Marta Minujín, Joey Terrill, Martin Wong, Felipe Baeza, Ana Segovia, and others.
El Museo del Barrio is the only New York City venue to host the traveling retrospective, organized by Independent Curators International (ICI) and developed in partnership with Williams College Museum of Art and Vincent Price Art Museum. El Museo’s presentation is overseen by Lee Sessions, El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collections Associate Curator.
Closing This Summer
On View through July 5, 2026
JANGUEANDO: Recent Acquisitions, 2021–2025
Featuring nearly 40 newly acquired works by artists whose works engage with themes of kinship, identity, and social connection, the exhibition offers a powerful reflection on collective presence and cultural resilience in the face of adversity. The Spanglish title—meaning “hanging out”—evokes both casual gathering and artistic assembly, highlighting spaces of community, joy, and resistance.
On View through August 2, 2026
SOPHIE RIVERA: Double Exposures
The first museum survey devoted to groundbreaking photographer Sophie Rivera offers a long-overdue reassessment of her contributions to photography and Nuyorican visual culture. The presentation also honors her deep connection to El Museo del Barrio, where her first solo show was presented in the 1980s and where she later organized exhibitions. Rivera’s work reflects the complexity of her intersectional identity as a feminist Puerto Rican artist in New York during the 1970s–1990s, challenging and expanding traditional narratives of portraiture and representation. The title references both the photographic technique of layering multiple images and Rivera’s exploration of multiplicity and identity.
The show is accompanied by the first comprehensive monograph on the artist, co-published with Aperture, featuring over 125 plates, selections from Rivera’s writings, and newly commissioned scholarship.
UPCOMING PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Family Program
Saturday, August 15, 2026 | 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM | Free
Register here
Discover artist books, zines, poetry, and experimental publishing at this family-friendly celebration inspired by Octopus & Others: Acts of Collaboration & Poetics. Part book fair, part art-making studio, and part community gathering, the event invites visitors to explore the many ways artists use books as creative tools.
Film Screenings
Thursday, August 20, 2026 | 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM | Free
Register here
Thursday, September 24, 2026 | 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM | Free
Register here
Thursday, October 29, 2026 | 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM | Free
Register here
Thursday, November 19, 2026 |6:30 PM – 8:30 PM | Free
Register here
Thursday, December 17, 2026 | 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM | Free
Register here
Join us for screenings that spark conversation and connection. Featuring films from across Latin America, the Caribbean, and the diaspora, each program explores a distinct theme and is designed to inspire dialogue, reflection, and cultural exchange.
Book Launch | Julia Alvarez: In the Time of the Butterflies
Monday, September 14, 2026 | 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM | Tickets: $5 or $30 with book
More than thirty years after its original publication, In the Time of the Butterflies continues to inspire readers around the world. Join author Julia Alvarez for a conversation celebrating the book’s new illustrated adaptation and the enduring stories at its heart.
El Museo After Hours | Disco and Desire
Friday, September 18, 2026 | 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM | $10.00
Register here
Inspired by Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art, this after-hours celebration brings together Latino disco, dancing, and late-night gallery experiences. Explore the exhibition, hit the dance floor, and immerse yourself in the music, style, and nightlife that shaped Sandoval’s creative world.
Community Conversations | Making Latinidad
Thursday, October 15, 2026 | 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM | Free
Register here
What does Latinidad mean today, and who gets to shape its future? Bringing together artists, writers, educators, organizers, and cultural leaders, this public conversation explores how ideas of Latinidad are created, challenged, and transformed across culture, politics, and everyday life.
Family Program | Día de Muertos
Saturday, October 17, 2026 | 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM | Free
Register here
Join El Museo del Barrio’s annual Día de Muertos celebration featuring art-making activities, live music, community altars, and family-friendly experiences. Together, we honor and remember loved ones who have passed while celebrating the traditions, stories, and memories that continue to connect generations.
For Educators | Teaching with Artist Books
Saturday, November 7, 2026 | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM | Free
Register here
Explore how artist books can support creativity, literacy, and interdisciplinary learning in the classroom. Designed for educators of all ages this full-day professional learning workshop combines gallery experiences, hands-on bookmaking, and practical classroom applications.
Open Studio: Postcards, Prints, and Paper
Thursday, November 12, 2026 | 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM | Free
Register here
Spend an evening looking, making, and experimenting at El Museo. Inspired by Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art, this Open Studio combines a guided gallery experience with postcard-making, Xerox art, collage, and other paper-based artmaking activities.
Concert
Friday, December 11, 2026 | 7:00 PM –10:00 PM | Free
Register here
Experience an evening of chamber music featuring works by composers from across Latin America and the diaspora. The program brings together contemporary and classical traditions through performances by leading musicians and ensembles.
Family Program | 49th Annual Three Kings Day Parade and Community Celebration
Wednesday, January 6, 2027 | 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM | Free
Register here
Celebrate Three Kings Day with El Museo del Barrio’s annual parade and community celebration. Featuring music, performances, art-making, and family activities, the event brings together generations to honor one of the most cherished traditions across Latin America and the Caribbean.
The vibrant procession will begin at 106th Street and Park Avenue, ending at 115th Street and Park Avenue, and will feature lively music, colorful floats, majestic camels, and the joyful participation of thousands of schoolchildren and community members. Performers and honored guests to be announced.
Group Visits
Explore the season’s exhibitions through educator-led visits designed for schools, colleges, community organizations, and adult groups. Visitors can reserve their spot by completing a request form:
SPONSORS:
El Museo’s public programs are made possible by the generous support of New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Council, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer.
ABOUT EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO
El Museo del Barrio is the nation’s leading Latine and Latin American cultural institution. The Museum welcomes visitors of all backgrounds to discover the artistic landscape of these communities through its extensive Permanent Collection, varied exhibitions and publications, bilingual public programs, educational activities, festivals, and special events.
The Museum is located at 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street in New York City. The Museum is open Thursdays through Sundays from 11:00am – 5:00pm. Pay-what you can. To connect with El Museo via social media, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X. For more information, please visit www.elmuseo.org.
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