By Lily Essilfie

MARCH 8TH—APRIL 11TH, 2026
Tuesday—Saturday 11 AM—6 PM
with special hours for performance during the Biennial run

PEN + BRUSH
29 E 22nd St, NYC 10010

OPENING
March 8th from 1—6 PM

SPECTALiA: PUNK-ROCK REVIVAL OF THE CARNIVALESQUE

Every Women Biennal does a fantastic job centering the voices of people who have historically been marginalized. Inspired by Cabaret, Dada, and Surrealism, EWB partnered with Pen+Brush, a 132-year-old nonprofit, to showcase SPECTALiA for their 2026 edition.

SPECTALiA’s opening rings in International Women’s Day with artistry that challenges traditional paradigms while welcoming community engagement. Melissa Riker of the Kinesis project and the Hungry March Band wow guests with a lively dance procession. Excited onlookers and enthusiastic art lovers watched (and sometimes danced) as rhythmic music permeated the street.

Pen+Brush, located on 29E 22nd St, NYC 10010, was full of eager guests ready to immerse themselves in the world of artistic expansion. As soon as I stepped inside, I was surrounded by work that incorporates a broad range of art mediums. Every wall was covered; every corner was occupied, drawing all eyes to the new and the spectacular.

There were paintings, sculptures, textiles, photography, and digital elements that led viewers to experience more than they could ever imagine. The inclusion of various media simultaneously presents guests with the opportunity to move across different realms while absorbing the broad range and power of art.

These works also encompass a variety of themes, centering monumental socio-political concepts and exposing underlying societal failings. There was room for thought-provoking whimsy and dialogue-starting exploration. Color, shape, and dimension were all notable aspects within the impactful showing of collective resistance and storytelling.

The unbridled creativity of these artists influenced guests to question institutions that upheld the status quo and conformity. Our world is ever-changing and continuously shaped by mind-numbing algorithms, seductive oddities. In response, SPECTALiA obscures binaries involving gender, canvas, screen, sensible, and nonsensical.

Vibe Altar

Yiting Liu, founder of Vibes and creative technologist, combines AI with the witchy and esoteric, blending the seen with the unseen. For her interactive sculptural installation, Vibe Altar delves into ritual as a living practice of intention, agency, and remembrance.

Guests place their hands on an illuminated crystal ball within a handcrafted wooden enclosure, then wait as their proximity triggers one of nine random audiovisual incantations, rotating in sequence. The incantations and visual overlays cite mythic text and several feminist scholars: Silvia Federici, Barbara Ehrenreich, Deirdre English, Mary Douglas, Madeline Miller, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Gerda Lerner, and Simone de Beauvoir.

In a fast-paced world, Vibe Altar reminds guests to stay present and shifts the narrative regarding witchcraft. Despite centuries-old misinterpretation and harmful rhetoric, witchcraft is rooted in applied knowledge, care, and resistance. The element of manifestation requires mindfulness, directing guests towards attention, meaning, and desire.

Vibe Altar’s origin story centers on duality as a creative tool and an artistic medium. Combining original music composed by Cathartic Queen, the musical project of Yiting Liu, this installation transforms the meaning of light and sound into a mindfield of intentional living.

Conclusion

Every Women Biennal showcased the work of talented artists who seek to push the boundaries of the expected. As a society, we need to look beyond what is presented to us. The traditional and uniform is not the answer to truly being.

Exploring and deconstructing accepted truths can help us to understand our own identity. Ultimately, SPECTALiA bounces between the strange and the taboo to create a world set in thoughtful provocation.