The Carnegie International is the second oldest international contemporary arts exhibition in the world. Established in 1896, just one year after the Venice Biennale, the Carnegie International has a storied history. Today it is probably eclipsed by flashier, socially central (and aligned with the art market) surveys like the Whitney Biennial. Even art fairs like the New York Armory Show, Frieze London, or Art Basel Miami seem to establish the metrics of inclusion and importance once measured by the Carnegie International. It was therefore a pleasure to experience curator Ingrid Schaffner’s refreshingly idiosyncratic 57th installment of the Carnegie International. Schaffer explained, “The aim of this International is simply to inspire museum joy. Simply put: the pleasure of museums comes from the commotion of being with art and other people actively engaged in the creative work of interpretation. Draw on what you know.”1 

Andrew Carnegie founded the International to inspire...

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