On Sunday, March 8, 2026, the Every Woman Biennial launches its 6th edition, **SPECTALiA!**, with an exuberant Opening Day celebration from 1–6pm at Pen + Brush (29 East 22nd Street), coinciding with International Women’s Day. As the world’s largest biennial dedicated to women and non-binary artists, this year’s exhibition gathers more than 400 artists in a month-long salon inspired by Dada, Surrealism, and Cabaret—movements born of upheaval and reinvention. Responding to the prompt, *“What are we creatively building in a troubled world that’s moving at a speed we can hardly grasp?”* SPECTALiA! conjures a punk-rock revival of the carnivalesque where joy is a subversive act and world-building becomes collective spellwork. Across painting, photography, sculpture, video, performance, music, dance, XR, AI, and more, artists transform chaos into radical wonder, ritual, and reinvention.
“*“What are we creatively building in a troubled world that’s moving at a speed we can hardly grasp?”*”
Opening Day bursts into motion with a spectacular dance procession and flash mob on the street outside the gallery by Melissa Riker of the Kinesis Project and a “surprise” appearance by NYC’s beloved brassy, jubilant Hungry March Band, At 3:30 and 5:30 pm visitors can experience The Singing Cabinets, a coin-operated, automaton-style opera channeling tales of misogyny, technology, witchcraft, and revenge presented by Opera on Tap/ FlyRail. Throughout the afternoon, attendees will experience Ms. Muscle, a living sculpture and performance by Barbara Lubliner.
The Biennial’s special focus on Media and Digital Technology comes alive through interactive works and activations exploring AI, creative coding, gaming, and collective ritual—alongside the debut of the Every Woman Biennial ART-O-MAT, offering collectible, artist-made miniatures for all levels of patrons. SPECTALiA!’s Opening Day invites artists, dreamers, and the wider community to gather, celebrate, and help rebuild the paradigm—together.
Melissa Riker
kinesisproject.com/company-bios
Melissa Riker is Artistic Director and Choreographer of Kinesis Project dance theatre. She is a dancer and choreographer who emerged as a strong creative voice in the NYC performance world. Riker is the Executive Producer of the EstroGenius Festival, Founder and Co-Director of Women in Motion and Founder and Collective Member of Dance Rising. Riker’s dances and aesthetic layer her training in ballet, modern dance, martial arts, theatre and circus. She invents large-scale out-door performances and spontaneous moments of dance for public spaces.
In 2022 Riker was the Artist in Residence for the Progressive Failure of Brittle Rocks Conference (PRF22) an international conference of Geologists, Geomorphologists and Mechanical Engineers, convened by Dr. Missy Eppes and her colleagues. In 2023, Riker’s work as a dance advocate is through Dance Rising and Dance/NYC as a community organizer and master facilitator of the Dance Industry Census Roundtables.
Kamala Sankaram (The Singing Cabinets)
kamalasankaram.com
Praised as “strikingly original” (NY Times), Kamala Sankaram moves freely between the worlds of experimental music, sound installation, and contemporary opera. Known for pushing the boundaries of form and style, she has created work for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (as 2023 Artist-in-Residence), an opera for the trees of Prospect Park, a techno-noir featuring live datamining of the audience and a chorus of 25 singing tablet computers, and the world’s first virtual reality opera, among other pieces. She has been commissioned by the Minnesota Opera (where she is currently a Composer-in-Residence), the Glimmerglass Festival (as 2022 Artist-in-Residence), Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the PROTOTYPE Festival, and Creative Time, among others. As a biracial Indian-American and trained sitarist, Kamala has drawn on Indian classical music in many of her works, including Thumbprint, A Rose, Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers, and the Jungle Book. Her work in sound has been featured in the magazines Hyperallergic and Pioneer Works Broadcast and installed during Art Basel and at the Hudson River Museum. Also an educator and writer, Kamala has been a featured speaker at TEDx Riverdale Country Day, has contributed critical essays on opera for Routledge and Opera America magazine, and has been a frequent panelist at conferences and organizations including AWE, The Nature of Cities, and CTHQ, among others.
Kaileigh Riess (The Singing Cabinets)
kaileighriess.com
Soprano Kaileigh Riess is a dynamic performer committed to bringing fierce authenticity, lyrical beauty, and vivid expressivity to operatic and crossover repertoire alike. Recent highlights include house and role debuts at The Glimmerglass Festival (Dot/Marie cover in Sunday in the Park with George and Bard in The Odyssey) and Opera in the Pines (Rosie in The Barber of the Cape), as well as two appearances in Beth Morrison Projects’ PROTOTYPE Festival (What to Wear and BMP: Songbook) and a cabaret performance with Seaglass Theatre Company (And the Beat Goes On). This spring, Kaileigh appears in the title role of Kamala Sankaram’s immersive Singing Cabinet of Mathilde LeBeau with Opera on Tap, presented at the Every Woman Biennial in New York City. She then returns to Central City Opera for their City of Dreams Gala before heading back to Glimmerglass this summer to perform Ms. Lightfoot and cover Mary Johnson in Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers.
Carla Kissane
carlakissane.com
Carla Kissane is an Australian-born, Brooklyn-based actor, singer, and audiobook narrator. Whether cozy mystery or thrilling romance, she delights in the power of utterance, and is a lover of stories that weave a tapestry of intricate threads. A creator and solo performer of Shakespearean cabaret, you can also view her work at shakespeareancabaret.com. Her recent work in NYC includes ‘The Tiniest Thing’ and ‘Stranded’ for the Australian Theatre Festival, solo show ‘Unbecoming’ and ‘Whores & Weeping Women’ and the title role in ‘Medea’, directed by Miriam Grill. Notable Australian productions include Sondheim's ‘Saturday Night’ (Australian Premiere), six shows with the Australian Shakespeare Company, and ‘Motherhood The Musical’ (National Tour).
Hungry March Band
hungrymarchband.com
Celebrating over 20 years of bringing live musical spectacle to the people of New York City and beyond is Hungry March Band, a brass, percussion, and performance ensemble.
Founded in Brooklyn in 1997 for the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, HMB embodies the spirit of NYC’s streets with an inimitable brass sound and inspired, eclectic dance.
HMB has shared their creativity with audiences around the United States, South America, and Europe, where they’ve been embraced by a longstanding community of brass bands.
A unique sonic voice has emerged from the recording of their four self-released albums—one that melds their musical knowledge of big band, traditional, and free jazz, with punk rock and global brass influences.
Barbara Lubliner
barbaralubliner.com
Ms. Muscle is a living sculpture activated through performance. Barbara Lubliner assumes the persona when she puts on breast-shaped biceps made of papier-mâché. Ms. Muscle applauds women leaders and encourages people of all genders to be their "biggest and breast self." Ms. Muscle appeared on the scene almost twenty years ago as the mistress of ceremonies at a Brooklyn Museum event to celebrate strong women. She followed up by marching in the SOHO art parade and the Pride parade. Ms. Muscle continues to perform at local galleries and events.