Under the theme Gestures of Abundance, the first edition of Walk&Talk – Bienal de Artes will transform the island of São Miguel in the Azores into a dynamic territory for two months – from 25 September to 30 November 2025 – with exhibitions, performances, music, gatherings, and multiple formats that invite participation.

Spread across different spaces across the island and activated by a continuous program of public activities – including excursions, walks, talks, presentations, and parties – the Biennial's rhythm will be marked by three central moments of assembly: the Opening (25 to 30 September), the Symposium (7 to 9 November), and the Closing (28 to 30 November). Most activities are free to attend, and everyone is welcome.

Gestures of Abundance proposes a shift in perspective: from a perception of scarcity, given the Azores' designation as an “ultra-peripheral territory”, to one of communal abundance – not in the sense of excess, but as a wealth of relationships, knowledge, and shared practices. Inspired by the stratified landscapes and histories of the Azores, this edition of the Biennial invites visitors to rediscover not what is lacking, but what already exists – or has the potential to exist – and from there, to weave connections that expand a common and shared reality.

The program has been developed by a community network of artists, curators, and teams, bringing together a multiplicity of voices and experiences. The core team includes guest curators Claire Shea (Toronto, Canada), Fatima Bintou Rassoul Sy (Dakar, Senegal), and Liliana Coutinho (Lisbon, Portugal), along with artistic director and curator Jesse James (Azores, Portugal), working in collaborative and creative engagement with the organisational teams.

EXHIBITION

The Gestures of Abundance exhibition unfolds in the various stations that take in the Walk&Talk program, creating an expansive journey where different practices and voices intersect, in articulation with the Biennial's themes. In these spaces spread across the island, 18 new commissions will be presented in dialogue with works by other artists, as well as pieces from Azorean public and private collections.

The works and interventions activate different dimensions of the theme and territory: the sea as a living and political archive; the earth as a relational and vibrant body; the pedagogical gesture as an insurgent practice; care, orality, and resistance as embodied knowledge; the invisible as a poetic and spiritual language; the body as a place of listening and inscription. While each space offers a distinct exploration, together, these proposals expand the idea of abundance as a network of relationships and shared possibility – against logics of extraction, isolation, or scarcity.

The artists with new commissions are Nadia Belerique (Centro Municipal de Cultura); Joana Sá, Jokkoo Collective, Malala Andrialavidrazana (Museu Carlos Machado); Helle Siljeholm, Lucy Bleach (Centro Cultural da Caloura); José Pedro Cortes (Galeria Fonseca Macedo); Sofia Rocha (Magma); Meg Stuart, Resolve Collective (vaga); Inês Coelho da Silva & Kita Rancaño Ward, Rafa Bqueer & Soya the Cow (Convento dos Franciscanos); Alice Visentin, Colectiva Malva, Ebun Sodipo, Walla Capelobo (Arquipélago – Centro de Artes Contemporâneas); Mae-Ling Lokko and Janilda Bartolomeu (public space).

SYMPOSIUM

Taking place from 7 to 9 November, the symposium is a meeting point for artists, researchers, and thinkers whose practices question and expand ways of living, creating, and learning in common. It is a moment of critical reflection and for the sharing of practices and collective imagination around the theme Gestures of Abundance, bringing together voices that, from different geographies and disciplinary fields, explore other ways of inhabiting the present and envisioning possible futures. With the participation of Apolo de Carvalho, Candace Fujikane, Candice Lin, César Schofield Cardoso, Cooking Sections, Maria Emanuel Albergaria (new commission), Mirna Bamieh, Sónia Vaz Borges, Teresa de Castro & Coletivo Guarda Rios, and performances by Joana Sá and Colectiva Malva.

MUSIC & SOUND

Throughout the Biennial, a variety of locations on the island will host a sound-led program spanning geographies and genres, with concerts, DJ sets, and experimental proposals. With alys(alys)alys, AMEMO, Bonaventure, Cosmica Bandida, Haseeb Iqbal, Jokkoo Collective, Ketia, MC Falcona, Odete, Piel Mixta, Santiago Latorre, Tina Tornade, Valle, Velhacos, Vera Dvale, Wutangu and Zelecta.

PERFORMANCE

The program also activates the island's territory with performance proposals that intertwine body, landscape, identity, and community. With Catarina Ferreira & Paula Aguiar (Geo Foods), Mariana Pacheco Medeiros, Margarida Andrade and Lily Spencer with Janilda Bartolomeu (new commission).

FILM AND PARTIES

The Biennial also includes a film and moving image program, as well as parties, performative dinners, rituals, and informal gatherings, which reinforce the collective, affective, and celebratory dimension of the event.

TUNING IN – Mediation Program

Structured around four gestures – Germinate, Gather, Attend, and Stay – the Walk&Talk mediation program fosters shared experiences between art, community, and territory. It includes workshops and collaborations with schools, collectives, and institutions (Germinate), with contributions from AND Lab, Catarina Fernandes, Coletivo Guarda Rios, Isabel Costa / Os Possessos, and Projeto Transmalhar. The program also features themed excursions with artists and local knowledge-holders across São Miguel (Gather), guided visits and public engagement with exhibitions (Attend), and long-term community projects promoting creative participation and belonging (Stay).

PARTICIPATION AND ACCESS

Most of the Biennial's activities are free. Some excursions and performances will require paid tickets (which will be available on Ticketline or at partner venue ticket offices). In the centre of Ponta Delgada, the Casa da Bienal (Biennial House) – which comprises part of the exhibition – will serve as an information, meeting, and reception point.

Walk&Talk — Bienal de Artes is an Anda&Fala - Associação Cultural project, funded by the Government of the Azores, the Portuguese Republic / DGArtes and Ponta Delgada City Council, Turismo de Portugal - Portugal Events, and FLAD, with the High Patronage of His Excellency, the President of the Republic.