1st Bienal Climática to Open in Avilés with the title “Rehearsing the Unexpected”

© Massimiliano Mollona, Oliver Ressler. The Labour that Remains 2026. Courtesy Bienal Climatica

1st Bienal Climática: Rehearsing the Unexpected
Avilés, Asturias, Spain
June 12 – September 20, 2026
bienalclimatica.org

The inaugural edition of the Bienal Climática will officially opened in Avilés (Spain) on June 12th, launching a 100-day programme dedicated to exploring the intersections of art, ecology, industry, and territory through exhibitions, public programming, and civic engagement.

We are particularly excited to share this announcement as Bienal Climática has recently joined the International Biennial Association (IBA) as an Emerging Biennial, becoming part of our growing international network of biennials and large-scale periodic exhibitions.

Conceived as a multi-level and cross-sector collaborative initiative, the Bienal Climática positions itself as “a meeting place that brings together different partners with a shared purpose: to create a new model of artistic production and communication to address the multiple challenges of the ecological transition.” The project aims to connect artistic experimentation with broader questions surrounding sustainability, industrial transformation, and collective futures.

Titled Rehearsing the Unexpected, the first edition brings together more than 40 artists across 13 exhibition venues situated throughout the city of Avilés and the surrounding region. The exhibition programme unfolds through three thematic axes: Weather Station, Present Industries, and Grief and Joy, creating a framework through which the artists engage with climate, labour, industrial memory, ecological transformation, and lived experience.

The Biennial’s exhibition program expands across diverse sites within the city and its wider territory, connecting contemporary art with Avilés’ industrial history, rural and social fabric. Through this dispersed format, the Biennial proposes the city itself as a site of encounter, reflection, and experimentation.

Alongside the exhibitions, the Bienal Climática features an extensive public program consisting of more than 60 activities taking place throughout the 100 days of the event. These include performances, walks, screenings, workshops, radio projects, citizen laboratories, collective gatherings, and conversations designed to activate the city through new perspectives and forms of participation.

As stated by the organisers, the Biennial is conceived as “an open meeting space for citizens. A place where people and organisations from a wide range of backgrounds come together to reflect, converse, imagine and debate the major challenges of our time.”

By bringing together artistic practices, public space, local communities, and ecological thinking, the Bienal Climática enters the international biennial landscape with a strong commitment to experimentation, dialogue, and long-term civic engagement, an approach closely aligned with many of the conversations currently shaping the biennial field globally and IBA’s working topics for a long time.

The 1st Bienal Climática runs until September 20, 2026.

For full details on the exhibition program, participating artists, venues, and events, visit the Bienal Climática website.