This year’s edition features performances, an exhibition programme and conferences, with highlights including Hito Steyerl, Forensis & Bill Kouligas, McKenzie Wark and José Gil.
The exponential technological advances of recent decades have led to unprecedented development. However, they have also resulted in greater political and social fragmentation, linked to the rise of extremism, economic inequality and widespread algorithmic surveillance. These phenomena have reshaped power relations and the very concept of sovereignty, now increasingly influenced by omnipresent technology giants.
It is from this contemporary diagnosis that INDEX, a Braga Media Arts initiative, returns to the city from 7 to 17 May 2026 for an expanded reflection on “Power” and its multiple relationships with Art and Technology. The programme includes performances, conferences, an exhibition across several venues in the city, as well as educational activities.
The biennial opens with Forensis & Bill Kouligas, presenting the national premiere of The Drum and the Bird, a multisensory work expanding on the research carried out by the Forensic Architecture collective on German colonialism in Namibia.
Norwegian group Supersilent present a new collaboration with sound artist and researcher Lawrence Abu Hamdan, winner of the 2019 Turner Prize, who returns to Braga after performing at the 2024 edition of the biennial. The performance stems from a joint commission by the Rewire festival and INDEX, focusing on the work of Earshot—a research group founded by Hamdan—on attacks against journalists by Israeli forces in Palestine.
In TALOS, choreographer Arkadi Zaides explores the relationship between movement, advanced technologies and the future of existing geographical borders, based on dynamics of action and reaction, limits and transgression, paralysis and mobility. These three performances are part of the programme to be presented at Theatro Circo במסגרת the biennial.
INDEX has commissioned the collective ZABRA to develop a new work, emerging from a residency at gnration, where it will also be presented. The same venue will host a concert by the duo Nídia & Valentina—a dynamic fusion between Portuguese producer Nídia and percussionist Valentina Magaletti—followed by the pioneering figure of the national club scene, Supa.
As in previous editions, the biennial will include an exhibition spread across several venues in Braga, including gnration, Theatro Circo and Mosteiro de Tibães. In 2026, Forum Arte Braga and Muzeu will also join the programme, with openings scheduled for April.
The exhibition is curated by Joel Valabrega—curator of the Luxembourg Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024 and former curator of Performance and Moving Image at Mudam (2020–2024)—and brings together works by leading figures in contemporary art. Highlights include German artist Hito Steyerl, a key voice in technological critique through artistic practice; Pulitzer Prize winner Raven Chacon, presenting Storm Pattern, a work addressing drone surveillance of Native American communities; Gabriel Abrantes with Bardo Loops; as well as artists Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz, Cemile Sahin and Shuang Li.
Under the central theme of “Power”, the conference programme will feature prominent thinkers in contemporary debates on art, technology and politics, including Australian theorist McKenzie Wark, French philosopher Yves Citton, and Portuguese figures José Gil, Sofia Miguens and António Guerreiro.
As part of Circuito – Braga Media Arts Educational Service, this edition also includes a mediation programme aimed at children and schools. From 7 to 17 May, younger audiences can take part in philosophy-based creative workshops (philosophy for children) led by Joana Rita Sousa, as well as guided tours of the INDEX exhibition across the city.
INDEX is an initiative of Braga Media Arts dedicated to exploring the relationships between art and technology, fostering dialogue around emerging issues in these fields. This 3rd edition embodies one of the central pillars of Braga’s commitment as a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts: to position the city as a space for critical thinking and contemporary creation at both national and international level. The biennial is promoted by Faz Cultura EM, with the support of the Municipality of Braga.
Tickets for INDEX performances are now available at the gnration and Theatro Circo box offices and via
BOL.
Conference access is free of charge.