Index, Braga’s Biennale of Art and Technology, began with an immersive performance by Ryoichi Kurokawa

Promoted by Braga Media Arts, the first edition of Index kicked off this Thursday with a performance by Ryoichi Kurokawa. The Japanese media artist took the stage of the emblematic Theatro Circo’s main room to present “subassemblies”. Featuring performances, exhibitions, talks and workshops, Index extends until May 22nd.

With a program divided into four-axis — performances, conferences, exhibitions, and educational activities —, the Biennale explores the concept of Surface, presenting more than 30 authors in 11 days of sharing, reflection, dialogue, and creation. In the upcoming days, the performance programme will include a world premiere show, specially commissioned for the biennale, that brings together the American artists Pierce Warnecke and Matthew Biederman with the Portuguese collective Supernova Ensemble. “Spillover” is based on the problem of mineral extraction in the area of Montalegre, a rural village in Portugal. The renowned German electronic music artist Florian Hecker presents a performance that creates bridges with his sound installation, “Syn as Tex Scene”, exhibited at gnration. At the historic Monastery of Tibães, philosopher and sociologist Bruno Latour and stage director and historian Frédérique Aît-Touati present the conference performance “Inside”.

In several locations of Braga, from museums to public spaces, dozens of works by leading artists such as Jonathan Uliel Saldanha, Jana Winderen, Studio Folder, berru, Calum Bowden, or Peter Burr can be visited for free.

Federico Campagna, Bruno Latour and Frédérique Aït Touati, Miguel Carvalhais and Tiago Patatas are some of the names in the Conference Programme, taking place in different cultural places, from museums to contemporary centers. Admission is free.

On the Education programme, Index will present workshops, including one with Touchdesigner developer Markus Heckmann, and guided tours of the exhibitions.

Index is an initiative of Braga Media Arts, in the scope of Braga’s action plan as a UNESCO Creative City for Media Arts and is artistically directed by Luís Fernandes (Braga Media Arts artistic director). For Index programme, Braga Media Arts invited Liliana Coutinho (curator and programmer) and Mariana Pestana (architect and curator) to curate the conference and exhibition programme.