July 5–20, 2019
The ninth edition of Walk&Talk – Arts Festival takes place from July 5 to the 20 in the Island of São Miguel in the Azores, and gathers artists, curators, architects, designers, performers and musicians, invited to develop and present their works, most of which new projects created in residency at the Atlantic archipelago. The festival intervenes in more than twenty different locations around the island and its main venue is a temporary pavilion projected by the architecture studios Artworks & GA Estudio for one of Ponta Delgada’s central squares, and inspired, in its shape and function, by the ancient Azorean wool cloak—the “capote.”
Walk&Talk is the Azores Arts Festival, held since 2011 during two weeks in July, and the Artists Residency program that runs throughout the year. Experimental and participative, the project encourages the creation of new art objects in dialogue with the territory and the socio-cultural specificities of the region. Focused on the involvement of local communities and visitors, through the knowledge that is generated by today’s artistic research and practices, it intersects art, dance, performance, theatre, architecture, design, cinema and music. In 2019, the festival program comprises five different art circuits.
The Island Circuit is shaped by a set of site-specific installations and settled as an artistic expedition that is led by The Decorators - Mariana Pestana, Carolina Caicedo, Suzanne O’Connell and Xavi Llarch Font, with the guest artists Clementine Keith-Roach, Inês Neto Santos, Practice Architecture, Pedro Lino, Prem Sahib and Rain Wu. The participants explored different landscapes, media and sensorial dimensions to create seven projects in different locations of the island, ranging from the centre of Ponta Delgada city to Fenais da Luz on the North Coast. As a whole, the entitled Expedition Empathy explores immeasurable, irrational, unintelligible phenomena with the aim to reflect on our fragile and mysterious relationship with nature.
The Exhibition Circuit maps the exhibitions and new projects that are presented at the festival by artists who completed their residencies at Walk&Talk and by artists invited by the curators. In 2019, the curator Sérgio Fazenda Rodrigues designed an Identity Roam through different venues of Ponta Delgada, where seven solo shows, by the artists Andreia Santana, Diana Vidrascu, Gonçalo Preto, Maria Trabulo, Miguel C. Tavares & José Alberto Gomes, Mónica de Miranda and Rita GT, are articulated. The shows were developed in residencies held between 2017/19 in São Miguel, and three of these residencies also passed by Terceira, Faial, Flores and Pico islands.
A Lake By The Moon, Abbas Akavan, Alcídio Andrade, Alex Farrar, Alice dos Reis, Alfredo Martins & Marco da Silva Ferreira, António Branco & Riccardo T., Daniel Bracken, Chima Hiro, Clara!, Colin Self, Danny Bracken, Diogo Lima, Filipe Alarcão, FLiP + Tape, Horácio Raposo, Joana Franco, Joana Gama, Jonas&Lander, King Kami, Luís Fernandes, Luísa Salvador, Madalena Correia, Margarida Fragueiro, Michelle Blades & Rodrigo Araújo (Vaiapraia), Miguel Flor, Mondkopf, Nadia Belerique, NinOo, NSDOS, Nuno Paiva, Olivier Notellet, Pedro Mafama, Polliana Dalla Barba, Ponto Atelier, Sofia Caetano & Elliot Sheedy, Soraia Gomes Teixeira, Terror Sound System, Tomás Paula Marques and Vessel & Pedro Maia, are among the names that complete the festival’s art circuits – Performing Circuit, ranging from music to contemporary dance performances; Residencies Circuit, gathers the artists and designers in residence at this year’s edition; and Knowledge Circuit, whit activities aimed to involve multiple audiences in the artistic dynamics.
Walk&Talk promotes annual open calls for artists, architects and journalists.
