- The Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, the Ministry of Housing and the Urban Agenda, the Principality of Asturias, the Avilés City Council and the Atelier itd Foundation are joining forces in a great alliance to create the Climate Biennial: the first Biennial of Art and Climate designed in Spain.
- The Climate Biennial will be a meeting place that, every two years, proposes to use culture and art to encourage reflection, debate and action in processes of just climate transition.
- Nomadic in nature, the Biennial will inaugurate its first edition in May 2026 in the host city of Avilés and in other areas of Asturias, and in subsequent editions will export its model to other cities in Spain and internationally.
- The Climate Biennial reformulates the traditional biennial model to promote sustainable artistic and curatorial production, proposing a hybrid device that appeals to diverse audiences, with codes beyond contemporary art and exhibition.
- It also aims to promote scientific-artistic research through artist residencies at AEMET and the prototyping of artistic projects for public spaces and infrastructures.
Last Monday 20 January, in a ceremony held in Avilés, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda, the Principality of Asturias, the City Council of Avilés and the Atelier itd foundation have signed a General Protocol of Action that marks the launch of the first edition of the Climate Biennial in the city of Avilés, scheduled for the year 2026.
This agreement marks a decisive step towards the consolidation of a collaborative space for the design of the first biennial of art designed in Spain, which aims to be a meeting place to promote adaptation to climate change.
The protocol was signed by Jordi Martí Grau, Secretary of State for Culture on behalf of the Ministry of Culture; Hugo Morán, Secretary of State for the Environment of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge; David Lucas Parrón, Secretary of State for Housing and the Urban Agenda; Gimena Llamedo, Vice-President of the Principality of Asturias; Maria Virtudes Monteserin Rodríguez, Mayor of Avilés City Council; and Leda Stott Harrison, President of the Atelier itd Foundation.
Jordi Martí Grau, Secretary of State for Culture, stated that ‘in our country it was necessary to create a space for reflection and artistic experimentation on the climate emergency, which leaves behind catastrophic discourses and opens up new political imaginaries of social change and collective action. Culture, and especially art, has a fundamental role to play in making essential what seemed implausible yesterday‘.
Hugo Morán Fernández, Secretary of State for the Environment, stressed that ‘we need the social acceptance of our citizens. We need to join forces to implement the transversal change we are seeking. And, for this, And for this, all alliances are few. I can think of few actors better positioned than our creators and artists to promote cultural transformation, social awareness and the modification of habits and customs necessary to build a country that is reconciled with its nature’.
David Lucas Parrón, Secretary of State for Housing and the Urban Agenda, said, ‘Climate change is a priority for the Spanish government and all institutions, both regional and local. The main objective is to prepare citizens, following the principles of the SDGs through the 2030 Agenda and the Spanish Urban Agenda. From the Government, we are promoting policies to combat climate change, reduce carbon emissions and promote healthier cities, with initiatives such as the Recovery Plan and the Spanish Urban Agenda, in collaboration with municipalities. The Climate Biennial should serve to raise awareness, review our policies and improve them to make future actions more effective. I am convinced that we can transform this unfavourable reality with the help of all sectors. Although the international challenges are significant, we must act with greater determination to make progress in the fight against climate change’.
According to Gimena Llamedo, Vice President of the Principality of Asturias, “one of the great challenges of our time is the fight against climate change: a technological and economic challenge, but also a cultural one. The voice of art, creation, and culture is important, which is why this biennial is such a well-conceived project.”
Leda Stott Harrison, president of the Atelier itd foundation, stated that “to promote just transitions, spaces for experimenting with a learning-based approach are essential. Challenges as complex as climate change require multi-stakeholder collaboration across different administrative levels, sectors, and territories.”
Amanda Masha Caminals, artistic director of the Climate Biennial, explained that “we are designing an open-source biennial that appeals to a wide range of audiences beyond those specialized in contemporary art. Climate denial and the discrediting of scientific institutions operate on a sensory level. To counter them and align minds and spirits with the current ecological transition, it is essential to give prominence to those who best master this language—artists, in all their diversity.”
The mayor of Avilés, Mariví Monteserín, emphasized that the city will be the first venue for the Biennial because “the transformation of Avilés is a model of urban reinvention, resilience, and overcoming the environmental and sociological scars left by past industries. Its commitment to knowledge, sustainability, heritage restoration, and culture makes Avilés the ideal choice as the host of this first Climate Biennial, and we feel honored by this recognition.”
ABOUT THE CLIMATE BIENNIAL
What is the Climate Biennial?
The Climate Biennial was created as a meeting space that, every two years and with a rotating venue, aims to harness the power of culture and artistic experimentation to inspire reflections, debates, and actions that contribute to fair ecological transition processes.
The project reimagines the traditional art biennial model to adapt it to the current environmental emergency. It is designed as a nomadic biennial to address the challenges of climate change in different territories across the national and European landscape.
Mission
The Climate Biennial is designed as a hybrid and decentralized platform, breaking away from the traditional large-scale exhibition format to engage diverse audiences beyond those specialized in contemporary art. It promotes various creative fields, including visual arts, audiovisual media, architecture, film, theater, literature, and music. It brings together artists, communities, institutions, and organizations from different sectors in a collective effort to:
| Promoting sustainable artistic creation | Bringing together art, science and public policy | Raising awareness of new territorial models | Encouraging citizen participation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supporting new projects that imagine desirable futures in a context of climate emergency, and promoting environmentally friendly forms of production. | Encouraging interdisciplinary research applied to the public sector, with artistic residencies in government agencies such as the National Meteorological Agency (AEMET) or the Just Transition Institute. | Linking art and architecture with urban and rural territorial projects in line with European green policies, while addressing global governance issues. | Promoting the collectivisation and participation of civil society in climate debate and action through artistic mediation. |
Approach | Utopia as Collective Practice
In the face of a global context of environmental emergency, increasing inequalities, and the radicalization of hate speech and polarization, what utopias can we still experiment with today? In its first edition, the Climate Biennial proposes to work from the idea that utopia is not a distant future horizon but a collective practice of the present. A practice committed to the multiple challenges, complexities, and contradictions of our time, but with the aim of imagining a better tomorrow. Based on this premise, the Climate Biennial advocates for the role of art and culture in activating utopian actions. It does so by bringing together a group of artists who employ poetic tactics and concrete strategies for collective adaptation and transformation.
First Edition | Avilés, Asturias – 2026
The first edition of the Climate Biennial will take place in Avilés and other locations across Asturias (Spain) between May and September 2026. It will work alongside local organizations to extend the programming regionally and encourage ongoing work in the territory starting in 2025.
In collaboration with the Avilés City Council and other stakeholders from the city and region, the Climate Biennial will address complex issues with local and regional actors, such as the multiple transitions currently being experienced by Avilés and Asturias. Additionally, the initiative will have a collective curatorial team that will guide each of its areas of work.
In this way, the Biennial aims to connect with the territory, Asturias, its people, and its public policies, contributing to highlighting and catalyzing local transformations. Furthermore, it is committed to contributing to global climate and governance discussions on the international stage. To achieve this, the Biennial is working on the creation of various artistic projects in diverse formats, including exhibitions, artistic mediation nodes, urban nature prototypes, and support for new creations.
Context Research | Climate Mapping of Asturias and Avilés
The curatorial approach of the Climate Biennial is based on a careful analysis of the host region and city. To achieve this, we employ critical mapping as a research method to identify the key agents and narratives that define the collective spirit of the territory, linking them to the scientific and technical knowledge of local organizations and experts. In this way, the Biennial has initiated a collective research process led by Asturian artist Elisa Cuesta, which promotes spaces for learning, collectivization, and participation, where art mediates debate and mobilizes civil society throughout the design process of the Biennial.
