Sol y dar y dad: Collective Learning for an Inadmissible Present

The poem “Sol y dar y dad” (To Give and Give Sun), from the “palabrarmas” series by artist Cecilia Vicuña is neither a programme nor a definition but a word-dance of political restlessness. It raises urgent questions for the inadmissible present: What can solidarity of vulnerabilities mean for the people who need, practice, and live it? Can it be danced when bodies are exhausted and isolated, when they feel the pressure of the rising neofascism that is crushing them? Artistic solidarity is not representation but togetherness. It is the articulation of stories of life and struggle—in all of their complicated beauty and violence,-striking back.

In the global context of increasing criminalisation of solidarity, this tenth edition of the PEI asks how to share, activate, archive, document, inhabit and create collective histories and experiences that not only oppose silencing and annihilation, but that also chart geographies of solidarity built through resistance and alliances of diverse subalternities. Centring artistic solidarity, we depart from the urgent need to investigate, put into practice, circulate and multiply the tools capable of uniting struggles of the past in—and from the perspective of—the present.

This edition will include a pedagogical committee and three research threads which will be developed through a series of seminars and collective research groups together with the PEI student-participants:

Pan-Africanisms
Organized by Elvira Dyangani Ose, Tania Safura Adam (Archivos Negros) and Ingrid Blanco. This thread investigates anticolonial and postcolonial solidarity beyond racialisation through artistic practices, aesthetics and archives, in line with the exhibition Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Pan-Africa, the seminars will deal with content linked to Pan-Africanism and its struggles for transnational and planetary solidarity.

Solidarity of Bodies
Organized by Nancy Garín (Equipo re, Cosmographies).  What kinds of bodies do the dominant regimes consider dispensable? This research thread resituates the hiv/aids pandemic—that forever politicised healthcare and which today disproportionately affects the Global South—in the present, in order to continue mobilising networks of mutual care, community health, autonomous pharmacologies, and cultural and artistic activism.

Counterinformation
Organized by Erick Beltrán—Lumbung Press. Radio, agitprop cinema and graphic militancy have long histories as vehicles of solidarity and resistance. Exposing the media’s false claims of “objectivity” or “neutrality” (or the supposed freedom of expression of social media), there is an established and rich history of counter-informational tactics and media. This research group will examine the notion of a solidarity press through the collective practice of Lumbung Press.

This edition of the PEI and its committee will be led by María Berríos, Director of Curatorial Programmes and Research at MACBA, who will also conduct a core seminar on Artistic Solidarities and Internationalisms of the past and present: from museums of solidarity and resistance, alliances of artists against apartheid and current groups and initiatives that recognise art and culture as relevant weapons of resistance, counterattack and revolution.

The lines of exploration of these seminars will be complemented, nurtured and interwoven with contributions from invited local and international artists, educators, organisers, theorists and collectives, among them are: Cecilia Vicuña, Ntone Edjabe-Chimurenga, Diego Falconi, Equipo re (Aimar Arriola, Linda Valdés, Nancy Garín), Grupo Etcétera, Javier García Fernández, Learning Palestine Group, Marwa Arsanios, Pip Day, Radio Alhara, and Vijay Prashad (Tricontinental Institute).

Infrastructural Solidarity
The collaborating organisations and institutions of the tenth edition of the PEI include Hangar (centre de producció i recerca artística), L’Internationale Online, HDK Valand and Centro de Arte Fundación María José Jove.

Key information
Dates: September 2025–July 2026, with seminars and research groups scheduled periodically. Location: MACBA, Barcelona (with some activities hosted by partner institutions). Application deadline extended to: June 27, 2025. Requirements: Short statement of interest + brief CV.

For full details and to apply, please visit here.