Miguel Hidalgo
Mexico City 11850
Mexico
SOMA Summer 2026: Towards a Planetary Consciousness for Hyper-Mediated Times
Drawing on a wide spectrum of thinkers, artists, and theorists—and particularly Achille Mbembe’s concept of borderization and the notion of planetary entanglement— SOMA Summer 2026 will approach the planetary as a politics of life and a politics of Earth. During the program, we will explore contemporary media regimes, politics, and technologies. We will also engage in critical analyses of the various tools through which borderization operates, and examine how resistance and collaboration can take place at a moment when strategies of collectivity are being co-opted to generate division in service of control and financial growth.
Over the course of four weeks, the program, conducted in English and convened by Sara Eliassen (artist and filmmaker, Norway) Roselin Rodríguez Espinosa (curator and art historian, Cuba) and Yoshua Okón (artist, Mexico), will bring together a group of artists and thinkers for collective and critical speculation on what planetary consciousness could look like at this historical juncture.
It will serve as a hub for discursive and practical activities, including seminars and lectures, artist-led workshops, group critiques, portfolio reviews, collective discussions, and studio and site visits informed by both local and international theoretical and artistic perspectives.
The program will feature workshops and artist talks with Paloma Contreras (artist, Mexico), Fritzia Irizar (artist, Mexico), Metahaven (artist collective, Netherlands), and Naomi Rincón Gallardo (artist, Mexico). It will also include seminars and conferences with Irmgard Emmelhainz (writer and independent researcher, Mexico) and Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar (sociologist and activist, Mexico), as well as online participation by Achille Mbembe (historian, Cameroon). Site visits around Mexico City and its outskirts will take participants to museums, independent spaces, and other cultural sites, guided by our tutors and invited guests such as Calpulli Tecalco (collective, Mexico) and Fernando Palma (artist, Mexico), among others. Additionally participants of the program will have an opportunity to take part in weekly portfolio reviews with artists, curators and thinkers from the local contemporary art scene.
Participants and tutors will collectively explore ways of imagining forms of world-scale interconnection that account for territories, communities, and temporalities beyond processes of borderization.
*The complete program will be announced in the following weeks.
How to apply
Using our online platform, please submit the following information:
–Short biography (1500 characters)
–Artist statement (1500 characters)
–Why are you interested in the conceptual framework of SOMA Summer 2026 | Towards a Planetary Consciousness for Hyper-Mediated Times and how do these themes translate into your work? (1500 characters) (1500 characters)
–Portfolio: ten slides of recent work, and/or two links for multimedia work or texts. Please include a technical sheet (title, name, media, year) listing all the works and a description of each project (50 words per project max.).
–URL to website (optional)
–Three references (name and contact info only)
–Financial aid (2000 characters). In case of need.
–Copy of a valid passport
The selection committee kindly requests adherence to the guidelines and reminds applicants that submissions exceeding the specified number of slides will not be considered.
SOMA Summer is a four-week summer school conducted in English that weaves together theoretical inquiry, artistic practice, and the discussion of contemporary global issues. Held in Mexico City, the program is designed for artists, writers, curators, scholars, and other cultural practitioners who seek to go beyond comfort zones in order to broaden their disciplinary perspectives, encounter positions different from their own, and revisit their creative processes.
Each edition is framed by a specific theme that serves as a point of departure for fostering processes of mutual listening, dialogue, and collective learning. The faculty is composed of both Mexican and international artists and scholars who promote a horizontal exchange of knowledge among a multiplicity of perspectives and practices.
Contact: ssummer@somamexico.org. More information about SOMA Summer 2026.
