TIDAL ArtS Residencies
Vaga, São Miguel
Atlantic-Arctic
Atlantic-Arctic Lighthouse
Maria Montero Sierra, Bint Mbareh & Sonia Levy · São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal
ARTIST
DISCIPLINE
RESIDENCY
HOST
WEBSITE
Maria Montero Sierra · Bint Mbareh · Sonia Levy
Film · Sound · Curatorial Practice · Art History
São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal
Anda&Fala/vaga
THE PROJECT
Exploring collective voicing and submarine soundscapes to surface submerged histories of resistance in the Azores.
This residency project explores collective voicing and submarine soundscapes to surface submerged histories of resistance in the Azores, with particular attention to how subsea infrastructures reorganise ecologies and power below the sea.
The project begins from the historical and ongoing exploitation of the Azores as a strategic mid-Atlantic node, vulnerable to deep-sea mining and expanding oceanic infrastructures, while also attending to the archipelago’s enduring, collective resistance to ocean injustice.
Drawing on submerged acoustics, oral histories, and collective voicing, including participatory methods such as Bint Mbareh’s Choir for Non-Musicians, it unfolds as a call to listen bringing submerged oceanic worlds into focus and re-historicising the depths of Azorean seas.
In doing so, it foregrounds an archipelago of resistance in pursuit of ocean justice.
The residency will include opportunities for the public to participate in listening sessions, workshops, and sound-based encounters.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sonia Levy
Works as an artist-filmmaker examining submerged ecologies and the entanglements of power, knowledge, and hydrosocial transformations. Her work has been presented at Tate Modern, ICA London, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Sainsbury Centre, Ocean Space, CCA Radius, and others internationally. She has contributed research published in the Journal of Visual Culture and by MIT Press, and is currently Associate Lecturer at the Royal College of Art School of Architecture and a resident at the Camargo Foundation in France.
Bint Mbareh
Works in political ecological sound practices. Her work has been presented at B7L9 (Tunisia), Tate Modern, Cafe OTO, Southbank Centre, Troxy, Unsound Festival (Poland), and Khalil Sakakini Centre (Palestine). She is currently a resident at the Camargo Foundation in France.
María Montero Sierra
Works in curatorial practice and art history focused on art as knowledge production at the ecological turn. She has organised projects at Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Ocean Space, CentroCentro, and others internationally, and contributed to lectures at Museo Reina Sofía and Museo Moderno Buenos Aires. She is currently a PhD researcher funded by the Monash Warwick Alliance.
Anda&Fala is a cultural association that promotes the creation, presentation, and circulation of knowledge, projects, and people within the expanded field of visual arts. Through resource sharing, skill development, and the building of networks of connection and experience, the association fosters cooperation and artistic exchange. Operating from the Azores Archipelago, it seeks to establish alternative centers for contemporary creation, focusing on autonomous practices rooted in transregional cooperation.
vaga is a space dedicated to the reflection on arts and knowledge, sensitive to the dynamics of São Miguel Island and its diverse communities.
vaga expands the association’s presence in the region through ongoing projects that include audience development, complementary artistic education, and year-round artist support. This program aims to strengthen the cultural ecosystem by fostering a collaborative and synergistic environment for artistic creation and sharing.
Meet the other Residency Artists
TURKU ARCHIPELAGO · FINLAND
Clara Jo
DANUBE · HUNGARY
Adam & Monika
