Meandering: Art, Ecology, and Metaphysics

Join us on Saturday, October 12 for the presentation of Meandering: Art, Ecology, and Metaphysics (Sternberg Press, 2024), a richly illustrated book that traces the TBA21–Academy fellowship program of the same name, curated by Sofia Lemos between 2021–23.

Inspired by how rivers bend and curve connecting entire ecosystems, Meandering unfolded the cultural, historical, spiritual, and ecological trajectories of waterways from source to sea. Between 2021–23, artists, scientists, and writers were invited to untangle the histories of the Guadalquivir Valley — from Andalusia to the Americas and the undersurface of the Mediterranean — and engage with it as a site of social and environmental transformation. Building on the region’s ecomythologies, global in their scope, the publication delves into the artistic imaginaries present in the fellows' commissions and community-oriented practices. It makes a compelling case for the role of artistic research and public programs in navigating the interconnectedness of ecosystems.

Accompanied by Isabel Lewis’ performance Time Smugglers (2024), created with the Klasse für Performative Künste and Friends, this launch event also extends her previous commission, Sediments, Sympathy, and Spiral Flow (2022–23), which was inspired by the sonic and movement trajectories of the Guadalquivir River—from the spiraling devotional forms of sama to the rhythms of Flamenco.

Sofia Lemos is a curator and writer whose practice explores the intersections of art, performance, and collaborative knowledge production. From 2021 to 2024, she served as Curator at TBA21–Academy, where she led commissions including Edgar Calel, Isabel Lewis, Lafawndah, Eduardo Navarro, and Emilija Škarnulytė, establishing a new fellowship program for artists working with ecological and community-based practices. Prior to this, from 2018 to 2021, she was Curator of Public Programs and Research at Nottingham Contemporary, where she launched the multi-year research project Sonic Continuum in collaboration with multiple institutional and academic partners. In 2020, she held the role of Associate Curator at the 2nd Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA), and was previously Associate Curator at Galeria Municipal do Porto. She is the editor of Meandering: Art, Ecology, and Metaphysics (Sternberg Press, 2024), Sonic Continuum: On the Sound and Poetics of Time (The Contemporary Journal, 2021), and co-editor of Metabolic Rifts (Anagram, 2019). Her writing has been featured in exhibition catalogues and in publications such as art-agenda, Spike, Frieze, and MOUSSE.