PIVÔ SALVADOR STARTS 2026 WITH A SPECIAL OPENING PROGRAM

Between artistic residencies, film screenings, conversations, kitchen activations, and celebrations, Pivô Salvador opens its doors and invites the public to come closer, to collectively imagine and celebrate the year that begins.

After the year-end break, Pivô Salvador resumes its activities and invites the public to its 2026 opening program. The first gathering takes place on Ilha de Maré, on January 24, with special screenings of the film Ouro negro é a gente, by artist Aline Baiana, aimed both at the community involved in the project and the general public.

The film is a documentary commissioned by Pivô following Aline Baiana’s residency at Pivô Salvador in 2024. Set on Ilha de Maré, in the Bay of All Saints, it presents the island through testimonies of fishermen, shellfish gatherers, artisans, and local activists, articulating their lived experiences with the impacts of oil exploitation in the region.

Presented at the 36th São Paulo Biennial, the project unfolds in a special screening on Ilha de Maré itself, reaffirming the film as an ongoing process of listening, dialogue, and collective reflection alongside the community.

On January 27, Pivô and Grupo Ecoarte hold an immersive experience at the UFBA Planetarium, featuring a fulldome video screening about the Barra Marine Park and research in the Antarctic Ocean, followed by an open conversation with Prof. Karla Brunet and resident artists Alberta Whittle and Lícida Vidal.

Between January 31 and February 1, the house on Boulevard Suíço opens to the public, reaffirming its commitment to being a place of encounter, listening, and sharing, as well as the institution’s dedication to building local and regional networks.

On Saturday (01/31), the first Open Studio of the year takes place, marking the conclusion of the residency of artists Alberta Whittle and Lícida Vidal in Salvador, as part of the project Litoral do Limite / The Ocean’s Edge. The activity invites the public to engage with research and creative processes developed during the residency, in dialogue with issues related to oceanography, the climate crisis, Indigenous cosmopolitics, and the colonial legacies that shape coastal landscapes.

At 5pm, a conversation between the artists will take place, mediated by Karla Brunet, UFBA professor and curator who has been accompanying the artists during their residency period in Salvador.

On the same day, at 2pm, the panel Networks of Artistic Collaboration between the North and Northeast will be held, featuring Bitu Cassundé, Carolina de Sá, Lilian Fraiji, Lívia Conduru, Moacir dos Anjos e Rian Fontenele with moderation by José Eduardo Ferreira Santos,  in a discussion on practices of cooperation, circulation, and regional strengthening.

The conversation examines how institutions, independent platforms, museums, and residency programs can structure cooperative methodologies capable of confronting historical dynamics of inequality and concentration, proposing other cartographies of circulation and learning. Rather than a model centered on the idea of a “center,” the meeting bets on horizontal articulations grounded in experimentation and an ecology of knowledges.

On Sunday (02/01), kicking off the celebrations of February 2, Chef Joceval Santos coordinates the collective preparation of the balaios that honor Oxum and Iemanjá, with a procession departing from the Boulevard house to the Dique do Tororó at 4pm and then continuing to Rio Vermelho. The event marks the third year of this tradition at Pivô and will also include a kitchen activation.

This year, the homage will be divided into three acts: the preparation of the balaio at Pivô Boulevard, the procession to the Dique do Tororó to deliver Oxum’s offering, and then the journey to Rio Vermelho to deliver Iemanjá’s offering.

As part of the program, DJ André Oliveira will lead the music, alongside Ítalo Pereira, vocalist of Omo Oba, with a performance by Alabês that begins at the Boulevard house and continues along the procession to the Dique do Tororó. The kitchen activation will be led by Chef Joceval Santos.

📍 Pivô Salvador 2026 Opening Program

January 24 (Friday)
Special screening of the film Ouro negro é a gente by Aline Baiana
Ilha de Maré – Salvador, Bahia

January 27 (Tuesday)
📍 Exploring the Seas: Marine Park and Antarctica
Fulldome video screening and open conversation
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
UFBA Planetarium
Av. Milton Santos, 485 – Ondina, Salvador, Bahia

January 31 (Saturday)
📍 Open Studio + Roundtable: Collaboration Networks in the North and Northeast
12 pm to 7 pm
Open Studio with Alberta Whittle and Lícida Vidal
Roundtable “Artistic Collaboration Networks in the North and Northeast”
Pivô Boulevard – Rua Boulevard Suíço, 11A, Nazaré
Free admission

February 1 (Sunday)
📍 Preparation of the balaios and procession in honor of Oxum and Iemanjá
Departure at 4 pm from Pivô Boulevard
Procession to Dique do Tororó and Rio Vermelho
Kitchen activation and collective celebration