The Biennial of Thought Returns to Barcelona from October 13 to 18

The fifth edition of the Biennial of Thought fills the streets, squares, and facilities of Barcelona with debates and readings. Alessandro Baricco and Joan Magrané opened the event in Joan Coromines Square.

The fifth edition of the Biennial of Thought will occupy the streets, squares, and cultural facilities of Barcelona from October 13 to 18. The initiative, driven by the Institut de Cultura de Barcelona (ICUB), is titled Unleashing the Present and proposes pausing to think about the challenges of our time without assuming that the future will be better or worse.

The programme kicked off in Joan Coromines Square with a conversation between Italian writer Alessandro Baricco and composer Joan Magrané about artistic creation, the relevance of the classics, and the relationship between literature and music. The inaugural event was attended by the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni.

The event brings together over a hundred voices to question the world, according to the Biennial's organisation.

The opening day also included a dialogue between stage creator Angélica Liddell and writer Luna Miguel about beauty, suffering, and the artistic experience, as well as a performance by Mallorcan singer Maria Jaume. From there, six days of debates, interviews, readings, and artistic proposals will be spread across various locations in the city.

Among the participants are anti-racist activist Lilian Thuram, philosopher and political scientist Wendy Brown, journalist Patrick Radden Keefe, Argentine writer Mariana Enríquez, Senegalese thinker Felwine Sarr, and filmmaker José Luis Guerín. Also participating will be philosopher Fina Birulés, playwright Juan Mayorga, Chinese writer Xiaolu Guo, and poet Chantal Maillard.

The conversations will address the crisis of democracies, hate speech, wars, migrations, economic inequalities, and technological transformations. Barcelona is not only the backdrop but also one of the themes, with access to housing, public space, and coexistence at the centre of the reflection.

One of the highlights will be the talk by José Luis Guerín with Marina Garcés and Albert Lladó about the peripheries and urban life, scheduled for Friday in Nou Barris Main Square. The Biennial aims to take intellectual debate out of academic spaces and into the streets.

The activities will be spread across the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), Joan Coromines Square, La Model, Nou Barris Main Square, and the Glòries Square. The programme will also reach the Hivernacle of the Ciutadella Park and the civic centres La Sedeta and Casa Orlandai.

The curatorship is formed by Marina Garcés and Albert Lladó from the Escola de Pensament; Elisabet Goula from the CCCB; Rafael Vilasanjuan from ISGlobal, and Mireia Calafell and Berta Subirats from La Sullivan. To follow the complete programme, the organisation publishes the details of each event in the mentioned spaces.