Semibreve Festival 2026 announces its first wave of artists for its 16th edition, returning to Braga from 22–25 October. The programme spans sound, moving image, installation and performance across Theatro Circo, gnration and Capela Imaculada, with an emphasis
Braga will be full of sound again from 22 to 25 October. when the 16th edition of Semibreve Festival returns with its first wave of confirmed artists. For those who follow contemporary audiovisual work. the timing has become part of the ritual: a tight window. a concentrated set of venues. and a programme built to test how far a festival can stretch the meanings of concert. exhibition and digital art.
This year’s lineup is set to keep that balance in play. Semibreve Festival 2026 brings together sound, moving image, installation and performance, framing the city’s architecture as more than a backdrop. The festival will take place across venues including the historic Theatro Circo. the contemporary arts centre gnration and the Capela Imaculada.
The choice of spaces feels deliberate in a city like Braga, one of Portugal’s oldest. In 2017. Braga was designated a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts. a title tied to its baroque architecture and religious heritage—qualities that help shape the festival’s spatial decisions. Semibreve’s programme this year places an emphasis on world premieres and newly commissioned works exploring audiovisual artistic forms and sonic experimentation.
Among the first artists announced are Christian Fennesz and Oscar Jockel with Saffron on Grey. The festival also includes new collaborative works by PYUR and Tarik Barri. Qasim Naqvi and Steven Wendt. and Malcolm Pardon with Gustaf Broms. Performances and installations will be presented by Noémi Büchi. Sam Slater. TYGAPAW. Azu Tiwaline and João Carlos Pinto.
Semibreve’s scale remains intentionally contained. Rather than spreading across a sprawling international footprint. the festival consolidates its encounters into a focused sequence across only a handful of venues. The effect is simple to describe and harder to replace: closer engagement between artists and audiences—without the noise of excess venues diluting the experience.
If Braga’s creative identity is tied to how media arts can inhabit a city. Semibreve’s 2026 shape is built to meet that idea in practice: sound and image threaded through site-responsive. technologically mediated practices. staged in the historic and contemporary spaces that define the city’s character. With premieres and commissions at the centre of the schedule. the first announcements already suggest a programme designed not just to be seen. but to be heard—and to linger in the rooms where it happens.
Semibreve Festival 2026 Braga Portuguese contemporary art audiovisual art sound art moving image installation performance Theatro Circo gnration Capela Imaculada Christian Fennesz Oscar Jockel Saffron on Grey PYUR Tarik Barri Qasim Naqvi Steven Wendt Malcolm Pardon Gustaf Broms Noémi Büchi Sam Slater TYGAPAW Azu Tiwaline João Carlos Pinto UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts
Braga is gonna be full of sound again? honestly sounds made up lol
So is this like regular music concerts or more like art gallery stuff? Theatro Circo and a church is a wild combo. Also 22–25 October… I can’t tell if that’s 3 days or like 4?
Wait I thought UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts already means they do this every year, like automatically? Why does the article keep saying it’s the 16th edition like that’s new. Christian Fennesz and Oscar Jockel sounds like tech bros not artists to me…
Semibreve… is that the thing where they do sound experiments with visuals? I read “moving image” and assumed it’s just film screenings, but then it mentions installations and performances so who knows. My cousin said Braga is like all baroque buildings so maybe they’re just echoing through churches again. Also “world premieres” doesn’t that just mean new releases in Portugal?