#25.ART Brasília Opens September 15 in Brazil: Six Days of Free Art and Technology, Mostly in Portuguese

BRAZIL · ARTS

#25.ART Brasília fills two Oscar Niemeyer buildings with more than 50 free talks, performances and exhibitions, from 15 to 20 September.

A cross-stitch pattern in vinyl, about 530 square metres of it, now covers the glass front of a museum in Brasília. It is the first piece of #25.ART Brasília, and the festival has not opened yet.

Vinyl thread on a glass wall

The work is by the artist Regina Silveira and it is called Bordaduras. Reports put it at about 530 square metres across the front of SESI Lab.

SESI Lab is an interactive science and technology museum in central Brasília, the capital of Brazil. Oscar Niemeyer designed the building it occupies.

Silveira opens the programme herself, with a morning lecture on 15 September. After dark the buildings themselves become the screen.

A video mapping session, listed as 3.ART.videomapping, runs that same evening. Light is thrown onto the architecture, and the audience stands outside in the open.

A meeting that has lasted twenty-five rounds

#25.ART is the short name for the 25th Encontro Internacional de Arte e Tecnologia. In English, the International Meeting on Art and Technology.

It sits between art, university research and digital technology, and it has now reached its 25th edition. This year’s theme is called GA.IA.

GA.IA looks at artificial intelligence (AI), nature and the place where the two meet. Much of the work on show comes from researchers, artists and student groups.

Media Lab at the Universidade de Brasília (UnB), the federal university in the capital, helps organise it. The two host museums and several other universities run the programme with them.

You do not need an academic badge to walk in and look. Entry is free at both venues, and that covers the talks as well.

A dome with no windows

The Museu Nacional da República is the white dome on the Esplanada dos Ministérios. Niemeyer designed it, and it also carries the name Museu Nacional Honestino Guimarães.

A long ramp curls around the outside of the dome. Inside, the main hall is one wide, bare circle with no windows.

That blank room is the reason the museum suits projection and light work. Video and sound fill the space instead of paintings on walls.

SESI Lab stands a few minutes away, in the Setor de Divulgação Cultural. Between them the two buildings carry the whole in-person programme.

The Rio Times first wrote about plans for a Brasília museum of art, science and technology back in 2022. That building now anchors the workshop side of the festival.

More than fifty things in six days

Organisers list more than 50 activities. They arrive as lectures, round tables, performances, exhibitions and video mapping.

The main group exhibition is EmMeio#18. It opens on 15 September and stays up until 18 October, long after the talks finish.

Announced speakers include Lucia Santaella, Casé Angatu Xukuru Tupinambá, Hauke Dorsch, Ive Rubini and Tania Aedo. Their topics run from indigenous knowledge to art and science practice.

Students and academics get the deeper layer. That side holds paper sessions, workshops and a maker space at SESI Lab.

The catch is the language

Almost all of it is spoken in Portuguese. Organisers have not announced English interpretation, so a lecture stays closed to you without the language.

The exhibitions ask nothing of the kind. Projection, sound and light carry across without a word.

Some activities want a free sign-up on Even3, the platform Brazilian conferences tend to use. Walking in for the exhibitions needs no booking at all.

Nobody has published a clean session-by-session timetable. Days and venues are set, and the venues’ own channels fill in the start times on the day.

Who the #25.ART Brasília programme suits

You do not have to be an artist or a researcher. The exhibitions and the projections work as a normal evening out.

Families can pair the festival with SESI Lab’s hands-on rooms in the same trip. The dome’s single round hall suits a short, calm visit.

For expats who follow Brazilian art, this is quieter than the big museum seasons. Larger shows such as MASP’s Histórias Latino-Americanas in São Paulo draw far bigger crowds.

The trade-off is access. Here you can talk to the people who built the work, often in the same room.

Getting there, and what stays behind

Both venues sit in the monumental centre, close to each other. Taxis and ride apps reach them quickly from the hotel sectors.

The Central metro station and the main bus platform are within walking distance. The walk across the Esplanada is flat and wide, with no shade.

The in-person days run from 15 to 18 September, at both museums. The last two days, 19 and 20 September, move online.

That online stretch is free as well, and it also runs in Portuguese. It is the quiet end of a loud week.

After the closing, EmMeio#18 keeps the work visible until 18 October. Anyone who reaches the capital late still gets a second chance at it.

More: Brazil news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is #25.ART in Brasília in 2026?

The 25th Encontro Internacional de Arte e Tecnologia runs from 15 to 20 September 2026. The in-person days are 15 to 18 September.

Is the Brasília art and technology festival free?

Yes. Entry is free at both venues, although some activities ask for a free sign-up on the Even3 platform.

Do I need Portuguese to enjoy #25.ART Brasília?

For the talks, yes, and no English interpretation has been announced. The exhibitions and the projections work without any language at all.

Where is #25.ART held in Brasília?

At the Museu Nacional da República and at SESI Lab, both in the monumental centre of Brasília, Brazil.

Sources: Agência Brasil, Correio Braziliense, Glau na Capital (programme and speakers), Misto Brasil (Bordaduras), Portal da Indústria, Museu Nacional da República and SESI Lab listings.