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Recently, I have participated in this newly created collective publication "Земля Палає / The Earth is Burning", a collective publication on ecocide in Ukraine caused by the russian war, to which I have contributed with the following written piece:
"Rooted Flows; Decolonising Watery Cartographies in Times of War" by Seila Fernández Arconada, a poetic experimental mapping that acts as an embodied and relational journey to rethink ecosocial justice. It departs from the Dnipro River, and other rivers in Ukraine, to reach our own “bodies of water” while cultivating forms of decolonising Nature. As experimental weaving, the words of this piece aim to bring the reader closer to sensing the Dnipro River, its more-than-human interdependency and our mutual (co)existance in times of war. From an ecological, embodied, decolonial engagement to an ecofeminist, trauma informed approach, this ongoing artistic research became a written piece for this collective opportunity, searching to be in dialogue with the other pieces while getting tangled in poetic political forms of water. This work arises from the ongoing project "Dnipro River: Ecosocial Belonging in Wartime", a collective space led by Seila, exploring experimental forms of solidarity with the Dnipro River, who is a direct witness and victim of this war. It began in early 2025 and will keep continuing in 2026 as a collective platform for further transdisciplinary artistic research. Seila began working in Ukraine in 2016 and since 2022 has been over two years merging artistic practice with humanitarian actions". --------------------------------- Земля Палає / The Earth is Burning is a collective publication on ecocide in Ukraine caused by the russian war. This publication has been edited and curated by Liza Goncharenko who brought together artists, researchers, and writers to explore the destruction of ecosystems, memory, culture, and everyday life under wartime conditions. Through essays, visual projects, field observations, and artistic research, the contributors Karolina Uskakovych, Yuliia Kishchuk, Marynka Dovhanych, Paris Bezanis, Seila Fernández Arconada and Liliya Chavaga reveal how invasion transforms rivers, forests, agricultural land, wetlands, cemeteries, and sites of collective memory. This publication was made possible through the generous support of the Track Report of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. The publication will be presented at events across Europe, where copies will be available in exchange for a donation to our chosen Ukrainian grassroots initiatives, helping to support their ongoing work while sharing these urgent ecological, cultural, and artistic perspectives with an international audience. Images and text by Liza Goncharenko.
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 “O Fio da Água: Rituais para a Resiliência Hídrica” (The Thread of Water: Rituals for Water Resilience) by the multidisciplinary artist-researcher Seila Fernández Arconada.
Event Details: Date: Sunday, June 28, 2026 Time: 17:00 Location: Antigo Facho da Bonança (Fão, Portugal) Free admission. Description: “O Fio da Água: Rituais para a Resiliência Hídrica” is a performative intervention inspired by the connections of water in Esposende, from memories of floods to contemporary ways of relating, adapting, and transforming water ecosystems in times of uncertainty. This contemporary ritual proposes a space for imagination and coexistence with water, activating the old Facho da Bonança during the full moon as a symbolic element of light, guidance, and memory. It is a meeting moment between body, territory, and water, where memory, presence, and future intertwine. ——————————-- This outdoor gathering brings to a close a cycle of the series of events following the exhibition “O Fio da Água, Abraçando o Fluxo das Águas para Futuros Resilientes” (The Thread of Water, Embracing the Flow of Waters for Resilient Futures), on display at the Municipal Archive of Esposende. Over this period of about a month, the exhibition was constantly transforming, as the artist integrated new interventions based on research and shared experiences with visitors. The exhibition closes on June 26. Additionally, the “Memória das Cheias” (Memory of Floods) activity cycle functioned as a collective exchange every Thursday of the month, with the final session taking place this Thursday from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. This event is an integral part of the Festival Águas Vivas, organized by Rio Neiva - Associação Defesa do Ambiente. Promoted by S+T+ARTS AQUA MOTION in collaboration with the Junta de Freguesia de Fão, Município de Esposende, Arquivo Municipal, and the Parque Natural do Litoral Norte. More information: O Fio da Água: https://linktr.ee/ofiodaagua Festival: https://rioneiva.com/forumfest/ #ofiodaagua #STARTSAquaMotion #esposende #cheias #festivalaguasvivas #portugal #festivalaguasvivas STARTS  
          We would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who made this gathering possible. A very special thank you to all the participants who shared their time and reflections with us, as well as to the organisers for their support and dedication in creating this space for sharing.
A special thanks also to Luís Eiras for the photos documenting the event. --------------------------------- ""The “boo das arêas” in Esposende — Archive, Research, and Artistic Practices"" A encounter at the Municipal Archive of Esposende where archival research, historical sources, artistic practice and community participation intersected around the theme of coastal transformations. Starting from the historical documentation explored by researcher Ana Isabel Lopes, the session proposed a dynamic approach to the archive. Participants were able to analyse the archive materials and understand how local communities responded to the advancing sands and adapted to coastal transformations between the 16th and 19th centuries. In dialogue with these materials, attendees also had the opportunity to attend a performative presentation by artist-researcher Seila Fernández Arconada, followed by viewing the exhibition “O Fio Da Água: Embracing Waters Flow for Resilient Futures” through a guided tour led by the artist herself. This multidisciplinary installation, on display at the Archive throughout the month, extended the reflection by focusing on the relationships between humans and water, on floods, and on imaginative ways of (co)existing with water. Throughout the session, participants were invited to interact directly with the themes and materials presented, fostering conversation and collective reflection in a shared space that bridged past and present, while simultaneously encouraging dialogue around today's challenges. Part of the Águas Vivas Festival organized by the Rio Neiva Association. This event is a collaboration with the Municipal Archive of Esposende. Promoted by | S+T+ARTS AQUA MOTION STARTS #esposende #archive #ofiodaagua #startsaquamotion #festivalaguasvivas  This Saturday, I am honoured to share space with researcher Ana Isabel Lopes to intertwine history, science and art around coastal shifts and floods in Esposende, traveling to the past to reimagine the present and future on International Archives Day. Information about the event follows: ✨ Boo das Arêas” in Esposende — Archive, Research and Artistic Practices, A session at the Municipal Archive of Esposende where archival research, historical sources, artistic practice, and community participation come together around the theme of coastal changes. Drawing on the historical documentation explored by the researcher Ana Isabel Lopes, the session proposes a dynamic engagement with the archive, examining how local communities responded to drifting sands and adapted to coastal transformations between the 16th and 19th centuries. In dialogue with these materials, artist-researcher Seila Fernández Arconada will share an artistic reflection based on her project “O Fio Da Água: Embracing Water’s Flow for Resilient Futures” presented as a multidisciplinary installation on display at the Archive throughout the month, extends the reflection focusing on human-water relationships, flooding and imaginative water (co)existence. Throughout the session, participants will be invited to engage directly with the themes and materials presented, fostering conversation and collective reflection in a shared space that connects past and present while encouraging dialogue on the coastal challenges of today. Part of the Festival Águas Vivas organised by Rio Neiva Associação This event is a collaboration with the Municipal Archive in Esposende Promoted by | S+T+ARTS AQUA MOTION. --------- Portuguese version: ✨O “boo das arêas” em Esposende — Arquivo, Investigação e Práticas Artísticas Uma sessão no Arquivo Municipal de Esposende onde investigação arquivística, fontes históricas, prática artística e participação comunitária se cruzam em torno do tema das transformações costeiras. Partindo da documentação histórica explorada pela investigadora Ana Isabel Lopes, a sessão propõe uma abordagem dinâmica ao arquivo, analisando de que forma as comunidades locais responderam ao avanço das areias e se adaptaram às transformações costeiras entre os séculos XVI e XIX. Em diálogo com estes materiais, a artista-investigadora Seila Fernández Arconada partilhará uma reflexão artística baseada no seu projecto “O Fio Da Água: Abraçar o fluxo da água para futuros resilientes”, apresentado sob a forma de uma instalação multidisciplinar patente no Arquivo ao longo do mês, que prolonga esta reflexão ao centrar-se nas relações entre os seres humanos e a água, nas inundações e em formas imaginativas de (co)existência com a água. Ao longo da sessão, os participantes serão também convidados a interagir directamente com os temas e materiais apresentados, promovendo a conversa e a reflexão colectiva num espaço partilhado que liga passado e presente, ao mesmo tempo que incentiva o diálogo em torno dos desafios costeiros da actualidade. #esposende #rioneiva #arquivo #investigação #arte #ofiodaagua #startsaquamotion #flooding #Portugal #collaboration #research #rioCavado #FestivalAguasVivas #Exposicao 
“O Fio Da Água: Embracing Water’s Flow for Resilient Futures”
By Seila Fernández Arconada 📍 From 08/06/2026 to 26/06/2026 🕒 Mon-Fri: 08h30-13h00 & 14h00-16h30 🏛️ Arquivo Municipal de Esposende (Portugal) Open entrance Process-based, evolving exhibition by artist Seila Fernández Arconada, exploring the relationships between water, territory, and community in Esposende. This living space functions as an evolving archive, where memories, flood stories, and lived experiences of water are shared, collected, and reinterpreted throughout the festival. The public is invited to bring photographs related to floods and inundations in Esposende, which will be digitised and included in the “Flooding Photo Collection in Esposende”, contributing to the creation of this living archive. The artist remains present in the space during the exhibition period, fostering moments of encounter and dialogue with the public and encouraging active participation in this evolving process. Promoted by | S+T+ARTS AQUA MOTION. Part of the Festival Águas Vivas organised by Rio Neiva Associação Open to the public, everyone is welcome! Image Credits: Seila Fernández Arconada #OFioDaAgua #StartsAquaMotion #FestivalAguasVivas #Exposicao #Esposende --------------------------------------------------------------------------- “O Fio da Água: Embracing Water’s Flow for Resilient Futures” blends artistic research into a transdisciplinary collaboration to transform understandings of water uncertainties into imaginative coexistence. For it, a number of sensorial artistic experiments are happening together with people, aiming to share and reimagine the watery connection to Esposende through embodied socio-ecological belonging. It is envisioned to generate a series of public artistic interventions and collective activities as experimental “flood conversations” through multi-sensorial collective journeys. It aims to reveal hidden water flows and cultivate embodied socio-ecological belonging, empowering individuals to live harmoniously with their dynamic water environment, inspiring behavioural shifts in water attitudes and practices for a more resilient future. "O Fio da Água" is led by Seila Fernández Arconada (Spanish artist based in Berlin). It is selected for the CHALLENGE #8 – Moving Waters - Reimagining Flood Resilience, as part of the project “S+T+ARTS AQUA MOTION: Transformative Synergies for Improved Water Management”, supported by the European Commission. This project is developed with Rio Neiva - Associação Defesa do Ambiente, residency host partner of S+T+ARTS partner STARTS. Open call for participationOn June 15th, I will be facilitating the space "Tejiendo Saberes: Colaboraciones entre Arte y Ciencia" (Weaving Knowledges: Collaborations Between Art and Science), which will take place in Santiago de Compostela (Spain). "This collective space seeks to create synergies between disciplines through international dialogues between Art and Science. The goal is not only to expand the frontiers of knowledge toward new forms of creation, but also to offer inspiration and practical tools to reflect on how to collaborate beyond academia, learning from the experiences and interests of the participants. The workshop offers a journey from the familiar to the unknown, focusing its gaze on creativity and situated research, integrating diverse forms of knowledge at a meeting point between imagination and investigative rigor". This workshop has been created as a collaboration between the CCHS-CSIC, Center for Human and Social Sciences (Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales) of the Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - CSIC) #HydroCommons project and XEITO | Ethnographic Creation Laboratory of the Institute of Heritage Sciences of the Institute of Heritage Sciences (Incipit). All the information here: https://www.incipit.csic.es/es/eventos You can register with the QR of the image or at this link: https://saco.csic.es/apps/forms/s/pmb8XCaGbwGMAmzQyJny2NG5 Registration is open until June 12. #taller #workshop #collaboration #colaboracion #ciencia #arte #practicaartistica #interdisciplinar #transdisciplinar #transdisciplinary  I am incredibly happy to share about "Mōdraniht, Songs of Winter War" the latest production by Opera Aperta, set to make its world premiere on the 10th of May in Kyiv (Ukraine). For it, I had the enormous honour to collaborate as curator for the expedition in Northern Spain earlier this year. The expedition in Northern Spain focused in "La Vijanera" which takes place very close to the village where I come from. La Vijanera is a winter ritual, one of Europe’s oldest winter masquerades celebrated in the village of Silió, Cantabria. This ancestral ritual is a communal act of transition as a form of an ancient bridge between the more-than-human world and the human spirit, ensuring that life returns once more to the valley. This research trip inspired the final performance which merge traditions with contemporary creation and reflections of the current times. I would like to thank the Opera Aperta team for their trust and inspiration, specially Olga and Illia, in addition, Enrique, Aline, Avelino, Adán, Cesar, Nacho and Chuchi for their support in the expedition, for their openness to share and support this creative journey, gracias.  Photo by Chuchi Lastra  "How to do opera in times of war? Trying to answer this question, the Ukrainian Kyiv-based collective Opera Aperta, people who are living under the daily threat of the Russian war of extermination, is creating a new opera in the form of rhizomatic theatre, a theatre that can merge on stage different spaces and times. On the evening of December 21st, Mōdraniht, the longest night — the “Night of Mothers“ in Nordic mythology, descends upon Europe. In mountain villages, residents gather for a ritual dance to shield their homes from dark forces and welcome the Sun, which must be reborn each year. Songs of Winter War is a journey of a human group / artistic ensemble through various musics, texts, temporalities, and spaces. Journey between macro- and micro-histories, from “theatre of war” to “inner theatre” of the body. Opera Practica, “theatre about theatre” is an endless “Winterreise” towards the imaginary “east,” but also a voyage between the times, wars, and geographies. The opera project started in 2025 with an expedition from the Ukrainian Carpathians to Central Asia and Northern Spain, reflecting on the tragedy of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan and on the phenomenon of La Vijanera, a winter carnival which still prevails in the small village of Silió in Cantabria. This opera is the final part of the “ecological trilogy” by Opera aperta, started with the creation of the archaeological opera Chornobyldorf in 2020 and GAIA-24. Opera del Mondo in 2024, united by the topics of ecological catastrophes of the last decades, caused by colonial regimes of the USSR (Chornobyl and Aral sea) and later Russia (Kakhovka Dam explosion). The world premiere of the opera will take place in Kyiv as part of the first edition of the international festival of theater and performing arts KY FEST (Kyiv), followed by performances of the opera in Rotterdam (O.Festival) and Vienna (Wiener Festwochen)." ------ Dramaturgy, space – Razumeiko Illia, music, conductor – Roman Grygoriv, costumes – Kateryna Markush, Live electronics – Valeriia Vynohradova. Producer – Olga Diatel Artists: Marichka Shtyrbulova, Yuliia Vitraniuk, Yuliia Alieksieieva, Sofiia Pavlichenko, Oleksandr Chyshii, Kateryna Hordiienko, Dariia Bohdan, Karolina Muzychenko, Akym Zvarych, Ihor Boichuk. Production coordinators – Yuliia Parysh, Iryna Onishchuk. Videography and live video – Ivanna-Kateryna Yakovyna. Lighting – Svitlana Zmieieva. Curator of Expedition in Spain – Seila Fernandez Arconada. Communications – Oleksii Havryliuk. Design – Yaroslava Kovalchuk. Text by Opera Aperta  Tickets for Kyiv: https://kontramarka.ua/.../modraniht-songs-of-winter-war... More information about Opera Aperta: https://opera-aperta.com.ua/ Shared Notes from the Colective walk: “O Fio da Água: Tidal Rhythms and the Dune and the Estuary Friendship” The walk took place in Fão; we left from the Cávado River trying to see the invisible within the territory and its multiple watery layers. We walked from the riverbanks to the Dune, seeking to go beyond the visible landscape of the Estuary, a living organism, home to many species, where we were visitors and, simultaneously, part of that ecosystem. In this collective exploration, we reflected on how the Estuary is in constant transformation. We spoke of its past and the countless floods, but also of its present, with the various constructions that control and limit its activity, such as dams. We thought about its flows, its rhythms linked to the tides and, being close to low tide, consequently to the Moon (currently in its Last Quarter Moon phase). From the most minuscule to the most universal, everything is important: a network of watery relationships that reveal “who we are” through the water we inhabit. We thought about the Dune and its current situation after the storms in Portugal, and how we could take better care of it. Imagination was present; drawing relationships between past, present, and future reveals a “O Fio da Água” (a thread of water) woven into the web of life beyond the human. We sought to feel, connect, and create: how can we be more resilient to water? What will the future be like in the territory we stand upon? Many other questions arose. A huge thank you to all participants; this cycle of walks continues. We carry on with our collective exploration and would love for you to join us. There are new walks this Saturday, Sunday and Monday! Sign up via: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScxjv6ZLKVk3Ik9fqSKVbywNiaC2JCwhUDPvBGIJ-xxmiw7qw/viewform
I am back to Portugal to work on the project “O Fio da Água: Embracing Water’s Flow for Resilient Futures”! Anyone in Portugal you are more than welcome to join the public activities, if you have any connections here please feel free to invite them. Obrigada! --------------------------------------- O Fio da Água: Embracing Water’s Flow for Resilient Futures invites the public for a series of collective journeys to reimagine flood resilience through artistic and sensory exploration. These walks in different areas of Esposende transform the project’s transdisciplinary research into embodied experiences, revealing hidden flows and "in-between spaces" where our lives coexist with the water cycle. Together, we will make the invisible visible for imaginative coexistence and “watery belonging” to the territory. 15th of March 2026, 10:30am-12:30 “O Fio Da Água. Tidal Rhythms, the Estuary and the Dune friendship” 21th of March 2026 10:30am-12:30 “O Fio Da Água. Water Uncertainties and Ancestral Knowledge with Neiva” 22nd of March 2026 10:30am-12:30 “O Fio Da Água: Flooding Memories and Future Imaginaries” 23th of March 2026, 16:00 am-18:00 “O Fio Da Água. Hidden Waters and Flooding in Esposende” For more information and registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScxjv6ZLKVk3Ik9fqSKVbywNiaC2JCwhUDPvBGIJ-xxmiw7qw/viewform More info about the project: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582756212139 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/o_fio_da_agua/ --------------------------------------- “O Fio da Água: Embracing Water’s Flow for Resilient Futures” blends artistic research into a transdisciplinary collaboration to transform flood-prone communities’ understandings of water uncertainties into imaginative coexistence. It is envisioned to generate a series of public artistic interventions and collective activities as experimental “flood conversations” through multi-sensorial collective journeys. It aims to reveal hidden water flows and cultivate embodied socio-ecological belonging, empowering individuals to live harmoniously with their dynamic water environment, inspiring behavioural shifts in water attitudes and practices for a more resilient future. "O Fio da Água" is led by Seila Fernández Arconada (Spanish artist based in Berlin). It is selected for the CHALLENGE #8 – Moving Waters - Reimagining Flood Resilience, as part of the project “S+T+ARTS AQUA MOTION: Transformative Synergies for Improved Water Management”, supported by the European Commission. This project is developed with Rio Neiva - Associação Defesa do Ambiente, residency host partner of S+T+ARTS partner STARTS #ofiodaagua #flooding #transdisciplinaryresearch #STARTS #cheias #startsaquamotion #esposende #Inundações #portugal #rioNeiva   
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