The intention of the culture, art and thought biennial since its first edition has been to propose new paths for thought, art and culture, as well as science, with the aim of interpreting and clarifying the complexity of our times. However, without deviating from this legitimate aspiration, the 2026 Encuentros will have a very specific function, in part different from previous years. Our times require it. 

Our primary purpose will be to unmask an ideologically dishonest world, planned by those in power so that lies can be told as if they were irrefutable logic. A world of information traps and rhetorical snares to leave bloodthirsty, invading leaders unpunished. Never until now, even in their darkest moments, had capitalism or neoliberalism fallen into hands so skilled in fraud. Their great industry, their well-oiled machinery, work to create a manipulated reality, to misrepresent fraud and publicise it as truth, and to instil contempt for the human species, a species that is increasingly expendable, only useful as material for trade. 

These grave circumstances involve an epoch-making lack of consideration for citizens, who are regarded as being spineless, undermined by disappointment. The great mission of the new dictators, of which Hans Jonas and Hannah Arendt warned us after the Second World War, is to remind peoples, day in day out, of their powerlessness, to convince them there is no alternative. This is where nihilism begins, in a rejected utopia. 

For these reasons, what we call out thematic pathways will in 2026 consist of a determination to expose lies and criticise the confusion induced by the oligarchies, with narratives that restore reality to the centre of things, to its natural, true dimension. This is a restoration. We will be proposing an analysis of the renewed march of imperialisms and the debate between democracy and nihilism. We will also be asking ourselves why we have constructed ourselves in this way, exploring our mindset and the psychology that defines us, why we act in one way and not another. Revealing the issue allows for the possibility of change, fostering greater moral maturity and encouraging a clearer view of events. 

Literature is certainly a good testing ground for this possibility of correcting the dangerous course of civilisation, a future both individual and collective, and this is why we will have leading names who have made literature into a way of thinking and taking a stand in the face of history; also within feminism. 

On the other hand, while in 2024 we devoted space to thinking about our hands, in 2026 we will be thinking about voice: the voice we were, largely now lost, the voice that remains to us, the voice of conscience as a confidant, its anthropology and philosophy, as well as its former manifestation as a sacred element, today synthesised on digital devices.

Other threads will explore the progress of research in science and technology, in particular artificial intelligence and how to live with it; film, pressing environmental issues, music and dance, this year in a more practical approach, one that welcomes non-western cultures. 

The section devoted to feminism will this year focus on Caminos de otro hacer, pathways to another way of doing things, a homage to the women who are crucial to thinking about other ways of living, coexisting and knowing. This forthcoming edition of Encuentros will be devoting a section to thinking about the role of voice: the evolution of our voice, its reach in the public sphere and its gradual loss and replacement by artefacts that speak to us mechanically.

With regard to the environment, how much world do we have left? will be the question posed in order to assess nature’s actual reserves, how likely it is to last in its current form and strategies to try to protect it.