Drawing from Territory

Drawing from territory is an international artistic and scientific conference held within the framework of the XXIV International Biennial of Art of Cerveira, with the support of research centres from the University of Porto: the Research Institute in Art, Design and Society (i2ADS), the Centre of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning (CEGOT), and the Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment (CITTA).

Rooted in the border territory of Vila Nova de Cerveira, in northern Portugal, and Galicia, the initiative proposes a discussion of pressing territorial issues, with particular attention to border regions as spaces of negotiation, permeability, exchange, and tension.

Drawing from territory invites artists, scientists, professionals from STEM fields, as well as researchers from all areas of knowledge, to engage with Drawing as a broad and transversal discipline, capable of articulating research and praxis across different domains.

About

The international conference Drawing from Territory is a production of the Cerveira Art Biennial Foundation, held within the framework of the XXIV International Biennial of Art of Cerveira, under the artistic direction of Mafalda Santos. This edition addresses the theme “Borderless Territory”, taking the cross-border territory of Vila Nova de Cerveira as its starting point, in relation to Galicia and within a wider international dimension.

The conference is an initiative by Luís Espinheira and Vasco Cardoso, researchers at the Research Institute in Art, Design and Society (i2ADS). It follows the line of research they have been developing, namely within the FCT-funded project DRAWinU (DOI 10.54499/PTDC/ART-OUT/3560/2021), the Open Conferences “Territory’s Representations, its Drawing and Images”, and the Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme “Territories and Drawings”, in collaboration with the Centre of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning (CEGOT) and the Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment (CITTA).

Drawing from Territory proposes a comprehensive discussion on territory and the knowledge that can be drawn from it, through drawings and drawing practices across different fields of knowledge. With particular attention to border territories, the conference reflects on processes of knowledge acquisition, sharing, and dissemination through Drawing, across the domains of Art, Science, and Technology.

Recognising Drawing’s singular capacity to confer, construct, and mediate visuality, Drawing from Territory focuses on its most expansive and transversal understanding. Drawing is thus approached simultaneously as a form of visual thinking, as a device for knowledge production, and as an artistic, scientific, and technological instrument and practice.

Departing from diverse drawings and methodological approaches, the conference seeks to discuss both the challenges and the strategic potentials of border territories. To this end, artists and researchers in Art are invited alongside geographers, geologists, architects, engineers, historians, archaeologists, among others, to reflect on these issues through their own drawings and visual research practices.

The conference is structured around questions such as:

• How can territorially grounded issues be thought through Drawing in the various disciplines?
• What strategies can Drawing mobilise to enable visual thinking about territory?
• What new interpretative insights may emerge from approaches to territory which are grounded in visual thinking?
• In what ways does visual thinking contribute to understanding territorial realities?
• In what ways does visual thinking contribute to formulating problems, and to recognising the potential of border territories?

Drawing from Territory thus proposes a dual focus: on the one hand, on the outcomes of Drawing; on the other, on its processes, methods, and practices, understood as a critical, situated, and transversal way of thinking about territory.

Committees

Chairs

Vasco Cardoso
Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, Research Institute in Art, Design and Society and Centre of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning

Luís Espinheira
Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto and Research Institute in Art, Design and Society

Mafalda Santos
Artistic Director of the Cerveira Art Biennial Foundation, P.F.

Scientific Committee

Carlos Rodrigues, University of Porto
Fernando José Pereira, Artist, i2ADS
Inmaculada López Vílchez, University of Granada
João Ferrão, Institute of Social Sciences - University of Lisbon
Juan Manuel Trillo Santamaría, University of Santiago de Compostela
Lino Cabezas, University of Barcelona
Mário Bismarck, University of Porto
Mário Gonçalves Fernandes, University of Porto
Pascal Dubourg Glatigny, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Centre Alexandre-Koyré
Paulo Luís Almeida, University of Porto
Vítor Silva, University of Porto

Scientific Peer Review Committee

Vasco Cardoso, University of Porto
Luís Espinheira, University of Porto
Alma Pineda, University of Guanajuato
Bart Greets, Ku Leuven
Camila Mangueira, University of Porto
Claire Reddleman, University of Manchester
Cláudia Amandi, University of Porto
Cláudia Marisa, Technical University of Porto
Cristina Ferreira, University of Porto
Daniel Silvestre, University of Porto
David Lopes, University of Porto
David Navarrete Escobedo, University of Guanajuato
Eliana Penedos Santiago, University of Porto
Erik Roger, Luca School of Arts, Brussels
Fabrício Fava, University of Porto
Flávia Costa, University of Porto
Graciela Machado, University of Porto
Holga Méndez Fernández, University of Vigo
Inês Afonso Lopes, University of Porto
Joan Carles Oliver Torello, University of the Balearic Islands
Jorge Marques, University of Porto
Jorge Ricardo Pinto, ISCET Porto
Junuka Deshpande, Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology
Luís Moreira, University of Minho
Madalena Grimaldi, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Manuel Couto Fernandes, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Manuela Lopes, Technical University of Porto
Marcos Gois, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Margarida Dias, University of Porto
Maria Helena Mena-Matos, University of Porto
Maria Manuela Bronze, Technical University of Porto
Maria Vale de Guedes, University of Porto
Maria-José Mulet, University of the Balearic Islands
Matthew Rangel, College of the Sequoias - Visalia, California
Mauricio Velasco Ávalos, University of Guanajuato
Nuno Sousa, University of Porto
Orlando Vieira Francisco, University of Porto
Paulo Bernardino Bastos, University of Aveiro
Pedro Alegria, University of Porto
Raúl Campos López, University of Granada
Rui Neto, University of Porto
Sílvia Simões, University of Porto
Svetoslav Kosev, University of Veliko Turnovo
Uršula Berlot Pompe, University of Ljubljana
Vítor Almeida, University of Porto

Organising Committee

Vasco Cardoso, University of Porto
Luís Espinheira, University of Porto

Fundação Bienal de Arte de Cerveira, F.P.

Board of Directors of Cerveira Art Biennial Foundation, P.F.
Rui Teixeira
Carla Segadães
Pedro Abrunhosa

General Director
Silvie Barroso

Artistic Direction
Mafalda Santos

Communication Manager
Ana Vale Costa

Financial Assistant
Carlos Bouça

Public Procurement
Francisco Esmeriz

Graphic Design and Web Development
Marco Mourão

IT Technician
Calisto Dias

Coordination and Workshop production
Célio Silva

Museology
Rita Veríssimo

Production
FBAC

Executive Secretarial Team
Joel Mota, Liliana Brito

Educational Service
Lídia Portela

Translation
Paulo Martins

Ticket office staff and surveillance
Armanda Bouça, Arsénio Borges, Liliana Brito

Maintenance and cleaning
Arminda Alves, Cândida Freitas, Luísa Cunha

Keynote Speakers

Fernando José Pereira

Artist, i2ADS

Biography
✕
Fernando José Pereira
Fernando José Pereira was born in Porto, the city where he currently lives and works. Since the 1990s, he has developed a multidisciplinary artistic practice in which video plays a central role. He is also the author of theoretical work in the fields of aesthetics and contemporary art.
He is co-founder of the digital platform VIROSE — one of the first initiatives in Portugal dedicated to reflecting on the relationships between art and technology — and a member of the experimental electronic music collective Haarvöl, with albums released by various national and international record labels.
He regularly exhibits at national and international contemporary art museums and has participated in major international exhibitions as well as biennials. Several of his films have been screened at European and American film festivals. His work is represented in both public and private collections.
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Carme Nogueira

Artist

Biography
✕
Carme Nogueira
Carme Nogueira (Spain) has explored the normalizing function of spaces and the processes of subjectivation through photography, video, and installation.
In her latest work, this theme materializes in a series of research processes and actions for public space. Through these actions and investigations, and with the help of objects created specifically for each project, she attempts to promote situations that activate the viewer or collaborators in the project.
In this way, alternative narratives can be generated, and archives or places can be activated.
A graduate in Fine Arts from the University of Salamanca and a PhD from the University of Vigo, she has undertaken residencies and research stays at the Hochschule der Künst, Berlin; Het Wilde Weten Rotterdam; Bulegoa z/b, Bilbao; and the CHARCO program, León, Guanajuato, Mexico, among others.
Most of her artistic projects are site-specific. Some of these site-specific projects have engaged with forms of audiovisual construction, particularly with the concepts of document and documentary.
https://www.cntxt.org/
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Simon Woolham

Artist, lecturer,musician

Biography
✕
Simon Woolham
Simon Woolham is an artist, lecturer and musician based at Rogue Artists’ Studio in Manchester and a Fine Art lecturer at the University of Huddersfield, UK. His practice as an artist, curator and academic is centred around expanded drawing research and methodology and this was the focus of his practice-led PhD from 2012 and awarded in 2016 at Manchester Metropolitan University. The PhD explored walking (in the broadest sense) and narrative in physical, virtual, and psychological space, expanding on the notion of an artists’ residency of the mind.
Between 2000 and 2012 Simon exhibited widely, including a residency and solo exhibition at The Lowry in Salford (UK), BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art Gateshead (UK) and Chapter Gallery in CardiƯ (UK), as well as numerous national and international group exhibitions.
Since 2012 he has developed and initiated projects with Super Slow Way, Drawing Projects UK and the Cultures of programme at the University of Huddersfield. Between 2012 and 2022 he was curator and artistic programmer of the artist-led gallery PAPER in Manchester. Simon recently co-wrote and edited the book ‘Drawing as Placemaking: Environment, History and Identity’ for Bloomsbury Publishing, which unites his deep interest in expanded drawing practice engaging in and expanding notions of placemaking.
Simon also regularly performers his alter-ego The Frog and is a member of the band L.A.S.H.
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Submissions

Artists and researchers in Art are invited alongside geographers, geologists, architects, engineers, historians, archaeologists, among others, to reflect on the Conference themes through their own drawings and visual research practices.

The conference is structured around questions such as:

• How can territorially grounded issues be thought through Drawing in the various disciplines?
• What strategies can Drawing mobilise to enable visual thinking about territory?
• What new interpretative insights may emerge from approaches to territory which are grounded in visual thinking?
• In what ways does visual thinking contribute to understanding territorial realities?
• In what ways does visual thinking contribute to formulating problems, and to recognising the potential of border territories?

Drawing from Territory proposes a dual focus: on the one hand, on the outcomes of Drawing; on the other, on its processes, methods, and practices, understood as a critical, situated, and transversal way of thinking about territory.

Abstracts

The call for abstract submissions closed on 15 May 2026, and the peer-review process is now underway

Papers (after approved abstract)

Download full text template ↓

The paper to be submitted for presentation at the conference and for publication in the Conference Proceedings must be original, authored by the submitting contributors, and must not be under consideration in any other peer-review submission process.

Each author, individually or as part of a group, may submit a maximum of two full papers for future presentation and publication.

The accepted languages are Portuguese, English and Spanish.

Full papers must be submitted by sending a Word file to the following email address, by 30 August 2026 (anywhere on Earth): dft@bienaldecerveira.pt

Important dates

Registrations

For any other registration-related enquiries: inscricoes@bienaldecerveira.pt

Registration Fees - Author Registration

Registration includes:
Full access to the conference, coffee breaks, the field trip, and Conference Dinner.

Student registration:
Students with valid proof of enrolment are eligible for a reduced registration fee, with a discount of €125 in all categories. The reduced fee includes access to all keynote lectures, panel sessions, and coffee breaks.

Note:
Papers that are not authored exclusively by students must have at least one author registered at the full (non-discounted) rate in order to be eligible for presentation at the conference and inclusion in the proceedings.

Registration Fees - Non-Author / General Registration

Registration includes:
Full access to the conference, all coffee breaks, and the field trip.

Student registration:
Students with valid proof of enrolment are eligible for a reduced registration fee, with a discount of €25 in all categories. The reduced fee includes access to all keynote lectures, panel sessions, and coffee breaks.

Cancellation Policy

We cannot offer any refunds of conference fees.

Programme

(in preparation)

The working language of the conference will be English. We kindly ask participants to note that translation or interpretation services will not be available.

Practical Information

Museu Bienal de Cerveira – Fórum Cultural de Cerveira

Address
Fórum Cultural de Cerveira
Avenida das Comunidades Portuguesas, s/n
4920-251 Vila Nova de Cerveira, Portugal

Coordinates
Latitude: 41.946262 (41° 56′ 47″ N)
Longitude: −8.742537 (8° 44′ 33″ W)

Phone
+351 251 794 633

Email
geral@bienaldecerveira.pt

Website
bienaldecerveira.pt

Getting There

By Train
Vila Nova de Cerveira Railway Station — 19-minute walk (1.3 km)

By Bus
Vila Nova de Cerveira Bus Terminal — 16-minute walk (1.1 km)
Autna bus service stop — 8-minute walk (600 m)

Partners

Data Processing Policy

Data Processing and Declaration of Consent:

We value your privacy and process your data in compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Your “Personal Data” is any information related to you. “Processing” refers to any operation performed on the data. According to the Transparency Principle, this document will provide you with information about the processing of your personal data as required by Art. 12, 13, and 14 of the GDPR.

Who are we, and how can you contact us?

Event name: International Conference “DRAWING FROM TERRITORY -Research and practices in art, science and technology”
Organization: Fundação Bienal de Cerveira and I2ADS, U.Porto
Location: Vila Nova de Cerveira, Portugal,
Date: 23^rd, 24^th, 25^th & 26^th November 2026
Contact us at: dft@bienaldecerveira.pt

For what purpose do we process your data?

We process your data for the following purposes:

1. Organisation and/or management of the event
2. Organisation of related events in the future (e.g. next edition of the conference)
3. Keeping the participants informed about related topics (e.g. reuse of contact details for newsletter purposes)
4. Promoting and documenting the event itself on our website and/or social media
5. Promoting and documenting the research presented at the event (publish videos/photos of the lecture)
6. Statistical analysis of the event (e.g. in relation to past and future events)
7. Administration of participation fees and/or travel expenses
8. Generation of attendance certificates, invoices and payment confirmations
9. Community building (allowing participants to stay in touch with each other after the event)

What information about you do we collect and process?

For the purposes listed above, we process the following information related to you: Name, surname, E-mail address, Affiliation, Professional title / academic status, Country, Photographs, audio or video recordings, Account or credit/debit card information, Dietary requirements, Participation in previous events organised by the organiser.

How do we obtain this information?

We obtain this information directly from you when you fill in the Google Forms for submission, registration and other forms related to the event or publishing. The information that is mandatory is marked with an asterisk in the attached form. For the remaining information, you are free to decide not to provide it; in this case, it will not appear in our communications.

Legal basis for the processing of your data

Your data is processed on the basis of your consent (Art. 6.1(a) of the GDPR), which you give by accepting this notice. Dietary requirements can reveal your philosophical opinions or religious beliefs; therefore, we regard them as sensitive data. The processing of this information is based on your explicit consent (Art. 9.2(a) of the GDPR). Exceptionally, where consent is not an appropriate legal basis, your personal data can also be processed on the basis of our legitimate interest in organising and promoting the event, your legitimate interest in participating in it, and your legitimate interest in staying informed about recent developments in the research community.

For how long do we keep your data?

Your data, listed above, will be stored for the purposes listed above, as long as necessary to achieve the purpose of data collection. After these periods, your data will be deleted or anonymised in accordance with the highest standards.

Will your data be shared with anyone?

Your personal data will not be shared with or disclosed to anyone outside Fundação Bienal de Cerveira, I2ADS, or U.Porto. Information about your dietary requirements, which may reveal your philosophical opinions or religious beliefs, will be shared only in aggregated form, making it impossible to identify you. Moreover, for the purpose of community building, your name, affiliation, and contact details will be shared with other participants in the event.

Will your data be transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA)?

Your data will not be transferred outside the European Economic Area. No profiling or automated decision-making. Your data will not be used for profiling or automated decision-making purposes.

Your rights with regard to the processing of your data

The GDPR grants you certain rights regarding the processing of your personal data. These rights include:

• Access (Art. 15 of the GDPR): you have the right to obtain confirmation as to whether we process your personal data, as well as information about how we process it. You can also request a copy of your personal data, for which we may charge you a reasonable fee based on administrative costs. In order to exercise your right of access, contact us at dft@bienaldecerveira.pt
• Rectification (Art. 16 of the GDPR): if your personal data that we process is incomplete or inaccurate, you have the right to request rectification of such data without undue delay. In order to exercise your right to rectification, contact us at dft@bienaldecerveira.pt
• Erasure (“right to be forgotten” - Art. 17 of the GDPR): in certain circumstances (e.g. if your data are processed unlawfully or unnecessarily), you may request erasure of your personal data.
• Restriction of processing (Art. 18 of the GDPR): in certain circumstances (e.g. if you contest the accuracy of your data that we process or the lawfulness of the processing), you may request restriction of processing of your data. Such data will not be erased, but in principle can only be processed with your consent;
• Data portability (Art. 20 of the GDPR): in certain circumstances, you may request transmission of your data to another controller in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format;
• Right to object (Art. 21 of the GDPR): if you did not consent to the processing, or if it is not necessary to comply with a legal obligation, you may always object to it, in which case we shall no longer process your data. Moreover, you have the right to:
• withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal data at any time (Art. 7(3) of the GDPR) by contacting us at dft@bienaldecerveira.pt
• The withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
• Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.