Geoteluric Orison of Saltborn Reveries brings together works by three artists from the Azorean diaspora—ÇALO DO MAR E DA TERRA, living in France, Catarina Rego Martins, living in the Netherlands, and Alex Furtado, living in Canada—united by the concept of being “Saltborn”: those who, despite not living on the islands, remain rooted in their affective geography.

ÇALO DO MAR E DA TERRA presents a sound installation that calls on folklore as a living practice of community and collective memory. Catarina Rego Martins exhibits four design pieces that reflect on tourism as a new identity marker for the Azores, with visual codes that can be read mainly by Azoreans. Alex Furtado brings four works that deal with the experience of Azorean emigration in North America, exploring the feeling of being absent and the feeling of a phantom home.

The exhibition is inspired by the phenomenon of Fata Morgana, an optical mirage that warps and redefines what is visible on the far horizon—a central metaphor for the installation and lighting of the pieces, proposing multiple and variable readings of the island’s identity. The placement of the pieces and the visual atmosphere are designed to evoke this floating illusion, where memory and belonging become mutable perceptions.

Curated by CARA LAVADA (António Nesil, Daniela Medeiros e Rui Filipe Sousa)

Works on display

Alex Furtado
Homonym (2025)
Homonyms are a linguistic concept shared across languages defined as two or more words that have the same spelling and/or pronunciation but contain within them different meanings. Between sculpture and performance, Homonym makes this physical through the presence of five women, seated on the same bench.

Catarina Martins
Destino à Venda (2025)
An installation of four works that use design to create visual codes mainly legible to islanders. By transforming everyday goods, reinventing guides, staging a tourist office, and advertising São Miguel as a destination, the pieces offer an ironic take on tourism as a new identity marker for the Azores.

ÇALO DO MAR E DA TERRA
E Dançam os Mantos sobre o Solo das Lendas (2025)
Using generative algorithms, the work creates a sound landscape alive and in constant mutation, where the cultural and natural elements of the archipelago meld into an immersive and interactive experience.