Matadero Madrid celebrates the second edition of the Biophest festival to strengthen ties with nature
Participating experts include neuroscientist Nazareth Castellanos, researcher Michael Marder, musicians Teo Lucadamo and Anthonius, and artist María Eugenia Diego.
Tickets for adult workshops and film screenings are available on the Matadero Madrid and Cineteca Madrid websites.
Registration is now open for free guided tours at intermediae.es.
Matadero Madrid, the contemporary creation center of the Department of Culture, Tourism and Sport, will celebrate the second edition of the Biophest festival from April 14 to 19, featuring an extensive program of activities for all audiences. This cultural project, organized by Intermediae Matadero and curated by urban botany expert Elena Páez and cultural communication specialist Eva F. Cortés, aims to promote the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and artistic experimentation to deepen the emotional bond between humans and nature.
Following the success of the first edition, the program has been expanded to six days, offering more than 30 activities, including film, conferences, workshops, guided tours, artistic installations, and concerts. The concept of the "mosaic landscape"—a term referring to territories where different land uses coexist—will articulate the 2026 edition of Biophest, which features internationally renowned artists, musicians, naturalists, and scientists.
In addition, local actors will showcase the diversity of the natural environments surrounding Matadero Madrid through guided walking tours. Furthermore, as a tribute to his legacy, the spirit of British filmmaker and artist Derek Jarman (1942–1994), along with his profound love for nature, will permeate various spaces throughout the festival.
Workshops for children and adults
Throughout the weekend, six workshops designed for children and adults will explore biophilia, the emotional bond between humans and plants. Sponsored by the Spanish Forest Certification Association (PEFC Spain), the free workshops The Forest Challenge and The Nature of Objects will allow children aged six and up to learn through play. Interested parties can download their free tickets at intermediae.es.
Adults will also have the opportunity to engage in artistic practices linked to the plant world, such as embroidery, stamp making, and cyanotype printing, as well as establishing a conscious connection with seeds, exploring the uses of aromatic plants, and learning how to care for plant cuttings. Tickets for these workshops are available on the Matadero Madrid website.
‘Docu Natura by Água das Pedras’ Film Series
Film joins the program in this second edition of Biophest with the series ‘Docu Natura by Água das Pedras,’ featuring three films that address the relationship between humans and the plant environment as a prologue to the weekend activities. The Garden (Derek Jarman, 1990), The Secret Life of Plants (Walon Green, 1978)—featuring an original soundtrack by Stevie Wonder—and the documentary Sembradoras de vida (Diego and Álvaro Sarmiento, 2019) will be screened on April 14, 15, and 16, respectively. The films will be presented by curators Elena Páez and Eva F. Cortés, music section curator Diego Fernández, and art curator and historian Aurora Carmenate Díaz. Tickets are on sale at cinetecamadrid.com.
Conversations with experts
The Cineteca Madrid Sala Plató will host six free conferences with experts in various fields related to biophilia. The program begins on Saturday, April 18, at 11:30 AM, with researcher and neuroscientist Nazareth Castellanos, who will present ‘Breathing: A Gateway to the Brain,’ focusing on how the brain and body regulate themselves in contact with nature. At 12:30 PM, psychologist José Antonio Corraliza will discuss nature and emotion from the perspective of environmental psychology. Sociologist and translator Helen Torres will close the day at 1:30 PM with the talk ‘Fungi and Mycelium as Matter and Metaphor,’ exploring how these species can help humans think about other ways of living and dying.
Canadian philosopher Michael Marder, one of the leading international proponents of ‘plant-thinking,’ will open the Sunday, April 19 program at 11:30 AM with ‘Thinking with Seeds.’ Naturalist and writer Joaquín Araújo, a former collaborator of Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, will discuss the festival’s themes at 12:30 PM. The panel is completed by the roundtable ‘The Art of Caring for the Landscape: Mosaics that Extinguish Fires’ at 1:30 PM.
Artistic installations and exhibitions
From April 17 to 19, the Nave Una space will host four free artistic projects where plant life connects with art and thought. The winner of the 1st Flora International Festival Prize, María Eugenia Diego (KOKON), presents the installation Improbable Oasis, which hybridizes the sculptural and the botanical, inspired by the garden that Derek Jarman cultivated on a shingle beach. The installation’s light, transparent materiality emulates the vulnerability Jarman faced due to his HIV-positive status. In relation to this, on the afternoon of Saturday the 18th, Javier Pérez Iglesias, director of the Faculty of Fine Arts Library at the Complutense University of Madrid, will facilitate an activity where the public can read Jarman’s diaries.
XenoVisual Studies [XVS], a collective participating in the Medialab Matadero Madrid research residency, will present the installation Photosynthesis, created specifically for Biophest. This project plays with the idea of photosynthesis and explores the possibility of feeding plants with "xenovisuality"—a synthesis guided by images rather than light.
Additionally, Yolanda Uriz’s installation Chemical Calls of Care II will explore audio-olfactory communication with plants, inviting the public to experience a chemical dialogue with aromatic plant species. A central unit composed of living plants will create a circuit that emits olfactory signals, which are then translated into sound perceptible to visitors.
What do we harvest?, organized by Ecosecha in the Terrario space, is an exhibition showcasing the diversity of local plant varieties and highlighting the drastic reduction in many of them.
Musical performances linked to plant species
Each day of the weekend will feature a free musical performance curated by Diego Fernández, related to the world of plant species. On Friday, April 17, at 8:00 PM in Nave Una, the artist Anthonius will lead the session Music for Bonsais. On Saturday, April 18, Teo Lucadamo will offer a musical session reimagining Stevie Wonder’s album Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants.
Finally, on Sunday, April 19, at 12:30 PM in Nave Una, English DJ John Gómez will present From Seed to Rhythm, a sonic journey evolving from ethereal ambient music to downtempo and deep house rhythms. Each transition symbolizes a phase of the plant life cycle, from germination to flowering.
Flytrap. Fashion, music, and action
On April 19, Terrario and Nave Una will host an activity for adults where participants will transform waste into ephemeral fashion pieces inspired by plant imagery. The event will culminate in the Flytrap fashion show, where the participants' creations will come to life. This free activity is orchestrated by Clara Macías Carcedo with sound design by Raquel Martínez Muñoz and requires prior registration at intermediae.es.
Guided tours in natural spaces
Biophest has organized four walking tours to explore the plant world around us. The program starts on Saturday, April 18, at 11:30 AM with a bio-botanical route guided by Carmen Haro and Laura Milena Ramírez along the Manzanares River. The Pulse of Plants Under Glass will be a journey where, accompanied by Rojomenta, participants will discover the greenhouse at the Palacio de Cristal in Arganzuela at 5:00 PM. A guided route by Malú Cayetano and Aixa González, and a tour with naturalist Joaquín Araújo, will complete the offer on Sunday, April 19. All tours are free, subject to downloading a ticket at intermediae.es.
The Biophest festival, organized by Intermediae and Matadero Madrid, is sponsored by Água das Pedras and the Spanish Forest Certification Association (PEFC Spain). This festival aligns with the work on permaculture and critical ecology that has characterized the Intermediae program since its inception.