The EiMa festival returns and its dialogue with the territory

PalmaThe EiMa festival returns this year with a new edition that, according to the organizers, "consolidates the commitment to contemporary living arts in dialogue with the territory and the rural landscape of Mallorca". The project, directed by choreographer and creator Mariantònia Oliver and presented this Wednesday in Palma with the participation of the autonomous secretary of Culture Pedro Vidal and Oliver herself, maintains Maria de la Salut as the epicenter, but again expands its presence to heritage and natural spaces in the center of the island.

The festival will take place from June 29 to July 11, 2026, with the central days of artistic programming starting on July 5. The opening will take place in Plaça de Dalt in Maria de la Salut, with the community project Fronteres Insulars, by the company Instabili Vaganti, a proposal for the creation of an artistic installation developed with resident artists. The inaugural day will also include the semifinal of the Certamen Art Jove 2026 and the piece Àncora, by Col·lectiu 14, which open the festival to a combination of emerging creation and consolidated contemporary production.

The program continues on July 7 with a day of reflection and artistic practice at Ca les Monges, while on July 9, the urban center of Maria de la Salut becomes a stage with interventions in unconventional spaces, such as doorways and shop windows, with pieces like Skai is ful, by Hermanas Picohueso, and Yo soy un cuerpo, by La Perrerie.

The territorial dimension of the festival is especially visible on July 10, when EiMa moves to the archaeological site of Son Fornés (Montuïri). This space hosts various creations of artistic installations linked to the body, memory, and landscape, with pieces such as Post-human (Cia. BAAL),  Sense l’arbre soc una dona morta (Anna Rubio),  Foc i Lloc (La Súbita) and  Ses honorables virtuts il·lògiques.

The festival closes on July 11 at the Comuna de Lloret de Vistalegre, a forest environment that the project claims as a space for community memory and shared use of the territory. There, works such as Contenu vide (Lassina Koné),  Lo que los árboles no cuentan (Cia. Kiko López) and Je m’appelle Jordi, by Mariantònia Oliver herself, who also participates as a creator in this edition.

Beyond the scenic programming, EiMa maintains its dimension as a laboratory and space for thought with professional days dedicated to cultural mediation, the role of festivals in island contexts, collaboration models, and the relationship between body, memory, and contemporary creation. These activities reinforce the festival's commitment to not limit itself to the exhibition of performances, but to articulate processes of creation, research, and exchange between local and international artists.

With this new edition, EiMa "reaffirms its identity as a festival that moves performing arts outside conventional spaces" to place them in direct contact with the territory, heritage, and rural landscape, thus turning these spaces into an active part of contemporary creation, as explained.