Borja Zabala «ASMR Performance. A Slow Reading of 8 Poems and a Final Sentence»

Borja Zabala explores the relationship between poetry and space, a shared field of action in which thought, voice, and place are shaped and intertwined. His performance emerges from this reflection and takes form through actions: reading poems slowly aloud and repeating wandering gestures. From this arises a language that is sober, lucid, and combative, permeated by an awareness of limits: freedom and restraint, voice and silence, stillness and movement. These actions do not seek to represent the world, but to activate it: to generate presence and open cracks within established discourses.

Borja Zabala (BZ) is a key figure in performance art in Spain during the 1990s. He understands performance as a space for debate and evolves from expressive ritual towards an austere, anti-theatrical post-conceptual discourse, marked by a critical sense of humour directed at institutions and the art market. From 1996 onwards, he withdrew from the public sphere and, beginning in the 2000s, resumed his activity through online networks; today he works in hybrid formats grounded in a poetic dimension. He has participated in Viva Veu and Club 7, and has performed at La Virreina, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the MACBA, the Museu Tàpies, ARBAR and Santa Mònica.

Credits

Date: 11 June 2026
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Venue: Sala Bar
Event: Performative reading as part of the Voice and Word Thursdays series
Text: MPR
Images:
Featuring: Borja Zabala
Programmed by: Marta Pol Rigau