UK–Brazil Season of Culture announces 2026 programme across major UK institutions
A new wave of Brazilian art, film, music, dance and literature will arrive across the UK in 2026, as organisers confirm the next phase of the UK–Brazil Season of Culture.
Running through to summer 2026, the programme brings Brazilian artists into some of the country’s most established cultural spaces, including the ICA, BFI Southbank, the Royal Ballet, South London Gallery, Wigmore Hall and Hay Festival. Rather than operating as a single festival, the season unfolds across existing programmes, embedding Brazilian work within the UK’s cultural calendar.
At the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, Brazilian artist Laura Lima will present her first London solo exhibition. The Drawing Drawing brings together performative installations that blur the boundaries between sculpture, movement and participation. Known for work that resists fixed categories, Lima’s practice often unfolds over time, placing the viewer inside the work rather than in front of it.
Dance features prominently in the 2026 programme. At the Royal Opera House, Mayara Magri will perform the title role in Giselle, marking her debut in one of classical ballet’s most demanding and symbolic parts. Magri, who grew up in Rio de Janeiro before training at The Royal Ballet School, was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2021. Her appearance in the role places a Brazilian artist at the centre of one of the company’s defining productions.
Visual art continues beyond London. At Goodwood Art Foundation, Hélio Oiticica’s Magic Square #3 will be installed as the first European outdoor presentation of the late artist’s work. Oiticica, a central figure in 20th-century Brazilian art, was instrumental in shaping the Tropicalia movement. The large-scale installation invites visitors to move through blocks of colour arranged as an open-air structure, reflecting his long-standing interest in participation and sensory experience.
Cinema will form one of the most expansive strands of the season. BFI Southbank will present a Brazilian film programme spanning from the 1930s to the present day, featuring around 40 titles across fiction, documentary and short film. Curated by Renata de Almeida and Adriana Rouanet, the season traces the development of Brazilian cinema through major directors including Glauber Rocha, Héctor Babenco and Walter Salles, offering historical context alongside contemporary work.
In south London, the South London Gallery will host the first UK solo exhibition by painter Paulo Nimer Pjota. His work draws on mythology, popular culture, hip-hop sampling and art history, combining references that sit deliberately out of time. For the exhibition, Pjota will present a new body of paintings set against a mural painted directly onto the gallery walls, creating an immersive environment populated by imagined creatures and symbolic fragments.
Music and performance extend the programme further. At LSO St Luke’s, a concert dedicated to Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos will bring together classical repertoire and Amazonian song traditions, performed by pianist Marcelo Bratke, soprano Camila Provenzale and the Finchley Children’s Music Group. Wigmore Hall will host Ilumina, a Brazil-based musical initiative that supports young musicians across South America, presenting a programme that moves between European classical works and Brazilian compositions.
Literature also forms part of the exchange. In 2026, Hay Festival will partner with Brazil’s International Literary Festival of Paraty (FLIP), welcoming Brazilian writers to Hay-on-Wye as part of a collaboration that reflects the two festivals’ shared histories and international outlook.
Featured image: (From left to right) Mayara Magri © Andrej Uspenski; Hélio Oiticica, Magic Square #3: Invention of Color (1987). Installed at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Brasilia 2022-24. © César and Claudio Oiticica. Courtesy tuîa arte produção. Photography by Joana França; Laura Lima, at her studio in Rio de Janeiro. Photograph by Laura Lima Studio. Courtesy of the artist.
Elena Leo is the Arts & Lifestyle Editor of Ikon London Magazine.
