Open Call for Nocturnal Walkthroughs of the exhibition 'Listening All Night To The Rain' by John Akomfrah

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OPEN CALL! Programming proposals for Nocturnal Walkthroughs of the exhibition

John Akomfrah: Listening All Night To The Rain

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid 

Curated by Tarini Malik

November 4, 2025 - February 8, 2026 

The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and TBA21–Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary present Listening All Night To The Rain, an exhibition by John Akomfrah. The British artist of Ghanaian origin reimagines his most ambitious and experimental work to date, originally commissioned for the British Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale.

Nocturnal Walkthroughs are a constellation of talks, readings, and interventions that place John Akomfrah’s work in dialogue with urgent contemporary issues. 

We invite artists, poets, performers, scientists, activists, thinkers, and cultural workers to propose original activities—ranging from performances and readings to lectures, sound pieces, dance works, or collective rituals—for this series of public activities accompanying Listening All Night to the Rain.

Rather than traditional tours, Nocturnal Walkthroughs open the exhibition to new perspectives, encouraging collective reflection on the intersecting crises of our time. 

Climate colonialism is a central thread in Akomfrah’s work, which explores how environmental breakdown is deeply linked to histories of colonial extraction and displacement. This public program builds on these ideas, using listening and shared experience as tools for understanding and responding to these legacies.

Proposals should activate the exhibition space and create opportunities for dialogue, reflection, and collective engagement—whether through lecture-performances, sound or music interventions, live poetry, guided meditations, storytelling, or unexpected forms yet to be imagined.

Through these after-hours sessions, we hope to explore how Akomfrah’s work resonates with the crises and possibilities shaping our present—and to do so in ways that are intimate, participatory, and transformative.

These sessions will take place at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid on alternating Saturday evenings, at 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., each lasting approximately 45 minutes. The activities are free of charge and open to the general public. 

Discover more about the exhibition here.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

How to apply

Find the registration form and apply here.

The activities will take place at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid on Saturday evenings approximately every two weeks, with two sessions each evening: one at 9:00 p.m. and another at 10:00 p.m. Each session will last approximately 45 minutes. The activities are free of charge and open to the general public.

When preparing your proposal, please keep in mind that John Akomfrah’s works are audiovisual and will remain active during the activities. Proposals must consider that the sound from the artworks will be audible in the galleries, and the screens will continue to display the video content throughout the activity.

Speakers or projectors that could interfere with the artist’s works may not be used in the gallery space. However, in the room adjacent to the installation, activities that require a quiet setting — such as discussions, talks, or lectures — may be held.

Suggested dates: 

• 15 & 29 November, 2025
• 13 & 20 December, 2025
• 17 & 31 January, 2026

*While we encourage all backgrounds and nationalities to apply, please note that the dedicated fee includes travel and accommodation, should it be necessary.

Application period: July 14 - August 24, 2025

Deadline: August 24, 2025 (midnight)

Fee: 1,000€ (incl. IVA)

Language: Spanish or English

Form: Open to all forms and genres

Release: July 14, 2025

Successful applicants will be contacted by mid-September. 

Examples of past activities:

The public program of the previous TBA21 exhibition at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, At-Tāriq. A Journey into the Rural Musical Traditions of North Africa and the Arab World, by the Lebanese artist Tarek Atoui, offered a wide range of activities and events, including concerts, performative tours, sonic activations of the exhibition space, talks, and family workshops. Some of the Nocturnal Walkthroughs that took place were:

Nocturnal Walkthrough with La Liminal: The collective La Liminal presented a tour that transgressed the boundary between movement and stillness, between action and inaction, inviting participants to contemplate and listen actively. This activity proposed a reflection on the meaning and need for shelter and protection in an era marked by mobility and displacement.

In Praise of the Broken, Nocturnal Walkthrough with Marina Hervás: Marina Hervás’ night tour offered a listening experience that explored the power of the fragmentary, the wounded, and the incomplete in shaping our relationship with tradition and rurality. From this perspective, her visit engaged in dialogue with the sound work of Tarek Atoui, delving into notions of imagined traditions and utopian geographies.

The First Touch, Nocturnal Walkthrough with Pablo Zamorano: Pablo Zamorano’s proposal was an immersive activity that combined body, movement, and ritual to explore the liminal space between night and day, the living and the dead. Through guided exercises and creative research, participants discovered ancestral poetics, perceiving the unseen and embodying the transitions that shape the perception of time and existence.

For more information on previous activities, please visit our website. 

PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION

The processing of personal data is carried out in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 27, concerning the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data, and Organic Law 3/2018 of December 5, on the Protection of Personal Data and Guarantee of Digital Rights. The participant is informed that by applying to the open call, they consent to the processing of the personal data provided, and in compliance with the provisions of Article 13 of said Regulation, the following is informed:

DATA CONTROLLER: Fundación TBA21 privacy@tba21.org

PURPOSE OF PROCESSING: To process the application for the participation in the present open call.

LEGAL BASIS FOR THE PROCESSING: The legal basis for this processing is your explicit consent upon submitting your application. Your data will not be shared with third parties, except where legally required or when collaborating directly with partner institutions involved in the project, in which case you will be duly informed.

RETENTION PERIOD: Data will be retained for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose for which they were collected and to determine any possible liabilities that may arise from that purpose and the processing of the data.

DATA TRANSFER: Fundación TBA21 will transfer the strictly necessary information to its Collaborators, if any,  for the selection process.

RIGHTS YOU MIGHT EXERCISE: Regarding the personal data collected for processing, you have the possibility to exercise the rights of access, rectification, cancellation, limitation of processing, opposition, and data portability, by making a written request to the data controller at the address provided above, in the terms stipulated by current regulations. If you believe your data protection rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the Spanish Agency for Data Protection. (https://www.aepd.es/)