Programs

TBA21–Academy activates its research lines through a wide range of program formats. These are organised into two main constellations: Signature Programs, long-term frameworks that harness the Academy's unique context to develop initiatives that could not emerge otherwise; and Tactical Satellites, agile interventions that respond to emerging contexts, urgencies, and alliances.

The Current is TBA21–Academy’s curatorial fellowship and roaming research program, organised in multi-year cycles across different oceanic regions. It brings together curators, artists, and researchers through expeditions, convenings, and collaborations that map situated issues and weave them into wider conversations across science, conservation, policy, and culture.

Organismo is an experimental applied research program that weaves together situated investigation, critical theory, and speculative practices through case studies developed in alliance with cultural, academic, and civic entities. It operates on the hypothesis that artist-led interdisciplinary projects can function as a form of infrastructural activism, moving beyond critical reflection to activate tangible territorial, social, and ecological transformations.

Ocean Space is TBA21–Academy’s flagship centre in Venice, hosting exhibitions, research-based projects, and public programs that catalyze situated engagement and environmental advocacy for ecosocial regeneration. Located in the Church of San Lorenzo, it anchors long-term collaborations in the Venetian lagoon while connecting them to planetary debates on oceans, climate, and justice.

OCEAN / UNI is TBA21–Academy’s public studies program. Transversal to all Academy strands, it connects research lines and program frameworks through online curricula, workshops, and collective study formats that open the Academy's work to wider communities. Rather than focusing on a single theme, OCEAN / UNI follows the evolving questions of the program, turning them into spaces for shared learning, discussion, and critical reflection across geographies and disciplines.

Tactical Satellites are flexible, context-responsive program formats that operate beyond the Academy’s core laboratories and long-term programs. Lighter in structure but sharp in focus, they are custom-built for specific situations or windows of opportunity. Through co-productions, collaborations, touring projects, and policy-oriented interventions, they function as probes that test new geographies, alliances, and themes, feeding their findings back into TBA21–Academy’s research and programming lines.