THE
MOUNTAIN
BODY
Azores Archipelago
Black Smokers, 2025, Azores
Commisioned by the 1st Walk & Talk biennial – Gestures of Abundance curated by Jesse James, Claire Shea, Liliana Countinho and Fatima Bintou Rassoul Sy. San Miguel, Azores.
Black Smokers is a sensory based work in two parts on the hydrothermal vent systems that may appear on the meeting point of techtonical plates on the deep sea ocean ridges. Thriving in a world of explosive heat and total darkness, The Black Smokers might be the origin of all life on earth.
The work included a self – guided performance with sound and small sculptures made out of drift wood and shells in the garden of Cultural Calura Centre (CCC) installed in and below a dragon fruit tree.
During the Biennale opening weekend, at sunrise and sunset, at Ponta Galera Beach, the work unfolded as a guided underwater immersion that led participants to float and explore the sea with small wood sculptures made from drift wood and shells gathered from across the archipelago.
Black Smokers is a new creation within the series of developing 4 original works based on research on diverse vulcanic grounds in Europe, funded by Perform Europe and curated by Lisa Gilardino. The works are too part of Helle Siljeholm’s ongoing art and research project exploring mountains and geological formations as entangled more-than-human bodies across geological time and space. Inspired by the community of life that surrounds the hydrothermal vents and seamounts on the deep- sea floor of Azores the work unfolds as a sensory- based exploration for audiences to participate in.
Choreograhy, sculptures, script:
Helle Siljeholm
Curator:
Lisa Gilardino
Collaborator on driftwood sculptures:
Keresztes Zsombi
Consultant on research:
Nuno Pereira
Input floating exercises:
Per Roar Thorsnes, Jenny Krog, Laura Lihua Nilsen, Iris Engeness
Audio recording and mixing:
Marco Moreira/RTP Açores
Voice audio for the installation at CCC:
Filipa André
Installation technicians:
João Chaves and Bruno Sousa
Project manager Perform Europe:
Martina Smadelli Bonardi
Commissioned by and for Walk&Talk Biennial. Supported by Perform Europe, Oslo National Academy for the Arts artistic research program, Erasmus+ for higher education
Documentation:
Mariana Lopez and Tomas Rego
A huge thank you to the Walk&Talk curators, team and staff at CCC.
In Caloura, Helle Siljeholm’s project delves into the geological unconscious of the island. Drawing on research into hydrothermal vents — “black smokers” that emit mineral-rich currents sustaining deep-sea life — she developed a self-guided performance that leads participants along São Miguel’s coastal thresholds. Through a choreography of sound, text, and embodied movement, Siljeholm reattunes the visitor’s perception to the mineral and thermal forces that pulse beneath the island’s surface. The work’s speculative sensibility bridges deep time and corporeal awareness, turning geology into a site of intimacy.
– Anaïs Castro, Flash Art, Nov. 2025