In Photos: The art programme at Polifonic Puglia

This year, Polifonic returns to Puglia, Italy, for its eighth edition, with two new commissions joining a programme of installations that has grown alongside the festival itself.

At Polifonic, art has never been treated as a backdrop. Each edition’s installations are built to respond directly to the landscape and in dialogue with the festival’s central theme – this year, Sensory Bloom.

Previous works have had real cultural impact as much as visual: Marcantonio’s Germogli, giant golden olive shoots, responded directly to the threat of Xylella disease facing the region’s olive groves, and Bernardo Palazzo’s work Corpi Celesti, pairing cactus forms with traditional Apulian lace to root the festival in local heritage. Later works, including Stella Stone’s Wildin Hills and Sten&Lex’s stencil poster artwork, brought a more contemporary, pop-inflected practice to the same space.

New for 2026 is ECO, a site-specific installation by Angela D’Onghia and Simona Vacca. Vertical aluminium modules are fitted with LED panels in a semicircle across the site, using ambient and audio sensors to translate the vibrations of the live music into slow, layered pulses of light.

Also new is The Lightning Tower, by Rome-born artist Pepemaniak (Federico Ceruso), previously exhibited at Burning Man. A tall, slender sculpture built around a central lightning bolt, the work is conceived as a modern totem, an object for people to gather around, intended as a symbol of illumination and the invisible energy that passes between people.

Polifonic Festival 2026 will take place across multiple locations, including Masseria Capece, Cala Maka and Le Palme Beach Club from 22-26 July.

Look back through the existing installations and preview the new additions in the photos below.