The city of Irun is preparing to celebrate the tenth edition of the Ribera Fair, scheduled from September 16-19. The event will transform the area around the Bidasoa River and various city spaces into venues for creation, encounter, and reflection through contemporary art.
Workshops, exhibitions, theater, a roundtable discussion, dance, and other artistic proposals will make up the program for this particularly significant edition, which will mark ten years of a cultural initiative closely linked to Irun, its memory, the border, and the Bidasoa.
In addition to the area around the Santiago cycle path, the CBA Center for Culture and Creativity will also host various activities, expanding the locations from which the fair offers perspectives and thoughts on the city and its surroundings.
The first deputy mayor and delegate for Culture, Nuria Alzaga, highlighted that "reaching ten editions shows that the Ribera Fair has found its own space within Irun's cultural programming. It's a different proposal, capable of using contemporary art to look at what is also part of who we are: the Bidasoa, the border, our memory, and the stories of the people who have lived and live around it." She added that "culture is also this: a way to meet, to ask questions, to look at our city from different viewpoints, and to generate thought. And the Ribera Fair does this, moreover, from elements deeply linked to Irun. Ten years later, I believe we can say we have built a unique and recognizable event, made in the way we like best, the 'Irun way'."
Thus, one of the focal points of this 10th edition of the fair will once again be the presentation of advances from projects selected for the Becas Ribera 2026 (Ribera Scholarships 2026), among many other activities.
Photography Workshop: Nagore Legarreta will be at the KEOA Space of the CBA on September 16, 17, and 18 to offer a photography workshop titled "Ibaia ez da toki bat" (The River is Not a Place). Cameras will be constructed from recycled containers to photograph relationships with the Bidasoa River.
Exhibition Opening and Olvido Flores Performance: On Friday the 18th, the exhibition on the 10th edition of the Ribera Fair will open in the KEOA Space of the CBA, starting at 18:00h. An hour later, at 19:00h, Olvido Flores will present a small-format performance in the Irun Zuzenean Hall of the same cultural center, sharing testimonies of events that occurred in Lodosa (Navarre) in July 1936.
Feria Ribera Topaketa: On Saturday the 19th, the main event of the program will take place in the area of the Bidasoa River, in the Santiago neighborhood. Starting at 10:00h, an open roundtable discussion will review the activities of Ribera's ten years with several participants (Helga Massetani, Laura Díez, María José Noain), facilitated by Ixi García. This session will also present advances from projects selected for the Becas Ribera 2026: "En una taza de café / Kafe kikara batean" by Francisco Marise and Eider Rodríguez, and "Bidasoko Toponimia ttikia" by Jon Abril and Asier Gogortza. The Ribera Scholarships aim to develop research and action projects focused on the Bidasoa, historical memory, and the border.
At 11:30h, a visit will be made to the annual mural, created this year by artist Udane Juaristi. At 13:30h, there will be a visit to the installation prepared by Idoia Lizeaga throughout the week. The installation's concept explores the site's history as a border control point and its current role as a witness to cross-border reality, inviting the walls to embrace the aquatic nature of the river.
