Curated Programmes 2025

According to the cosmogony of some peoples of the Alto Rio Negro Indigenous Territory, in Amazonas, Wametisé refers to the creation of the world, where the great serpent that carried humanity in its womb placed each person in his or her territory. Coming out of the snake’s mouth, each person introduced themself and named the place where they would live. Wametisé, or “named places”, refers to the time and territory that the humanities have occupied each place.

When considering the growing presence of people of indigenous or Amazonian origin in the art world, there seems to be a “nomination” or need to go to these places occupied by alternative sentiments and to search for new identities inspired by the thinking of the original peoples. For the Tukans, this is Hóri (the making and thinking of beautiful and sacred images); for the HuniKuin, it is Kené, among other names that help us to think of new vocabularies and symbologies for the world of the arts.

In the same way, from indigenous cosmologies whose universe is rooted in the powerful Amazon basin, we can think of new modes of creation that represent hybrid existences based on the union of human, plant, physical and metaphysical bodies. The works that will be part of this section will present new possibilities of seeing the world inspired by past and present forms of life in the Amazon, where identity is constructed from the connection between beings that propose a collective future with healing narratives that, from critical and profoundly renovating lines, present more plural practices of making art in contemporary times. We present the idea of Wametisé as an exercise in naming these practices to facilitate a creation that enables “Worlds in Transformation”.

The Amazon is a great entity, a collective cause whose real custodianship has been in the hands of the communities that inhabit it. Amazofuturism will present creations inspired by the need for forests, rivers, and natural territories to be considered subjects of rights, faced with excessive exploitation of their resources. It is essential to shine a light on the struggles that will bring about the changes in consciousness that the current environmental emergency requires. This will be done from the possibilities of these new nominations that understand sustainability from a perspective critical of the Anthropocene. The proposal will seek spaces for new material and spiritual universes where the artistic object is understood far beyond its existence as a commodity.

The Opening. New galleries section -devoted to the international scene of young galleries- presents in this edition a rich selection of eighteen proposals of galleries from Athens, Bogotá, Cape Town, Dakar, Istanbul, Limassol, Lisbon, Madrid, Marseille, Palma de Mallorca, Paris, Salta, San Sebastián, Tehran, Tbilisi and Zurich.  

This year the section has been orchestrated by curators Anissa Touati, based in the USA and Cristina Anglada, who lives between Mallorca and Madrid. Spain's strategic position at the intersection of the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar makes the country a crossroads of borders and cultures. This particularity has served as a starting point to reflect on the topics addressed in this edition.

On this occasion, the selection of galleries has been influenced by the idea of “entangled legacies of a space”, a region and the world at large. The selection thus examines how these legacies can create space for new liberatory narratives and envision a new world by interweaving territories, summoning histories and myths, hopes and struggles to reappropriate the future through plural solidarities.

It has been important as well for the section to take form, the different ways of management, which challenge the very device of gallery business as we know it today. These different configurations are the result of listening to the needs of artistic practices and contemporary art audiences both in their immediate contexts and in the mediation of these artistic communities within the international scene. 

Of the eighteen galleries invited to participate in 2025, ten are repeating from last year and eight are doing it for the first time. All of them have been around for less than seven years and present a maximum of three artists per booth. In this edition, we will encounter the work of a total of thirty-three artists in different phases of their practices and working in different languages. The intersection of inherited cultures, ancestral ties and the natural world forms the basis of our research into entangled spaces. This approach emphasizes care, healing, community building, and intergenerational relationships, while highlighting the multispecies interdependence that defines our existence. Through psychological and social reflections, the artists in the Opening section challenge existing norms and argue for a more compassionate world, while pushing back the boundaries of material experimentation and conceptual depth.

Indeed, inherited cultures play a significant role in the work of several artists who seek to recover and honor ancestral knowledge to reflect on cultural identities using craft and storytelling as tools. Jou Morales and Mie Yim (both represented by Villa Magdalena, San Sebastián) are narrative painters who reinvent historical visual traditions, creating symbolic forms that bridge the past and present, reflecting their cultural heritage. Pajita Garcia Bes (represented by Remota, Salta) rescues Indigenous American traditions, using textiles to represent ancient stories and legends, thereby weaving American history into his art. Guido Yannitto (represented by Remota, Salta) explores popular cultures, focusing on identity, oral transmission, and collective work, especially in Latin American contexts, highlighting the importance of ancestral knowledge. Salome Chigilashvili (represented by Art Beat, Tbilisi) often references traditional Georgian embroidery methods, transforming them into narratives that provoke feminist discourse. Nato Sirbiladze (represented by Art Beat, Tbilisi) explores identity as cultural information, drawing inspiration from Georgian painting traditions and medieval wall paintings. Omar Castillo Alfaro (represented by Sissi Club, Marseille) revisits ancestral craft techniques, questioning trans-generational affects and the persistence of traumas linked to modernity and the colonial continuum. Arebenor Bassene and Melinda Fourn (both represented by Selebe Yoon, Dakar) delve into the realm of ancient civilizations, reflecting on the great empires of Africa and other forgotten or dreamed-of cultures, emphasizing the ongoing influence of these historical entities on modern society and the importance of understanding and respecting cultural heritage.

This connection with the ancestors is also deeply intertwined with the awareness of the kinship we humans have with the earth and other species, underlining the need to implement the politics of care. Ileana Arnaoutou, Ismene King, Yorgos Stamkopoulos, and Paky Vlassopoulou (represented by Callirrhoë, Athens) explore the concept of shelter as an imaginary landscape, offering a refuge from everyday chaos by merging elements of nature to evoke a profound sense of inner peace. Juliana Gongora (represented by Espacio Continuo, Bogotá) exchanges knowledge with artisans and Indigenous communities, viewing matter and sculpture as transversal languages in life, emphasizing the physical and humane relationship with ordinary matter. Linda Ponguta (represented by Espacio Continuo, Bogotá) relates indigenous medicinal plants to industrial objects, transforming them into stages of transfiguration, challenging established structures and reconnecting with the natural world. Socrates Fatouros (represented by Eins, Limassol) explores the concept of the jungle from sociological and geographical perspectives, highlighting raw dynamics of nature through processed mineral materials. The paintings by Camille Bernard (represented by Sissi Club, Marseille) offer an ambivalent vision of humanity, in which creatures evolve in an enduring but fragile equilibrium, at the mercy of nature's whims. Through these figures of mythological charm, the artist presents new forms of terrestrial nourishment, more inclusive and less sexist. Maya Pita-Romero (represented by El Chico, Madrid) combines traditional elements with conceptual possibilities, exploring the future and human roles in ecosystems, often incorporating ferments or blood into her dynamic works. Jeanne Gaigher (represented by Reservoir Projects, Cape Town) creates an illusory sense of movement in her mixed-media artworks, adding fabric elements that enhance or conceal imagery, reflecting on the dynamic between transparency and opacity, and the natural world's influence on her art. These artists underscore the significance of nature as a restorative space that shields and nurtures the soul.

On a psychological and social level, several artists delve into reflections on everyday life, power hierarchies, and social inequalities. Cristina Stolhe (represented by El Chico, Madrid) analyzes everyday life through photography, creating nostalgic and intimate scenes that expose the closeness of moments, reflecting on how individual experiences and memories shape lives and identities. Miguel Marquês (represented by No No, Lisbon) captures urban environments with his camera, giving them an aura of strangeness with which to look at the everyday. Theresa Weber (represented by Hatch, Paris) questions power hierarchies and fixed categorizations through multi-disciplinary installations, reflecting on hybrid identities and the constant transformation within every tradition. Phillip Timsichl's (represented by Blue Velvet, Zurich) canvases, screens, windows and walls are combined and automated to generate results of different subjectivities, expressing reflections on heritage, exclusion, homosexuality, social class and the power dynamics between art, artist and audience. PRICE (represented by Blue Velvet, Zurich) works with elaborate soundscapes, costumes and scenography with which to examine the conflicting relationship between socially normative categories. Stumbles and struggles creep into her work, assuming failure as part of queer strategy: an indifference to assimilation, rigid identities and the demands of the self in digital capitalism. Arda Asena (represented by OG, Istanbul) engages with secretive eroticism, reflecting on survival tactics employed by queer people amidst social and cultural violence, while Yaz Tasci (represented by OG, Istanbul) addresses social inequality, gender-based discrimination, and the displacement of disadvantaged groups, portraying non-normative bodies and their desires. These artists challenge existing norms and seek to create a more compassionate world. Domenico Gutknecht and Mamali Shafahi (represented by Parallel Circuit, Teheran) collaborate on a tribute to David Caille, exploring the concept of ‘Eden’ as a symbol of peace and hope.

Lastly, material experimentation and conceptual depth are key aspects of many of these artists' works. Emma Roche (represented by Brigitte Mulholland, Paris) experiments with materials, pushing painting together with tapestry to their limits, and revisiting grid-based processes. Damaris Pan’s (represented by Fermay, Palma de Mallorca) paintings and sculptures reveal a unique language of shapes, densities, and color palettes, focusing on materiality and corporality. Filipe Cortez (represented by No No, Lisbon) works in painting, sculpture, and site-specific installations, examining memory and space within architectural contexts. Nada Bien (represented by Pradiauto, Madrid)  intervenes on the canvas from both sides, using mixed techniques to emphasize or hide shapes depending on the light. Elisa Pardo Puch (represented by Pradiauto, Madrid) uses techniques like drawing and sewing to explore the potential of disposable materials, inverting or deactivating certain automatic associations between the material, its use, and its desirability. These artists highlight the importance of material experimentation in creating profound and conceptually rich artworks.

These “entangled heritages” reflect the complex web of historical, cultural and political links that shape our world. These legacies are not isolated but deeply interconnected, influencing spaces ranging from the local to the global but also the work of today's artists and young galleries which are the receptacles of nomadic histories and identities. This approach recognizes that our futures are interconnected and that addressing global challenges requires collaboration across various boundaries, including cultural, national, and ideological divides.

This selection of artists offers a journey through a diversity of visual worlds and provides a broad panorama of how to identify oneself as an artist and build community, proposing new ways of creating, thinking, and living together. These artists, from different generations and cultural contexts, break physical and symbolic barriers, opening new spaces to think about how to relate to the world. Through various practices, including painting, sculpture, performance, installation, and fashion, they invite us to reflect on more dynamic, inclusive, and expansive futures, where the multiplicity of possible realities becomes visible.

Agrade Camíz (A Gentil Carioca) uses the aesthetics of the popular architecture of Rio de Janeiro to create works that draw on architectural symbols such as bars and other elements loaded with historical and social meanings. Through these objects, Camíz addresses themes deeply linked to sexuality, beauty, and the oppression of women, taking her practice into the public space as a graffiti artist and muralist, where artistic interventions become acts of resistance and transformation.

Barbara Sánchez-Kane (kurimanzutto) explores the intersection between art and fashion, challenging the visual and symbolic codes of clothing to question the construction of identity in contemporary culture. Through the creation of garments and objects that subvert gender conventions, her work invites a deep exploration of fluid and dissident identities, opening a space of freedom in which established structures of power and representation are questioned.

Chaveli Sifre (Embajada) focuses her work on healing practices, smell, botany, and the beliefs that arise from these elements. Through installations, perfumes, paintings, and performative rituals, her work seeks to recover lost connections between science, spirituality, perfumery, medicine, magic, and the act of care.

Dan Lie (Barbara Wien) uses plants as central elements in their installations, creating sensory environments where nature grows and transforms organically. By incorporating natural smells and textures, their work invites the viewer to an immersive experience that connects with the cycles of plant life, proposing a reflection on the relationship between humans and their natural surroundings.

Jota Mombaça (Martins&Montero) constructs narratives that reflect on gender, colonisation, and resistance, opening possibilities to imagine a future where anti-colonial identities are not defined by pre-existing categories, but by their own terms of freedom and autonomy.

Mariela Scafati (Isla Flotante) uses painting and installation to question and dismantle the visual power systems that have traditionally limited the representation of the body and desire. Through experimentation with materials and forms, her work challenges gender structures and promotes new ways of representing identity and human desire.

Naufus Ramírez Figueroa (Proyectos Ultravioleta) creates installations and sculptures that explore themes of history, trauma, and reconciliation. His works, which often incorporate ritual and natural elements, invite a rethinking of the concept of the communal and the personal, opening spaces for intervention and transformation of collective and affective realities.

Ofelia Rodríguez (Instituto de Visión) fuses found objects and symbolic elements to create surreal compositions laden with humour, through which she explores cultural identity, gender stereotypes, and her connection to her Colombian roots.

Rember Yahuarcani (CRISIS) works with painting and visual narrative to reclaim indigenous traditions and question colonial representations. His work connects the ancestral with the contemporary, proposing a future in which indigenous identities are celebrated in all their complexity, and in which cultural memory is a living and transformative force.

Sertão Negro (Cerrado Galeria) is a project created by the Brazilian artist Dalton Paula that aims to expand access to art and promote Black cultural affirmation through collective creation and formation. This project not only focuses on teaching art, but also on redefining social roles, using the Quilombo as a reference for social organisation and collaborative work as a tool for transformation and empowerment of local communities. Participating artists in the Sertão Negro project include Dalton Paula, Abraão Veloso, Tor Teixeira, Lucélia Maciel, and Genor Sales.

Through this varied and transgenerational selection of artists, this section offers a unique opportunity for the visitor to understand the practices of these creators in a broader context, inviting them to reflect on the diverse ways of thinking and living identity, gender, and community in an increasingly plural world.