PANAMA’S FIRST NATIONAL PAVILION AT THE VENICE BIENNALE ARRIVES AT THE MUSEO DEL CANAL
After a successful showing in 2024 at this major international platform for contemporary art, the exhibition Surcos: En el cuerpo y en la tierra (Furrows: On the Body and the Land) returns to the country and will open on April 25 at the Museo del Canal in Panama City’s historic Casco Antiguo.
In 2024, Panama made its debut with a national pavilion at the prestigious Venice Biennale. The exhibition, which attracted over 45,000 visitors and was featured in publications such as The Art Newspaper, ArtReview, and Le Monde, showcases works by Brooke Alfaro, Isabel De Obaldía, Giana De Dier, and Cisco Merel. Through installations, sculptures, collages, drawings, and paintings, the artists explore the physical and symbolic traces that migration leaves on individuals and territories.
“The return of this exhibition to Panama not only fills us with pride but also opens up a necessary space for local reflection on a global phenomenon. It offers the Panamanian public an opportunity to engage with works that make visible the marks migration leaves on bodies, landscapes, and collective memory,” said Ana Elizabeth González, Executive Director of the Museo del Canal and co-curator of the pavilion.
Surcos: En el cuerpo y en la tierra offers an artistic lens on migration across the Isthmus, focusing on the Darién Gap crossing—one of the most dangerous stretches along the continent’s migratory routes. In this new chapter in Panama, the exhibition incorporates additional materials that contextualize the curatorial and artistic process behind the creation of the national pavilion, adding new interpretive layers to the artworks on display.
“The exhibition here in Panama offers multiple layers of knowledge. Visitors will be able to see the show that represented us at a major international event and understand the process of taking an exhibition abroad. Beyond that, they will be able to analyze the content, grasp how art reflects social and political realities, and—last but not least—enjoy the art itself, appreciating the balance between the aesthetic and the historical, between pleasure and learning,” said Mónica E. Kupfer, PhD, co-curator of the pavilion.
The Museo del Canal invites both local and international audiences to experience this exhibition, which highlights national talent and brings one of the most urgent issues of our time to the forefront, emphasizing its dimension of social awareness and global dialogue.
“At Ciudad del Saber, we firmly believe in the power of culture as a tool for social transformation, dialogue, and cultural diplomacy. This project is a testament to the value of art as a bridge between knowledge systems, geographies, and lived realities, and to the collective commitment to amplifying essential narratives in our region and our time,” said Luz Bonadies, Director of the Panama National Pavilion Project at the 2024 Venice Biennale and Communications Manager at the Ciudad del Saber Foundation.
With this exhibition at the Museo del Canal, Panama reaffirms its commitment to promoting culture as a tool for dialogue, reflection, and social transformation.
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