32° Pontevedra Biennale: To Be Humans Again: Galicia, Spain

"True humanist culture is that which teaches us to live in harmony with ourselves, with others and with the world…
The art of being human is a call to serve life, to put an end to hatred and fear"

Rob Riemen

The history of humanity has been marked by war, a phenomenon that has left deep marks on our collective identity. In current conflicts such as those in Russia and Ukraine, the clashes in Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan or Mali, among others, violence continues to affect millions of people. In its 32nd edition, the Pontevedra Biennial addresses these issues, analyzing wars not only as military combats, but as crises that destroy the social, emotional and economic fabric of societies. Inspired by thinkers such as Rob Riemen and Susan Sontag, the exhibition proposes that, in order to overcome these conflicts, human beings must "become human again", recover their capacity for reflection and empathy. Through art, spirituality and imagination, this exhibition seeks to offer a response of hope and invite collective reflection and healing.

Thus, art, spirituality, magic and imagination are presented as essential tools to reconstruct what war has tried to destroy. Through metaphors, symbols and alternative narratives, the aim is to build bridges between the diverse human experiences, between the boundaries of the visible and the invisible, the real and the imagined. The aim is to create a ray of hope that encourages humanity to rediscover itself, to rebuild a future where war is not destiny, but the overcoming of darkness through light, love and truth. Only through this exercise of returning to the human, the rescue of memory and a deep understanding, can we aspire to a world in which war is not the answer, but the reminder of a crisis that taught us the importance of being human. Beyond wars, this "returning to being human", presented by Riemen in response to conflicts, places us in the counterpoint that is resolved between humanism and posthumanism, the beginning and end of the exhibition.

Across a dozen spaces spread across the city, the biennial proposes a crossing of voices and languages ​​and fosters a dialogue between violence and peace, migration and exile, as well as between the darkness of war and the light of hope. More than sixty artists from different countries, including some from conflict zones, participate with works that address themes such as spirituality, love, tolerance, truth and utopia. The exhibition begins with The Disasters of War, by Goya, a series that establishes the foundations for exploring human suffering and forms of resistance to violence. The different spaces present contemporary works that deal with war from different perspectives and use metaphors and symbols that invite reflection on how to reconstruct our humanity through art, memory and thought. And beyond war, its response, "Becoming human again", in its purest essence - humanism - not only promotes a vision of the world, but also aspires to transform our relationship with the universe into a harmonious dance between all beings and their environment. It is a proposal that goes beyond the individual, which advocates for an education that spiritually nourishes and comprehensively develops the human being, in their contact with the transcendental and the everyday. On a diametrically opposite spectrum, transhumanism stands as the attempt to transcend our biological limitations through technology, using tools such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology to reconfigure our nature, modifying our physical and mental capacities with the promise of a better future.

Both movements, although dissimilar in their approaches, are nourished by the values ​​of the Enlightenment, such as knowledge and progress, but their paths differ radically. While humanism maintains a holistic view, anchored in the spiritual and ethical, transhumanism is committed to a future founded on science and technology. Memory and tradition, pillars that both currents value, are approached from opposing perspectives: humanism looks to the past in search of moral values ​​and a more respectful relationship with nature, while transhumanism, in its search for technological solutions, tries to project a future in which sustainability and ecology are managed as problems to be solved from technical innovation.

Curators : Anton Castro and Agar Ledo

Artwork shown : Songs from the shore