Cuban Pavillion - Venice Biennale 2022

Cuba 2022

Terra Ignota, (proposals for a New World)

Isola di San Servolo,

Commissioner: Norma Rodriguez Derivet

Curator: Nelson Ramirez de Arellano Conde

Exhibitor: Rafael Villares, Kcho, Giuseppe Stampone

Cuba Republic Pavilion at the Biennale Arte 2022 takes its name from a Latin term used in cartography to refer to regions that have yet to be explored, mapped or documented; unknown territories that are still waiting to be discovered.

The term was widely used during the Age of Discovery to describe the existence of unknown or unexplored areas on maps, either Terra ignota or Mare incognitum, Latin for “unknown land” and “unknown sea”, which represented both the limits of our knowledge and our aim to expand them. Terra ignota disappeared from maps during the 19th century, even before the advent of aerial photography and satellite imagery, yet the ocean bottoms remain largely unmapped. The term is now a metaphor for the “unknown”.However, now that we have begun to map other surfaces in the Solar System, the terms are back in use to describe the unidentified areas of planets and moons.What do all life forms on the planet have in common? Water, we are all made of water, the rising and falling tides connect all living things to the universe in a choreographed dance.