Mapeando O Que Não Se Vê

This exhibition invites visitors on a journey through the ethereal landscapes of imagination. Taking Calvino’s Invisible Cities as a starting point, it explores the delicate interplay between reality and fiction, emphasizing how our perceptions of place are often shaped more by memory, emotion, and narrative than by geography.

In the renowned book, Marco Polo describes fantastical cities to the main character Kublai Khan, each embodying unique qualities that stretch the limits of imagination. Similarly, this exhibition presents a variety of artists who reinterpret the concept of territory through their own lenses—whether through painting, sculpture, installation, or video.

Each work, in its own way, mirrors a ‘city’, revealing hidden stories and personal reflections on what it means to inhabit spaces. Through these works, themes such as memory and place will be explored, questioning how our memories shape our understanding of universes we occupy; nostalgia or longing for places that may never have existed; and emotional landscapes, capturing the essence of feelings tied to specific locations and illustrating how emotional territories can be just as impactful as physical ones.

To recognize that territories can also be spaces of intimacy is to accept that landscape is not merely seen, but dreamed and inhabited through the imagination. It becomes
a dwelling of the gaze, a home where multiple subjectivities silently converge. As María Zambrano might suggest, it is not the visible that defines space, but the light of inner vision—the poetic reason that lets space be felt before it is named.

Cultural narratives will also be present, reflecting the diversity of experiences across different cultures, offering insight into the interconnectedness of human life. Finally, the exhibition delves into interstitial spaces—those often overlooked in between cities and territories, which hold the potential for new stories and meanings.

Through Mapping the Unseen, one will be encouraged to navigate their own personal landscapes, reflecting on the invisible cities that inhabit their minds. The exhibition thus becomes a space for dialogue, where imagination intertwines with reality, revealing that the truest landscapes we inhabit are often those we create within ourselves. Each artwork becomes an invitation to discover, reimagine, and reinterpret the world around us, expanding our own conceptions of what it means to belong – to a place, to a gathering, to a ritual, to a community, but most importantly, to oneself.