The Spanish Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale: Confrontations Over the Narrative of Colonial History

ARTÍCULO ORIGINAL. DOSSIER de Fuegia. Vol. VIII (1), año 2025.

Abstract

This article examines the participation of the Spanish Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale through the exhibition Pinacoteca Migrante by Sandra Gamarra Heshiki focusing on its implications for the critique of coloniality within museums. It explores the paradox between the international recognition of a decolonial proposal and the internal resistance evidenced by the prior censorship the artist faced in Madrid in 2021. The methodology combines direct observation at the Biennale with documentary analysis of press coverage and specialised criticism. The article argues that, while Gamarra’s proposal represents a significant step toward critically reassessing of the colonial past, its validation in an international context does not necessarily translate into a structural transformation of Spanish cultural policy. The study highlights how art becomes a field of symbolic contestation, where state strategies of representation oscillate between discursive openness in global arenas and the persistence of logics of domination at the national level.