Federico Solmi

Pontevedra Art Biennial

June 21 - September 30, 2025

In ten different spaces scattered throughout the town, the Biennial proposes a mixture of diverse voices and languages and fosters a dialogue between violence and peace, migrations and exiles, as well as between the darkness of war and the light of hope. More than sixty artists from various countries, including some from conflict areas, will take part with works dealing with themes such as spirituality, love, tolerance, truth and utopia. The exhibition begins with The Disasters of War, by Goya, a series which lays the foundations for exploring human suffering and the forms of resistance against violence. In the Biennial, contemporary works approaching war from different perspectives and using metaphors and symbols invite us to reflect on how to recover our humanity through art, memory and thought. And beyond war, his response, 'Being human again', in its purest essence – humanism –, not only promotes a vision of the world, but aims to transform our relationship with the universe into a harmonious dance among all beings and their environment. 

ABOUT THE BIENNIAL

The Pontevedra Art Biennial is the oldest contemporary art biennial in Spain.

Founded in 1969 as a local art competition, it quickly evolved during the 1980s and became international from 1990 onwards.Throughout the 1990s, the Pontevedra Art Biennial was consolidated as an important national art event, which adapted its program to foster the growth of an exhibition that became a major event on the Spanish contemporary art scene. From 1998 onwards, it became international, with renowned curators from the European art scene, and its topics opened up to dialogue and debate beyond our frontiers.In June 2025, after a fifteen-year absence, it returns as an international cultural event aimed at celebrating art and fostering dialogue on contemporary culture.

FEDERICO SOLMI

CHINESE DEMOCRACY AND THE LAST DAY ON EARTH VIDEO TRILOGY, 2011-2014

In the Chinese Democracy and the Last Day on Earth trilogy, Federico Solmi aims to lampoon the contemporary society and the self–destructive nature of mankind. In contrast with their playful faux-naïve aesthetics, the videos indict a male dominated, hierarchical world controlled by vicious politicians, corrupt businessmen, and ruthless corporations, as the cause behind the decline of the human race.

The first installment of the trilogy, A Song of Tyranny, introduces a relentless and despotic political leader, as he unveils his plan of world domination to his army. His political madness is captured in an interview with an inquisitive American journalist. In a stunning commencement parade under a red sky, he calls his troops to arms. The Return of the Prodigal Son opens with remnants of Earth's sick capitalistic society, now drifting through cosmic purgatory. The protagonist's spaceship lands on an unknown planet, where the hidden truth behind his success is revealed. However, the final episode of the saga exposes the folly of his ambition and a blind spot in the commander's gluttonous quest for eternal glory.

Chinese Democracy and the Last Day on Earth, the centerpiece of the video trilogy, begins idyllically in the Garden of Eden and ends in a bloody takeover of Times Square. The invasion of America is all at once playful, imaginative, gruesome, amusing, violent and gratifying. Solmi dramatizes the ridiculous nature of mankind's lust for power, as the ruthless dictator annihilates the ruined planet Earth.

The Return of the Prodigal Son opens with remnants of Earth's sick capitalistic society, now drifting through cosmic purgatory. The protagonist's spaceship lands on an unknown planet, where the hidden truth behind his success is revealed. However, the final episode of the saga exposes the folly of his ambition and a blind spot in the commander's gluttonous quest for eternal glory.