The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, through the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), in collaboration with Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), is pleased to announce that the project The Remains (Los restos), by artist Oriol Vilanova, and curated by Carles Guerra, has been selected to represent Spain at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (from May 9 to November 22, 2026).

The Remains is based on an extensive collection of postcards that the artist has compiled over twenty years in flea markets and second-hand shops. These fragments of personal correspondence, often neglected or discarded, embody the ruins of a bygone era.

In its exploration of memory, fragility, and the cultural significance of what endures, The Remains transforms this accumulation into a meditation on what we choose to preserve and what remains when stories are filtered through everyday objects. The Spain Pavilion will present this collection as an "anti-museum" in constant evolution, where modest but sustained gestures of collecting become a potent response to our current concerns about preservation, accumulation, and the economies associated with cultural value.

The selection of The Remains was carried out by an independent jury convened by AECID and AC/E. The jury was composed of: Santiago Herrero Amigo, Director of Cultural and Scientific Relations at AECID; Inma Ballesteros, Director of Programming at AC/E; Manuel Segade, Director of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS); Agustín Pérez Rubio, curator of the Spain Pavilion at the Biennale Arte 2024; Imma Prieto, Director of the Museu Antoni Tàpies; Tania Pardo, Director of the Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M); Santiago Olmo, Director of the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea (CGAC); Rosa Olivares, editor and founder of EXIT magazine; and artist Ignasi Aballí, who represented Spain at the Biennale Arte 2022.

Alongside Oriol Vilanova and Carles Guerra, the team consists of Ingrid Sala (Studio Manager) and Carolina Ciuti (Curatorial Assistant).

The Spain Pavilion is organized by AECID in collaboration with AC/E, continuing its mission to foster the international promotion of Spanish culture. This is the first exhibition to be held at the Spain Pavilion at the International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia following its complete renovation in 2025. Further details about the project will be announced at a press conference taking place in Madrid in early 2026.

For press inquiries in Spain, please contact Inés Martínez Ribas: inesmartinezribas@gmail.com +34 608 745 179

For all international press inquiries, please contact Lisa Thiel at Sutton: lisa@suttoncomms.com +44 (0) 7706334279

About the Spain Pavilion
Organizers: AECID (Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation) and AC/E (Acción Cultural Española)

About Oriol Vilanova

Oriol Vilanova (Manresa, 1980) lives and works in Brussels. His artistic practice is characterized by a sustained, almost obsessive, habit of collecting postcards, creating a vast personal archive that interrogates the museum as a system of accumulation, preservation, and cultural memory valuation. His work has been exhibited internationally in solo exhibitions at Garage Cosmos (Brussels); Kunstmuseum Bochum; ICA Sofia; Albright‑Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo); Nouveau Musée National de Monaco; Fundació Antoni Tàpies (Barcelona); CA2M (Móstoles); M Museum (Leuven); and Museo Cerralbo (Madrid), among many others. He has participated in group exhibitions in institutions such as IVAM (Valencia); Musée Picasso (Paris); Palais de Tokyo (Paris); MACBA (Barcelona); Victoria & Albert Museum (London); Museo Thyssen‑Bornemisza (Madrid); and Centre Pompidou‑Metz. His work is present in major collections such as MACBA, IVAM, CGAC, Fundación Botín, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, KANAL ‑ Centre Pompidou (Brussels), Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, and Albright‑Knox Art Gallery.
 

© Ingrid Sala

About Carles Guerra

Carles Guerra (Amposta, 1965) is an independent researcher and curator based in Barcelona. He holds a PhD in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona and is an Associate Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Guerra has served as Director of Primavera Fotogràfica de Catalunya (2004), Director of La Virreina Centre de la Imatge (2009‑2011), Chief Curator at MACBA (2011‑2013), and Executive Director of Fundació Antoni Tàpies (2015‑2020). Since 2023, he has been the Artistic Director of the Museu de l’Art Prohibit in Barcelona. His curatorial projects include exhibitions dedicated to Francesc Tosquelles, Art & Language, Perejaume, Antoni Tàpies, Allan Sekula, Susan Meiselas, Harun Farocki, Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, among many others. In 2023, he was appointed Inaugural Visiting Professor in Catalan Studies at New York University and the Institut Ramon Llull.

© Adriana López Sanfeliu