Maya Watanabe in a group exhibition at the Hospedaletto complex in Venice

By: María Laura Hernández de Agüero
The exhibition "Canicula," the third and final installment of the "Trilogy of Uncertainties" by the In Between Art Film Foundation for the 2026 Biennale, will soon open in Venice. The exhibition will bring together eight internationally renowned artists, including the Peruvian Maya Watanabe, whose work explores memory, displacement, and the politics of representation through immersive environments of moving images.
Watanabe, born in Lima in 1983, has exhibited her work at institutions such as the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Matadero Madrid, and the Lima Art Museum, and has participated in biennials and art festivals worldwide. Her artistic practice focuses on video installation, a medium that allows her to explore the relationship between image and reality, and to question the reliability of sight and the interpretations of reality it produces.
“Canicula”, curated by Alessandro Rabottini and Leonardo Bigazzi, is inspired by the phenomena of extreme light and heat, considered as material and metaphorical frameworks within which matter, people, and ideas are subjected to intense pressure. The exhibition evokes sensations linked to the oppressive atmosphere of the present, in which our bodies, our sensibilities, and our politics are immersed.
The exhibition will be accompanied by an interdisciplinary symposium with the participation of the exhibiting artists and international thinkers. The architecture of the Ospedaletto Complex, with its church, music hall, and former pharmacy, will be transformed into a space for reflection and contemplation, where light and sound merge to create a unique and immersive experience.
The exhibition will remain on display until November 2026.
Ospedaletto Complex, Venice