Bienal de Pontevedra

The conceptual and committed approach defines the participation of Dagoberto Rodríguez at the Pontevedra Biennial, where his works are displayed at two exhibition spaces: the Museum of Pontevedra and the Manuel Moldes Foundation. His proposal revolves around war violence, the central theme of this year's Biennial. Through works such as his painted Russian tanks, Rodríguez refers directly to the invasion of Ukraine, although his gaze extends to many other conflicts which refute the idea that we live in times of peace. He also denounces other less visible wars, like the one in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, the largest settlement of this kind in the world, reflected in Rohingya Refugee Camp (2025). In other pieces, such as Litoral Havana Refugee Camp (2025), an eloquent watercolor charged with irony, that precariousness is taken to his own Cuba. In Marte (Mars, 2023), the classic Roman god of war appears carrying a Kalashnikov, a symbol of the wars of the 20th century, which the artist uses to ridicule the heroic discourses of power. And, in the mural installation CASA TOW (House tow, 2018), he transforms a US missile – used in multiple Middle East conflicts – into an ambiguous home, charged with fear, violence and rootlessness. Just like philosopher Rob Riemen, Rodríguez seems to think that war is not only fought on the battlefields, but also within the human being. A struggle between courage and dignity, or indifference and submission to the powers perpetuating violence.