Hugo Canoilas

• Mayrit Biennial, Madrid (ES)
• 30.04.–24.05.2026

The exhibition brings together artists and designers whose transdisciplinary practices span architecture, design, and contemporary art. Through international trajectories and critical approaches, their works propose disruptive ways of producing the world, beyond representation. Conceived specifically for Intermediae/Matadero, the exhibition not only develops the curatorial framework of MAYRIT 2026 but also activates the unique characteristics and inherent potential of the exhibition space. Curators: Daniel Holzl and Abie Franklin Sound design: Abbas Zahedi in collaboration with Dave Meckin Participating artists (12): Ece Canli, Adrià Julià, Lúcia Prancha, Hugo Canoilas, Adad Hannah, Daniel Holzl, Abie Franklin, Attila Richard Lukacs, Babak Golkar, Abbas Zahedi, POoR COLLECTIVE, and john gerrard Organised by: Intermediae Matadero With the support of: British Council, Batalha Centro de Cinema, The New Centre for Research & Practice, CEAA Centro de Estudos Arnaldo Araújo, Escola Superior Artística do Porto (ESAP) and Resucitadero.

‘Three Days or Thirty Thousand Years’ is a digital film by Hugo Canoilas and Diogo Tudela, shot at archaeological sites in the Coa Valley. The film explores the interaction between open-air Palaeolithic engravings, the lichens that inhabit their surfaces, and the surrounding natural environment. In doing so, it enlaces cultural and natural perspectives, within different methods of observation and representation. The macroscopic images that trace the outlines of the engraved animals, place us both at drawing and observing whilst microscopic views of the lichens introduce us to abstraction and the emancipatory quality of editing what we are seeing. Complementing these visual elements, the soundtrack developed by Tudela explores, through technology, the common motifs of Coa’s Palaeolithic Art and the lichens. Tudela’s music composition  profit from the usage of software, designed to represent the growth of lichens, and the engravings as elements of a graphic. The film is also the result of collaboration with lichen researcher Joana Marques, as well as with various technicians and researchers from the Côa Museum.

Mayrit Biennial