Panama will present its second National Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, featuring a large-scale installation and performance titled 'Tropical Hyperstition' by the artistic duo Antonio José Guzmán and Iva Jankovic (Mensajeros del Sol). The project, curated by Ana Elizabeth González and Mónica Kupfer, is organized by Panama's Ministry of Culture and several cultural foundations.
The work confronts colonial memory and displacement, specifically reactivating the silenced narratives of communities displaced during the construction of the Panama Canal and the creation of the US-governed Canal Zone. It uses a monumental woven hammock, textile collages incorporating archival images and DNA sequences, and a layered soundscape to position the pavilion as a space of memory and resistance, reimagining erased histories through art.