Seba Calfuqueo presents solo exhibition at Thyssen-Bornemisza

Chilean artist Seba Calfuqueo is presenting ‘Cautín’, her first solo exhibition in Europe, at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid. Organized in collaboration with TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, the exhibition marks the first time a Latin American artist has exhibited at the museum in twenty years.

The showcase uses the Cautín River, which flows through the Araucanía region—the historical territory of the Mapuche people—as a central investigative axis. Through various media including painting, ceramics, sculpture, video-performance, and digital art, Calfuqueo explores themes of colonization, the commercialization of water, and the relationship between territory and community.

The exhibition’s narrative structure follows the river from the Pacific Ocean back toward its source at the Lonquimay volcano. This reverse direction is intended to challenge traditional linear historical narratives and align with the circular conception of time present in Mapuche thought.