The historic building of LM Arte Colección on Calle La Carrera hosted the performance event on Friday, establishing the definitive exhibition of PIBADA’25, a project promoted by the Department of Cultural Heritage of the City Council of La Laguna and this museum centre. The initiative connects the past and the present and opens a debate on the role of World Heritage cities in the 21st century, presenting La Laguna as a cultural laboratory capable of combining the protection of its legacy with the energy and artistic vision of the city represented by new generations of creators.

With the participation of emerging artists such as Andrea Allgayer, Maï Diallo, Gara Hernández, Paula Machado, Laura Moral, Andrea Moreno, Cristina Ortega, Marina Sunyer and Victoria Valiente, the proposal is conceived as a contemporary reinterpretation of the historic cultural emergence of Pibes ’85, that generation of young people who transformed the creative pulse of the university city four decades ago with their irreverent and multidisciplinary proposals.

This second session of the exhibition, which began as part of the programme commemorating the 25th anniversary of the city’s designation as a World Heritage Site, was attended by the Councillor for Cultural Heritage, Adolfo Cordobés; the director of LM Arte Colección, Eliseo G. Izquierdo; the exhibition coordinator, Ana Roca; and the artists participating in the initiative.

During the meeting, Adolfo Cordobés stressed that ‘La Laguna cannot limit itself to safeguarding five centuries of history. Our heritage is also the energy of those who today produce art from new perspectives, and PIBADA’25 reminds us that cultural memory is not preserved in display cases, but is activated in dialogue with the community’.

Cordobés added that, with this proposal, ‘the city reinforces its role as a heritage benchmark in the Canary Islands and sends a message to the rest of the country: heritage is not only architectural conservation, but also creative dynamism and the capacity for reinvention. This anniversary has been the perfect opportunity to look at ourselves from a young perspective and continue building the heritage of future generations.’

For his part, Eliseo G. Izquierdo recalled that the project is being developed in two stages: a first temporary exhibition with works already completed, which opened on 21st November, and this second performative event, held on 10th, 11th and 12th December, in which the installation was opened to the public as a living process and which can be visited until 10th January 2026.

‘We want the museum to be more than just a repository for artworks; we want it to become an active laboratory. The process is as important as the result, because contemporary art is built on interaction, conversation and shared experience,’ she said.

The performative nature of the proposal was highlighted by Ana Roca, for whom ‘the installation open to the public turns the exhibition into a living process. We want people to see how we work, how we dialogue with each other and with the space. That transparency is part of the message.’

PIBADA’25 is part of the parallel programme of the exhibition ‘Lagunear. Memory and Transformation’, which was on display at LM Arte Colección until 4 December and brought together historical references from Canarian art with contemporary creators. With this new proposal, La Laguna reaffirms its status as a diverse and critical university city that uses its heritage as a platform for artistic innovation and as a bridge between generations.