Pablo Delano's 'The Museum of the Old Colony' at Venice Biennale

Pablo Delano's ongoing installation 'The Museum of the Old Colony' is permanently housed at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico and was presented for the first time in Italy at the 60th Venice Biennale's central pavilion in the exhibition 'Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere' curated by Adriano Pedrosa. The work critiques colonial structures through archival materials, focusing on Puerto Rico's experience under Spanish and US domination. Delano began collecting vernacular photographs and objects in the 1990s, later transforming them into an art piece after the 2016 PROMESA law and Hurricane Maria in 2017. The installation juxtaposes anonymous faces with figures like activist Lolita Lebrón and Felisa Rincón de Gautier, alongside pop items such as Old Colony soda and Puerto Rican Barbie. Delano deliberately excludes his father Jack Delano's FSA photographs, favoring anonymous images that expose propaganda narratives.