by Victor Caneva
On June 5th, 2026 the immersive art exhibition entitled “Balena,” which translates to “Whale” in Italian was officially inaugurated in Trieste at the Museo del Mare, located at Magazzino 26 in Porto Vecchio.
“Balena” is the first edition of FOCUS, an annual event presented by the association Liberarti, where the work of contemporary artists from Friuli Venezia Giulia are showcased in a way that celebrates the region, its culture, and its heritage.
The work of multimedia artist Maria Sanchez Puyade, “Balena” is a site-specific immersive exhibition featuring a conceptualized whale crafted from wood and woven from white wool, realized at the scale of a real whale. The whale is featured alongside its ballad, a song written by Sanchez in Italian, Spanish and English. With a vocal arrangement by Triestine singer Irene Brigitte and an ethereal musical composition by Triestine composer Luca Ciut, the ballad of the whale makes “Balena” a truly immersive experience. Featuring sounds from aquatic life recorded right in the Gulf of Trieste, the musical composition of the ballad directly incorporates the region’s natural wealth. The location of the exhibition, at the Museo del Mare a few paces from the Adriatic sea, is also very fitting.
Having lived in Trieste for more than twenty years, Sanchez relayed that without Trieste, there would be no “Balena.” Sanchez shared that the whale represents her journey from the seas of the South, from her home country of Argentina to her new home on the Mediterranean Sea. Had she not “beached” herself in Trieste, the story of the whale would not be.
Sanchez said that her favorite part of the creative process for “Balena” was searching within herself and discovering what she had to say in the world we live in today. She enjoyed searching with her hands as she created and with the different languages she employed to express what she had to say.
The official public opening of “Balena” is on June 6th, 2026 at 12:00pm. The exhibition is free of charge and will run from June 6th until July 5th.
