The objective of the Exhibition Phase of the second Biennial of the Canary Islands is to show the working theme developed in this edition of the Biennial. The capital cities of the archipelago—Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife—will be the headquarters where all the activities of the Exhibition Phase will be planned. Different reflections on the contemporary landscape gather in two events conceived as two exhibitions, which are interrelated, and take Silence as their central theme. Two projects with many aspects in common, united by a Silence that gives focus to the debate. Silence for the enjoyment of the senses, to facilitate the interaction of the human being with his environment. Silence to contain, at least for a few minutes, the vertiginous pace of the production/ consumption cycle. Silence as the profound instant in which we can discover and analyse the noises of contemporary society, and make out the path of larger things. A silence in which man feels capable of developing new criteria for analysis and reflection.

The sphere of silence that we propose is framed within two large projects: “Immersions” in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and “Scenes and Scenarios, Paradoxes of wellbeing: the consumption of the imaginary and the imaginary of consumption” in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. “Immersions” approaches the landscape through an analysis of the elements that conform it and the ways in which these operate. The proposal is directly related to production. It delves into geometrical and analytical notions, ways of representing global levels and territorial dimensions. The exhibition “Scenes and Scenarios, Paradoxes of wellbeing” tries to show the way in which we humans utilise and consume the spaces that we produce, it focuses on enjoyment, the outermost layer of the actions always conditioned by cultural contexts and the imaginary. The Exhibition Phase offers a unique proposal fragmented in two positions that intertwine all the way back to their origins. Two gazes that often converge, two coexisting stances.

The Exhibition Phase includes an exhibition showing the work carried out in the Landscape Workshops Observatories and Schools, with research projects by faculty and students. A proposal that has been made possible by the incorporation of a series of professionals from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of La Laguna in Tenerife. The analysis and research performed in these university workshops tackle questions about the contemporary landscape, but also offer alternatives to relevant issues that will cast a new light on the way in which the landscape is produced and consumed in the Canary Islands.