Terraphilia

Terraphilia —a term combining Terra (Earth) with philia (love and friendship)— expresses a deep-rooted connection of affect, care, and responsibility toward the Earth and its multitudes of inhabitants. To love the Earth is to pledge allegiance to animals, plants, geological formations, and supernatural creatures, as well as to rethink humanity’s place within the complex, interwoven web of life. In the face of the mounting pressures of planetary heating, biodiversity loss, and increasing inequalities, the exhibition turns to art to envision and orient us toward transformative ways of being in the world, mobilizing interspecies kinship, new kinds of collectivities, and planetary care. 

Organized in collaboration with TBA21–Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Terraphilia draws together around hundred works spanning five centuries from the Thyssen-Bornemisza, Carmen Thyssen and TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary collections, including artists like Joachim Patinir, Wassily Kandisnky, Natalia Goncharova, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Inês Zenha, Ayrson Heraclito and Hervé Yamguen. These works present an evocative spectrum of artistic and intellectual explorations, revealing the depth and reach of more-than-human stories and multispecies imaginaries. Resisting the entrenched dualism of modern cosmology, rooted in the separation between the social and the natural, the exhibition invites viewers–through the lens of artists across generations and diverse traditions–to encounter the world as a pluriverse: a world of many worlds. Terraphilia also signals a decisive departure from anthropocentric and Western-centric perspectives, embracing an emerging planetary politics. In doing so, it aligns with recent philosophical, anthropological, ethical, and legal turns that advocate for the recognition of non-human life and geological and biological entities as participants in a planetary multitude. 

Structured across seven interlinked “scenarios,” the exhibition traverses themes such as cosmograms, animate worlds, the art of dreams, objectivity, land relations, mythical time, and oceanic cosmogonies. These thematic currents guide visitors through different ways of engaging with the Earth—via myth, science, dreams, stories, spirituality, and ecology—while critically interrogating the histories of colonial expansion, resource extraction, and ecological violence that have shaped the current planetary crisis.