Pol Merchan

Installation views from Dissident Paths: Traces (Three-day public program, exhibition and publication) TRACES acted as a means to remember, reflect and reconvene. ... opening into multi-perspectives of the ways of living waters, accessing new or forgotten ways of eco-cruising-into-mutuality ... As collaborative installation, together with; Pol Merchan’s audio-visual work: ‘𝒮𝓁𝑜𝒷𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝑀𝑜𝓈𝓈 𝒫𝑒𝑒’ & Sarah Martinus’ land-assemblage: ‘𝒜 𝑀𝓊𝓁𝓉𝒾𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝒪𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒; 𝒯𝓇𝒶𝒸𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒫𝓈𝓎𝒸𝒽𝒾𝒸 𝒲𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈, 𝐼𝓃𝓃𝑒𝓇 𝒮𝑜𝒾𝓁𝓈’. Interpreted through active drawing practices of Natthapong Samakkaew. @nttpsmkw Exhibited 26.2. – 28.2.26 | with gratitude to the whole team of curators and artists of Dissident Paths: Traces, @ngbk_berlin Curated by nGbK-Arbeitsgruppe: Clementine Butler-Gallie, Bengisu Çağlayan, Raphael Daibert, Luise Leon Elbern, Eirini Fountedaki, Viviane Tabach, Sarnt Utamachote; as @cruisingcurators & @_re_routing_ . — 𝓜𝓾𝓵𝓽𝓲𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓞𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓵𝓮 is of organic elements, divined together as re-membering portal, inviting access to inner depths. Through tactile engagement it offers an Altar place to turn towards nature, as inner world, as gaze, as breath, as body. Interconnected alongside the audio-visual from Pol Merchan, The Oracle has been gathered at the Dissident Paths Walk ‘𝓢𝓵𝓸𝓫𝓫𝓮𝓻 𝓜𝓸𝓼𝓼 𝓟𝓮𝓮’, and in surrounding areas of Berlin during the wintertime afterwards, through divination walks. — An audiovisual ecosystem of entangled bodies, waters, pixels, and memories. 𝓢𝓵𝓸𝓫𝓫𝓮𝓻 𝓜𝓸𝓼𝓼 𝓟𝓮𝓮 explores the interconnectedness of space—natural and urban, visible and invisible—and its inhabitants, human and non-human, tracing the traces of their multiple interactions. Cast: Xen Ruiz @xenruizart & Pol Merchan Edit: Ginés Olivares @zetaoral This time, with sound from Sarah’s gong. — Installation Images thanks to Lucía Alfaro Valencia. @lu.alfarovalencia Images 6 ,7, 8 are works: “Dissident Paths (Cruise)” 2025 Pen on paper, 10.5 × 14.8 cm Natthapong Samakkaew. #ecospirituality #multiperspective #oracle #play #sensorialknowledge #queeringmethodologies #cruising

Ens fa molta il·lusió compartir la publicació en format digital de l’exposició Pirates, Faunes, Dimonis de Pol Merchan, comissariada per Marta Sesé, presentada al Centre d’Art La Panera. La publicació està disponible en línia en accés lliure, és trilingüe (castellà, anglès i català) i compta amb contribucions de diversa autoria. Volem agrair sincerament a totes les autores, a l’equip curatorial i a totes les persones implicades haver fet possible tant l’exposició com aquesta publicació. _ We’re very happy to share the digital publication of the exhibition Pirates, Faunes, Dimonis by Pol Merchan, curated by Marta Sesé, presented at the Centre d’Art La Panera. The publication is available online in open access, is trilingual (Spanish, English, and Catalan), and includes contributions from a diverse group of authors. We would like to sincerely thank all the authors, the curatorial team, and everyone involved for making both the exhibition and this publication possible. Centre d’Art La Panera @lapaneralleida Edició: Pol Merchan, Marta Sesé Disseny gràfic: Montse Arderiu @m.arderiu Coordinació editorial: Anna Roigé @annicia_red Traduccions i correccions anglès: Paul E. Davies Christian Alonso christianalonso_net Marta Sesé @martasesefuentes Pol Merchan @pol.mer Aimar Arriola @arriolaaimar Nazario Luque @nazarioluquevera Lucía Egaña Rojas @luciaegana Del LaGrace Volcano @dellagracevolcano

We’d like to warmly thank the teams of @_re_routing_ and @cruisingcurators for inviting @pol.mer with accompaniment from @sarahmartinus to have a moment of Eco-Sexual late Summer nourishment at the Habbermannsee in Berlin. As preparation, we paused, focusing inwards together in a moment of meditation, through guided word and sound led by Sarah. We opened into multi-perspectives of the ways of living waters, to access new or forgotten ways of eco-cruising-into-mutuality. Pol Merchan invited us into an audiovisual ecosystem of entangled bodies, waters, pixels, and memories. 𝑺𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒆 explores the interconnectedness of space—natural and urban, visible and invisible—and its inhabitants, human and non-human, tracing the traces of their multiple interactions. A projection at the Kaulsdorfer Baggersee (Habermannsee) places the artwork, the screen, and the viewers within a dynamic of intra-action. The screen integrates with the landscape, while ambient sounds and birdsong form the soundtrack. Cast: Xen Ruiz @xenruizart & Pol Merchan Edit: Ginés Olivares @zetaoral Thank you to the community who were able to join us and enjoy the fresh air with us, and to Natthapong Samakkaew @nttpsmkw who was documenting the scene through drawing. We are together looking forward to the next iteration, ‘Traces’, in February 2026! 'Dissident Paths: Walking Together as a Method, Pol Merchan & Sarah Martinus Curated by Re-Routing @_re_routing_ & Cruising Curators @cruisingcurators As part of nGbK @ngbk_berlin Habermannsee 2025 Images by Lucía Alfaro Valencia @lu.alfarovalenciaa Film Stills by Pol Merchan #cruising #mutuality #mutiperspective #livingwaters #ecosexual #ecology #𝑺𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒓𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒔𝑷𝒆𝒆 #rerouting

𝑺𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝑷𝒐𝒍 𝑴𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏 📆 20.9.2025, 18-21h 📍 Meeting Point: Habermannsee, Marzahn (pin on the event link) ❗No registration required 🗣️ English ♿️ Wheelchair access and rest points (full access info via event link) As part of 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒉 5: Cruise from the 𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒔 program, Pol Merchan invites us into an audiovisual ecosystem of entangled bodies, waters, pixels, and memories. 𝑺𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒆 explores the interconnectedness of space—natural and urban, visible and invisible—and its inhabitants, human and non-human, tracing the traces of their multiple interactions. A projection at the Kaulsdorfer Baggersee (Habermannsee) places the artwork, the screen, and the viewers within a dynamic of intra-action. The screen integrates with the landscape, while ambient sounds and birdsong form the soundtrack. Pol Merchan is an artist, filmmaker, and curator of the Xposed Queer Film Festival in Berlin. Working with analog media, appropriation, and collage, his practice blurs boundaries between historiography, autobiography, fiction, and documentary. His films and installations have been shown internationally at institutions and festivals including Museo Reina Sofía, IFFR Rotterdam, and Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen. + A GUIDED MULTIPERSPECTIVE JOURNEY by Sarah Martinus @sarahmartinus We pause, focusing inwards together in a moment of meditation, through guided word and sound: opening into multi-perspectives of the ways of living waters, accessing new or forgotten ways of eco-cruising-into-mutuality. Image by Pol Merchan Image Description: A rocky shoreline with shallow water. Sunlight reflects on the surface, creating sparkling points like stars, while moss and algae cover parts of the rocks. The scene has a soft, vintage film quality.

Last days! THE MUTANT SCREEN until July 6th in @lacapellabcn The screen is neither static nor impermeable; it mutates, breathes, folds and iterates over time, and its body becomes collage, cut-up, remix and resistance. The reborn entity decomposes and recombines surfaces, wrenching them from their lethargy and returning them to an imagined present where —with renewed breath— they respire. The visible emerges after twisting digital mechanics, subjecting them to the forced labour of other representations. As a result, the cinematic creature not only represents, but also embodies a technique taken to the limit: Pol Merchan presents it at its point of overflow. Fifty years after censored images, this entity rises up as a hybrid, genderless and voluble organism whose 3D models hang from algorithms undoubtedly trained for a different kind of consistency; its pseudo-digital guts and not-quite-pixel skin try out an expansion of the possible. Curatorial guidance: @daniel.gasol  & Jara Rocha  Photos: Pep Herrero

Starting very soon, don’t miss! 💜 29. May – 1. June 2025 (Link in bio for program & tickets ***) The XPOSED Queer Film Festival Berlin @xposedqueerfilmfest is entering its 19th year! With 13 feature films and 48 short films from more than 30 countries. This year's selection focuses on complicated joy, migration routes, underground archives, rebellious bodies, rituals and memory, digital intimacy, and the reimagining of past and future (transfuturism). A striking motif running through many of the films is the depiction of flowers, plants, and green spaces as symbols of the resilience and flourishing of queer communities in challenging times. Below some special recomendaciones from my side 😊💙 • Onda Nova, Ícaro (Francisco C.) Martins and José Antonio Garcia, Brazil, 1983 Moviemento 30.05.2025 – 16:00 Produced in 1983 and banned by the Brazilian dictatorship, this comedy features young female soccer players from the "Gayvotas Football Club"... • Call me Agnes, Daniel Donato, Netherlands, 2024 IL Kino 30.05.2025 – 19:00 and Moviemento 01.06.2025 – 14:00 (with the presence of director) Agnes faces a dilemma, keep the lie or tell the truth about who she is... • The Garden Cadences, Dane Komljen, Germany, 2024 Moviemento 31.05.2025 – 16:00 (with the presence of director) Jone is one of Mollies, the queer-feminist collective that had been living for a decade at a trailer park next to Ostkreuz, Berlin. • Two Times João Liberada, Paula Tomás Marques, Portugal, 2025 Moviemento 31.05.2025 – 20:15 (with the presence of director) João stars in a biopic about Liberada, a gender-nonconforming figure persecuted by the Inquisition... • Some Nights I Feel Like Walking, Petersen Vargas, Philippines, Singapore, Italy, 2024 (please check content notes) Manila at night is teeming with possibility – of danger but also of tenderness. and some of the great short film programes 🔥 • Shorts 4 – Broadcast It Wolf Kino 30.05.2025 – 21:00 • Shorts 3 – Another Life, Another Screen Babylon Kreuzberg 30.05.2025 – 20:30 • Shorts 2 – As We Bloom Moviemento 30.05.2025 – 18:00 and much much more! 💛

Pirate Boys 🏴‍☠️ goes to NY :) Queer and Uncensored 🔥 May 28–Jun 27, 2025 (Link in bio) MoMA, Floor T2/T1 @themuseumofmodernart The Debra and Leon Black Family Film Center Honoring a courageous history of liberation and transgression, this major survey of queer film and video includes more than 70 shorts and features by 65 filmmakers. This cinematic celebration of lesbian, gay, and transgender sexuality, love, and activism presents seven decades of pioneering, landmark films and lesser-known or marginalized works. Guest curators MM Serra @mm_serra_e , longtime head of Film-Maker’s Cooperative, and Erica Schreiner @erica.schreiner —both filmmakers themselves—write, “Since the inception of queer cinema, artists have faced censorship and invisibility, a challenge that persists today. Queer and Uncensored showcases a powerful selection of rarely seen, suppressed films that are crucial milestones in the evolution of queer filmmaking. Each program focuses on a topic that is relevant to the development and expansion of queer identity and its diversity. These films explore gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and the emergence of the epidemic.” Queer-identified filmmakers represented include leaders Kenneth Anger, Edward Owens, Gunvor Nelson, Alla Nazimova, José Rodriquez-Soltero, Barbara Hammer, James Broughton, Marguerite Paris, Andrew Meyer, Luis Ernesto Arocha, Jack Smith, Olívio Tavares de Araújo, Ron Rice and Andy Warhol; joined by a generation of activists such as Rosa von Praunheim, Michelle Handelman, Jim Hubbard, Carmelita Tropicana, Jerry Tartaglia, Ira Sachs, Uzi Parnes, Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens, Tom Chomont, Isaac Julien, Garth Maxwell, Alice O’Malley, Abigail Child and Gary Goldberg; along with recent works by Anto Astudillo, Theo Cuthand, Lucy Rosa Blanca Gaehring, Nazlı Dinçel, Pol Merchan, Max Disgrace, and KT Burns. The series also embraces queer-positive work by Beth B, Doris Wishman, Carolee Schneemann, Tessa Hughes-Freeland and Nick Zedd. Organized by Ron Magliozzi, Curator, and Carson Parish, Associate Producer, Department of Film, MoMA, with MM Serra and Erica Schreiner, guest curators.

El proper dimarts 29 d'abril a partir de les 19h inaugurem a @lacapellabcn Serà maco, veniu! 😊 Comparteixo expo amb Maria Alcaide @ridimeid , "La romería de los cornudos" a l'Espai Capella (ENG below) LA PANTALLA MUTANT 🔥 Del 29 d'abril al 6 de juliol de 2025. Espai Rampa La pantalla mutant emergeix com una amalgama de formes en interdependència sociotècnica erràtica, com a criatures en transformació perpètua que excaven en el cinema tardofranquista, el disloquen, el reescriuen, el reparen, i el converteixen en un aquelarre d’insurgències, de desobediència a les imposicions ontològiques del que compta com a u (o no), el que accedeix a la mirada o el que es contorneja com a cos. El fantaterror de la dècada dels setanta i els vuitanta deixa de ser una galeria bidimensional de monstres i cossos desmembrats per convertir-se en un llenç esquinçat en què allò queer o allò trans*, allò dissident i allò reprimit, hi troben esquerdes per on filtrar-se, vectors per on expandir-se. Amb la col·laboració de / In collaboration with: Roland Lauth @authessx , @barbaralanzarote_visualart , Diego Pedragosa, Ginés Olivares @zetaoral , @dicey_studios Acompanyament curatorial / Curatorial guidance: @daniel.gasol i Jara Rocha 🩷 Agraïments / Thank you: A tot l'equip de La Capella i @benbusch , @eduardogion , @_gui_g_ , @monicarovira , @napasarapera , @sarahmartinus THE MUTANT SCREEN 🔥 From April 29 to July 6, 2025. Espai Rampa The Mutant Screen emerges as a patchwork of forms in erratic sociotechnical interdependence, like creatures in perpetual transformation excavating late Francoist cinema, dislocating, rewriting and remediating it, transforming it into a coven of insurrections and disobedience to the ontological impositions of what counts as one (or not), what is accessible to the gaze or what is contorted as a body. The fantaterror of the 1970s and 1980s is no longer a two-dimensional gallery of monsters and dismembered bodies and has become a broken canvas where the queer and the trans*, the dissident and the oppressed, find cracks through which to seep, vectors through which to expand.

I'm very pleased that La llum que cobreix les ferides (The Light that Covers the Wounds) will be screened at the 63rd Ann Arbor Film Festival @aafilmfest . Program: FIC 05 - Out Night Thursday March 27, 2025 at 9:30 PM Michigan Theater Main Auditorium The 24th AAFF queer cinema celebration spotlights experimental films with LGBTQ+ themes, including the god Pan’s pursuit of forest nymph Syrinx through ballet, trans fantasia, and an exploration of love and power; a meditation on genderqueerness and the blur between influence, desire, and obsession; a journey of self-discovery and transition; the creature Salma’s plea for acceptance; candid conversations with eleven Blackqueer individuals; and a young filmmaker’s emotional reunion with his mother. This film was made in close collaboration with my mum and with the support of The Art Centre La Panera @lapaneralleida . I want to thank the entire team for the trust and support: my mum - Rosa Taribó (cast and music), @monicarovira (script editor), @zetaoral (editor), @napasarapera and Diego Pedragosa (sound design), @quimu.cas (color), @christianalonso_net , @martasesefuentes , @sarahmartinus and @_gui_g_ 💙 "The film follows a filmmaker who returns to his birthplace to reconnect with his mother. As the encounter unfolds, the lights and shadows of their relationship are revealed, hinting at a moment of emotional openness."

Starting very soon! 30. May to 2. June 🔥 One more year I have had the pleasure of working with the curatorial team at the @xposedqueerfilmfest . Many strong and beautiful films, that we curated with great care and love. Solids by the Seashore (a romance between art, nature and more), Riptide (for lovers of literature and debut films), Power Alley (wonderful film by @lilla_pwr will open the festival), Asog (tender and warm road movie), Stop-Zemilia (bonds and friendship in youth), Cidade; Campo, Stories of our lives, I'm not everything I want to be... and many more. Plus, 7 programs of short films with over 50 movies… This Xposed edition has turned inward, loss and grief are present, as well as the feeling of community, support and healing. Being in the present moment in this painful times is not easy, and we hope that our work can make it more enriching and bearable 💜 On Sunday, we have a very special program dedicated to our dear friend Aérea Negrot @lanegrot 💔 we miss you 16:00 at Aquarium: Short film program (featuring Aérea Negrot in collaboration with @lapaetau & Nadia Granados) - free entrance 17-20:00 at Aquarium: It's Lover, Love - Wake for Lost Ones (a wake also known as a funeral, with small performances and live acts) 💐 20:30 at Babylon Kreuzberg: two films by @shulea2 - BX (of 3x3x6) & Fluidø Check the program in bio and join us in the cinemas! (Movimiento, Wolf Kino, IL Kino, Babylon Kreuzberg & Online) Let's laugh, cry, hug, get lost in the screens 🥰

"Xposed Queer Festival". Projecció de curts a cura de Pol Merchan. 17.05.2024. Centre d’Art La Panera – Espai 1, 19h. "Com a comissari del Xposed Queer Film Festival, he seleccionat 5 curts que d'una manera o altra sento que dialoguen amb la meva pròpia pràctica artística. Totes són pel·lícules que manifesten, a través d'històries en primera persona, el desig i la necessitat de crear lligams estrets tant amb els nostres avantpassats, familiars o amants, com amb nosaltres mateixos. És mitjançant la troballa d'una sèrie d'objectes -fotografies, pel·lícules, dildos o cançons- que s’obren portals cap a nous imaginaris i futurs per esdevenir. Objectes o gestos que, igual que magnets o talismans, detonen l'impuls creatiu, guiant cadascuna d'aquestes produccions audiovisuals. A "Neo Nahda", una jove londinenca troba fotografies de dones àrabs transvestides als anys vint. A mig camí entre les seves fantasies i la realitat, emprèn un viatge per descobrir històries perdudes i la pròpia identitat. "Grandmamauntsistercat", construïda a partir de material d'arxiu originalment utilitzat com a eines didàctiques i propagandístiques a la Polònia comunista, ens apropa a Baba Yaga, una figura clàssica que encarna una bruixa eslava. A "Will You Look At Me", un jove torna a la seva ciutat natal amb una càmera Super 8, capturant el seu entorn més proper i un acostament amb la seva mare. A “Dildotectonics”, Rebeca, intenta crear una col·lecció de dildos de ceràmica no fàl·lics, mentre la història de Josefa, perseguida durant la Inquisició, es creua de manera inesperada. "Valery Alexanderplatz" ens porta en un viatge musical des de la cançó de Battiato "Alexanderplatz" fins a "Valery" d'Alfredo Cohen, submergint-nos en la fascinant vida de la protagonista, que a través de memòries ens apropa als tumultuosos anys 80 berlinesos i a un present ple de serenitat espiritual". Activitat vinculada amb l'exposició individual de l'artista Pol Merchan "Pirates, faunes i dimonis", a cura de Marta Sesé. Fins el 26 de maig. @pol.mer @martasesefuentes @cultura_lleida @cultura_cat

Muy feliz de poder llevar a cabo este precioso y empoderador taller en @lapaneralleida a cargo de Personaje Personaje @personajepersonaje 🩷🦄 Sábado 25 de mayo a las 11.30h! ✨✨✨✨ CABAYO: Taller para infancia (8-12 años) Inscripcciones abiertas (link en bio & web La Panera) Este taller, dirigido a lxs niñxs, explora y promueve la autonomía corporal, el autocuidado y la expresión personal más propia, mediante el juego, la ficción especulativa y la fantasía —o, como le gusta más nombrarla a Personaje Personaje, la ficción radical para futuros posibles. Cabayo toma como punto de partida la siguiente afirmación: cuando a unx niñx le devolvemos el cuerpo y le hacemos saber que su cuerpo es suyo, a través de esta noción de autonomía estamos previniendo una serie de violencias estrictamente ligadas entre sí: la violencia intrafamiliar o en el hogar, el abuso sexual infantil y el asedio escolar o bullying. Este taller es un ritual, un juego y un reclamo para la reapropiación del cuerpo, sus potencialidades y su agencia. En él cuestionamos la hegemonía de la mirada y los espejos, para profundizar y recuperar otras formas de percepción de la propia corporalidad y de la relación con otras, así como con nuestro entorno y lo que lo habita. Cabayo es un ejercicio implicado y compartido para recuperar el cuerpo; es una actividad sobre el reclamo tanto del espacio propio-íntimo como del espacio externo-público. Esta actividad participativa está planteada desde una perspectiva anticolonial y lúdica. Es un territorio fértil para la fantasía y lo sensible en el que se promueve el (auto)cuidado, la recuperación de la autonomía corporal y la relación intimidad-comunidad para la prevención del maltrato infantil y de la violencia sexual, a partir de un espacio basado en lo lúdico y la ficción especulativa como herramientas prácticas. Este taller está concebido para la asistencia exclusiva de niñxs —sin la presencia de adultxs—, que estarán acompañadxs por el equipo del Centre d’Art La Panera.