Moving through a space is usually thought of as an everyday act: crossing a sidewalk, for instance, or feeling the heat rising from asphalt in the middle of the day. Yet we often walk, without thinking, over unknown or incomplete histories, over invisible policies that govern every corner of those spaces.
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Space as a stage for illuminating the inequalities that affect queer and trans communities in Puerto Rico is the central theme of "Había una vez y dos son tres feminisitios," the proposal by professor and architect Regner Ramos and a group of students from the Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus, for the Puerto Rico pavilion at the 24th edition of the Triennale di Milano.
What is la Trienal de Milán?
Zoom in: La Trienal de Milán is a cultural institution in Milan, Italy, that since 1923 has organized an international exhibition every three years dedicated to art, design and architecture. The event is held at the Palazzo dell'Arte and brings together designers, architects and artists from different parts of the world, who present installations known as pavilions addressing contemporary themes.
🖼️ Edition No. 24, running from May to November 2025, has "Inequalities" as its theme and completes the Triennale's trilogy on sustainability topics ("Broken Nature" in 2019 and "Unknown Unknowns" in 2022).
🖼️ "Inequalities" is a collective project that uses exhibitions, installations, special projects and events to question global challenges, including economics, geographic origin and gender.
Three spaces, one clear message
This is the first time Puerto Rico has presented its own pavilion at la Trienal de Milán in the more than 100 years since the institution was founded, following an invitation the Triennale extended directly to Dr. Regner Ramos for his work on the LGBTQ+ community in Puerto Rico and how it is reflected through space and architecture.
Did you know…Before 2025, Puerto Rican artists had participated in the Trienal, though not officially as a country. In 2019, Puerto Rican architect and academic Miguel Rodríguez Casellas participated alongside the architecture collective Grandeza, which presented the Austria pavilion.
How they're doing it: Ramos enlisted a group of students from the Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad to create a concept that would take three architectural spaces, along with the policies that govern them, to show how those spaces are complicit in violating the rights of an LGBTQ+ community member and other minorities on the Island over a 24-hour period.
"It is my hope that presenting this project before an international forum will continue a conversation and that people will seek to carry on the struggle."
– Dr. Regner Ramos
From sketch to reality
The Puerto Rico pavilion, Ramos explains, tells a story, connecting spaces such as a public restroom that meets established codes but that, for a trans person, could lead to whispers, possible aggression and even emotional harm.
🏛️ Activism through art and visibility
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Ramos: "I would like to be a spokesperson. I am very aware that I do not represent all the inequalities in Puerto Rico, that I do not represent the voice of the entire queer community in Puerto Rico. But I would like this to be seen as a form of activism…Continue reading ↓
"— an activism that is not only in the street protesting, but that is present in knowledge-building forums, artistic forums, and before an architecture forum as well," Ramos noted.
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"The pavilion puts its finger right on the wound of the issue. It says: this is also architecture's problem. To be able to continue that conversation, to try to find ways to open dialogue with the powers above us so that we are not something disposable. So they know there are people who will be militant, advocating in whatever forum is needed, and that we are here, that we will keep looking out for one another," he added.
An enriching experience
The students behind "Había una vez y dos son tres feminisitios" understand the responsibility that comes with bringing a project of this scale to life.
For Andrés Franquiz Anadón, a third-year student at the Escuela de Arquitectura, the pavilion is not only a focal point for issues affecting marginalized communities in Puerto Rico but also an opportunity to change how the Island is perceived.
"I hope this is a kind of wake-up call so people realize that architecture students from Puerto Rico, especially those from UPI, the university they have said they want to close or not, well, they have that power, that ability and that talent, the ambition to do big things that may be considered abstract but carry a very strong social impact,"
– Franquiz Anadón
For his part, Alejandro Morales Cabrera, also a third-year student, explains that although the process has had its complications, from refining the concept to finding a middle ground so that students with different class schedules could communicate effectively, the mentorship and support of Ramos has been key to the project's success.
"He [Ramos] truly draws on our own creativity to make this pavilion a reality. And that is something I respect a great deal about him, as a person,"
– Alejandro Morales Cabrera
During the Arrivederci Party, a celebration in honor of the group and the project held just days before the Triennale, Angélica García, a fellow third-year student, added that the project led her to see that "in almost every place there is something of architecture, something of space."
"I definitely hope that people, when they see this pavilion, can recognize that too," the student added.
🇮🇹 On the way to Milan
The pavilion's opening is scheduled for May 13, and the group still can hardly believe it. Asked what they will do first as soon as they land on Italian soil, the group already has an idea.
Angélica wants to try authentic Italian food, while Alejandro and Andrés want to disconnect and explore the city and go with the flow of this new adventure, respectively.
Live coverage
Those who are in Puerto Rico will be able to follow along from a distance, with the release of a short film that will premiere on Facebook 24 hours before the opening of "Había una vez y dos son tres feminisitios." The page, titled "The Puerto Rico Pavilion Triennale di Milano 2025" will serve as a gathering point for those waiting for the short film.
The film stands on its own apart from the pavilion, offering another layer of information about the project, with an eye toward potentially submitting it to film festivals and other galleries.
"For me it is very gratifying that I don't know what the other countries are preparing, and I think it is going to surprise me a great deal. I am so immersed in my own project that I have no idea what the other teams' work will look like. But knowing it is the Triennale, I know a very high level of quality, research and presentation awaits me. So it excites me to be among that group of people, whether we win or not," Ramos concluded.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
