For the 2011 Venice Biennale, the artist erected a forest of stone creatures, extending to the ceiling like surreal pillars. He thinks in terms of geological periods, equating prehistoric history and the distant future in his imagery. The first floor is darkened, flora hanging from its ceiling, the floor space paved in brown marble, the fossils within it meticulously exposed. Is this an ancient place of worship, at the origins of man, or the vaults of his tragic existence? The second floor is likewise darkened, a copy of Picasso’s Guernica (1937) located in the middle.

Villar Rojas adds a bar of fire, flickering along its lower edge. An image of a bearded hunter is displayed adjacent to one of two dinosaurs. An iron basket hangs from the ceiling. Humans exist in the world and, with them, carnage and violence. The atmosphere changes on the predominantly white upper floor. The legs of Michelangelo’s David (1501-1504) are enthroned on a ramp. Humanity has arrived in Olympus, abandoning Earth, a cyber spider is the last remaining witness to humanity’s disappearance – a post-apocalyptic scenario.