In February 2025, Cuban artist Luis Gómez Armenteros unveiled Comanche (The enemy of everyone), a dual solo exhibition curated by Giacomo Zaza, hosted at Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan (February 18 – April 5) and The Place in Bergamo (February 22 – April 18). This ambitious project, promoted by Fabbrica del Vapore and the Municipality of Milan in collaboration with U-ART-P in Bergamo, goes beyond the traditional retrospective format—transforming the exhibition space into an open investigation into the role of the artist, the fluidity of identity, and the ways contemporary art intersects with history, cultural displacement, and social critique.

Gómez Armenteros' work is characterized by an experimental, intermedial approach, blending elements of sociology, literature, political economy, technology, and communication. Rather than presenting a linear artistic narrative, Comanche (The enemy of everyone) unfolds as a progressive artistic workshop, engaging audiences through site-specific installations and conceptual inquiries into the nature of art, authorship, and the commodification of creativity in modern society.

At its core, Gómez’s artistic method is deeply rooted in pastiche, irony, and cultural hybridity. His practice constantly negotiates between reality and fiction, high and low technology, history and contemporary pop culture, creating a mestizo aesthetic that reflects his own transnational experiences. By crossing disciplines—from photography and videoto drawing, painting, sculpture, and spatial interventions—Gómez positions his work at the frontier of global contemporary art, challenging rigid classifications and expectations within the art world.

The exhibition’s title, Comanche (The enemy of everyone), is loaded with historical and metaphorical weight. The word Comanche originates from the Ute term meaning "anyone who wants to fight me all the time", historically used to describe the Comanche people, a nomadic indigenous group that fiercely resisted Spanish and American expansionism in the 18th and 19th centuries.

For Gómez, this historical narrative of resistance and displacement finds strong parallels in the contemporary experiences of migrants, artists, and marginalized voices in society. The Comanche were often perceived as aggressive outsiders by European settlers and neighboring tribes, yet within their own culture, they identified simply as a people—a community with a strong, mobile identity, untethered to fixed borders.

Drawing on this theme, Gómez positions the contemporary artist as a modern-day Comanche—a figure in perpetual movement, navigating social, economic, and political landscapes that often seek to domesticate, institutionalize, or exclude artistic autonomy. His work examines the precariousness of the artistic profession, where cultural institutions, art markets, and media narratives shape who is seen, who is excluded, and who is deemed “legitimate” within the art world.

“My work is based on language, the political culture of the artistic environment, and a very self-referential narrative,” Gómez states. His fascination with identity’s ambiguity, the shifting perception of the “enemy,” and the fluid nature of belonging fuels the thematic core of the exhibition. The concept of seeing and being seen, of existing within a framework where one is both subject and observer, resonates deeply within his artistic output.

The first venue of Comanche, Fabbrica del Vapore, is a historically significant space—formerly an industrial complex, now transformed into a multidisciplinary cultural hub in Milan. This post-industrial setting provides an ideal backdrop for Gómez’s exploration of hybrid artistic languages and the intersections between art, labor, and social structures.

Gómez has a long-standing relationship with Fabbrica del Vapore, having participated in the 2023 residency program "Futura. Art as an Exploratory Resource. Interact. Deviate. Attest" curated by Giacomo Zaza. His prior engagement with the space has allowed for a deeply integrated exhibition, where the venue itself becomes an active participant in the artistic discourse.

Thematically, the Milan chapter of Comanche focuses on the paradoxes of artistic authorship, examining how artists both construct and deconstruct their own identities within institutional frameworks. The second phase of Comanche unfolds at The Place in Bergamo, an independent space dedicated to artistic research and interdisciplinary discourse. Unlike Fabbrica del Vapore’s industrial energy, The Place offers a more intimate and discursive atmosphere, allowing for a deeper engagement with the exhibition’s theoretical dimensions.

Curator Giacomo Zaza describes Comanche as an exhibition deeply rooted in critical awareness. He highlights Gómez’s ability to expose the tensions between economic forces, institutional structures, and artistic integrity:

“Luis’s work is continually troubled by an awareness of rules shaped not by ethical relations but by economic and social speculations. This unease leads him to develop a sharp, ironic gaze that offers a parallel view of the world. Sometimes it expresses a tragicomic, bitter, and ironic denunciation, especially when the focus falls on artistic practices that serve only their vanity at the expense of commitment and research.” Through a combination of satire, deconstruction, and conceptual layering, Gómez pushes the viewer to question the underlying power structures that shape cultural production.

Beyond the exhibition itself, Comanche (The enemy of everyone) includes a series of public programs, artist talks, and a forthcoming monograph. This publication, featuring essays by Giacomo Zaza, Maria Fratelli, Michela Casavola, Jorge Fernández Torres, Suset Sánchez, and Omar-Pascual Castillo, will provide a deeper theoretical analysis of Gómez’s work and its broader cultural implications.

These additional elements reinforce Comanche as a living, evolving platform for dialogue, rather than a static exhibition confined to its physical space.

Comanche (The enemy of everyone) is not just an exhibition—it is an artistic manifesto, a provocation, and a critical experiment. Through playful yet incisive visual language, Luis Gómez Armenteros exposes the paradoxes of contemporary culture, questioning authorship, perception, and institutional power. By embracing nomadism, hybridity, and defiance, Gómez challenges the viewer to reconsider the politics of identity, the economics of artistic labor, and the evolving role of art in a rapidly changing world. Much like the historical Comanche people, his art refuses to be confined, categorized, or controlled—it is restless, dynamic, and fiercely independent.