WFP and MIT inaugurate “Distance Unknown” exhibition on migration at the Venice architecture Biennale

Rome – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Civic Data Design Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will inaugurate “Distance Unknown”, a data-based exhibition on hunger and migration, at Palazzo Bembo (European Cultural Centre) in Venice with a walk-through on 21 May 2023 at 1100 CET to coincide with the opening of the Biennale Architettura 2023.
The centre piece of the exhibition is a giant tapestry illustrating the driving factors that force vulnerable families from Central America to migrate, and the costs associated with their journeys. This 15-by-8 feet data visualization artwork was built on a unique set of information collected by WFP during a study involving 5,000 families from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and analysed in the subsequent report; “Charting a New Regional Course of Action”. It shows a sharp increase in the number of people considering migrating as a direct consequence of the global pandemic and as food insecurity dramatically increased in that region.

WFP continues to closely monitor migration issues and develop life-changing solutions with governments to address the multiple and intertwined crises driving millions of people into hunger and food insecurity across Latin America and the Caribbean.