We are proud to announce Iván Argote's participation in the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia Stranieri Ovunque - Foreigners Everywhere, curated by Adriano Pedrosa, with an ambitious outdoor installation in the Giardini.
In addition, Lee Bae participates in the Official Collateral Events of the Biennale with a solo show titled La Maison de la Lune Brûlée at the Wilmotte Foundation.
Maurizio Cattelan and Claire Tabouret are part of the presentation With My Eyes curated by Chiara Parisi and Bruno Racine at the Holy See Pavilion (Venice-Giudecca Women's Prison).
Concurrently, two of our artists have solo exhibitions in Venice during the Biennale: Daniel Arsham presents Venice 3024 at the Chiesa di Santa Caterina and a panorama of the early works by Bernar Venet is presented at the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana.
On the occasion of Venice Biennale, JR unveils his new project. He has designed the interiors of L'Observatoire, an exclusive sleeper carriage launched by Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.
Finally, Jens Fänge participates to GLASSTRESS 8½ group show at Fondazione Berengo Art Space in Murano and Palazzo Diedo launches with the unveiling of site-specific commissions by 11 internationally acclaimed artists including AYA TAKANO.
IVÁN ARGOTE
STRANIERI OVUNQUE - FOREIGNERS EVERYWHERE
April 20 — November 24
The Central Pavilion (Giardini) and in the Arsenale
Descanso is an anti-monument that invites us to think about a paradigm shift. It is a replica of the statue of Christopher Columbus in Plaza Colón in Madrid, fallen and completely invaded by invasive weeds and plants (local and migrant) that gradually devour the figure in a colorful and harmonious feast.
The installation is conceived as a territory of rest from this colonial and violent legacy, an invitation to leave behind anachronistic heroisms that celebrate the violence exercised on different peoples, and to give way to life and to a new era more in harmony with others and with nature.
As a Colombian artist this installation has a special symbolism for him. Colombia etymologically means "the land of Columbus". It was so named by the independence fighters (mostly white men descended from a European caste) who alter winning a long war against Spain, wanted to dedicate the country to Christopher Columbus, a great paradox like the rest of our history. This work, between sculpture and landscape, also functions as a kind of return: here is your hero, we no longer need him. We need instead a rest from that legacy, a rest from those heroisms of cruelty of yesteryear.
THE HOLY SEE PAVILION
MAURIZIO CATTELAN, CLAIRE TABOURET
WITH MY EYES
GROUP SHOW
April 20 — November 24
Venice-Giudecca Women’s Prison
Commissioner: His Eminence Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See
Curators: Chiara Parisi and Bruno Racine
The Holy See Pavilion stands as an unprecedented and groundbreaking reality for the Venice Biennale, thanks to the physical and conceptual opening of the Venice-Giudecca Women'sPrison , where art, humanity poetry and the act of caring will be in conversation.
The title of the Holy See Pavilion curated by Chiara Parisi and Bruno Racine, “With My Eyes”, is borrowed from a fragment of poetry that references an ancient sacred text and an Elizabethan poem: "I love thee not with mine eyes" (Shakespeare, Sonnet 141) echoing the verses 42.5 of the Book of Job, "Mine eyes have seen thee." A cross-fading that blurs into an action where seeing becomes synonymous of touching with the gaze, of embracing with the eye, of allowing a dialogue between sight and perception.
Maurizio Cattelan's work involves the presence of a large outdoor artwork on the facade of the Chapel that is striking in both its size and emotional impact. The artist will contribute to the special issue dedicated to the Venice Biennale of "L'Osservatore di Strada", an editorial proposal that will feature a direct collaboration with women prisoners, transforming them into the actors of the editorial process.
Claire Tabouret crafts portraits of inmates as children and of their younger loved ones. Each portrait is a reminder of dignity, identity and beauty: art becomes a vehicle for personal rediscovery, a way to see themselves through a different lens, celebrating their uniqueness. The portraits, inspired by real photographs provided by the female inmates, arise as symbols of rediscovery and reappropriation of the self, and will be installed in a large picture gallery, hosted in the room adjacent to the Chapel
The presentation also include Bintou Dembélé, Simone Fattal, Claire Fontaine, Sonia Gomes, Corita Kent, Marco Perego and Zoe Saldana.
OFFICIAL COLLATERAL EVENT
LEE BAE
LA MAISON DE LA LUNE BRÛLÉE
April 20 — November 24
Willmotte Foundation
Organized by the Hansol Foundation - Museum SAN, the Fondation d’Entreprise Wilmotte, with the support of Johyun Gallery, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Italy, the Korean Cultural Center in Italy, the Italian Cultural Institute in Seoul, Perrotin, the City of Cheong do, and Fabriano.
Curator: Valentina Buzzi
La Bella Carta dal 1264 , the exhibition curated by Valentina Buzzi presents Lee Bae’s homage and exploration of a century-old Korean ritual known as Moonhouse Burning or daljip taeugi deeply rooted in the land of morning calm. Held annually on the first full moon of the year, this ritual, which coincides with the 15th day of the lunar calendar’s first month, brings the entire community together to engage in a unique and symbolic celebration of cyclical cosmology.
In an era marked by complexity and estrangement from nature, "La Maison de la Lune Brûlée" delivers a powerful message of reconnection with nature’s rhythms, celebrating lunar cosmologies and folklore traditions. The exhibition not only explores the timeless wisdom of Korean philosophy but also raises essential questions about the pivotal role of ancient traditions in contemporary times. Through the synthesis of art and ritual, Lee Bae’s exhibition invites visitors to embark a profound exploration of our shared humanity and the possibilities of re-discovery and hope.
DANIEL ARSHAM
VENICE 3024
April 17 – September 15, 2024
Chiesa di Santa Caterina
Daniel Arsham presents Venice 3024, a solo exhibition organized by Perrotin, in collaboration with Ronald Harrar.
Transporting viewers from the past and present into the future, Daniel Arsham transforms artifacts and images that hold significant influence to comment on and memorialize the permanence of collective cultural memory. In this exhibition, the artist introduces new techniques into his Fractured Idols series, alongside a survey of artwork in his signature Fictional Archaeology series.
BERNAR VENET
1961... LOOKING FORWARD
April 20 — June 16
Bibliotheca Nazionale Marciana
Curators: Beate Reifenscheid, Ludwig Museum Director, Koblenz, Germany.
Artistic Director: Dirk Geuer, Association for Art in Public, Düsseldorf, Germany.
A panorama of the early works by Bernar Venet executed between 1961 and 1965 will be exhibited in the Sale Monumentali. These proto-conceptual works already announce the dynamic of constant questioning that characterizes the artist's entire oeuvre.
JR
L’Observatoire
From 17 to 19 of April, L’Observatoire will be on display at Fondamenta Vendramin
From 20 to 22 of April, L'Observatoire will be on display at Riva Dei Sette Martiri.
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is proud to present L’Observatoire, an exclusive sleeper carriage with interiors conceptualised and designed by world-acclaimed artist JR. Joining the rake in 2025, this private carriage is the first to be designed by an artist on board the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express and will become the most spacious accommodation type onboard the train.
JR's passion for the rails, sparked off as a child, largely informs the inspiration behind the creation of L’Observatoire. The artist was also influenced by the design of his personal art studio in Paris, the charm of century old crafts, astronomical observatories and the cabinets of curiosity of Renaissance Europe.
AYA TAKANO
JANUS
GROUP SHOW
April 20 — November 24
Berggruen Arts & Culture - Palazzo Diedo
Curated by Mario Codognato, Director of Berggruen Arts & Culture and Adriana Rispoli, Curator of Berggruen Arts & Culture.
Palazzo Diedo launches with the unveiling of site-specific commissions by 11 internationally acclaimed artists including AYA TAKANO. The artists’ interventions have been conceived in response to the architecture and original features of the 18th-century building by architect Andrea Tirali, once home to one of Venice’s most powerful families and formerly a primary school and court. The works are often inspired by traditional crafts associated with Venice, such as frescos, Murano glass, precious fabrics and Venetian floor design. And, the exhibition takes its name from Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, often seen with two faces, one looking forward and the other backwards, symbolic of the exhibition’s aims to bring the historical and contemporary together.
The group exhibition also includes Urs Fischer, Piero Golia, Carsten Höller, Ibrahim Mahama, Mariko Mori, Sterling Ruby, Jim Shaw, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Lee Ufan and Liu Wei.
JENS FÄNGE
GLASSTRESS 8½
GROUP SHOW
April 20 – November 24
Fondazione Berengo Art Space, Campiello della Pescheria 4
Murano
Curated by Umberto Croppi
GLASSTRESS 8½ is a project by Adriano Berengo dedicated to promoting connections between contemporary art and glass. The title of the exhibition is a homage to Fellini, and his masterpiece of the same name, a film which hinges on the theme of artistic creation.
In Murano over 30 works are on display by artists who have collaborated with Berengo Studio, the creative glass furnace that has been characterised since 1989 as a space in which artists can freely collaborate using the technical expertise of the island's master glassmakers.
