PLACES OF ART
Palazzo Diedo
Berggruen Arts & Culture to open Venice’s first major art space for more than a decade
Palazzo Diedo, Venice’s first major new space dedicated to contemporary art for more than a decade, opens with the unveiling of site-specific commissions by 11 internationally acclaimed artists – Urs Fischer, Piero Golia, Carsten Höller, Ibrahim Mahama, Mariko Mori, Sterling Ruby, Jim Shaw, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Aya Takano, Lee Ufan and Liu Wei.
Following major restoration of the Palazzo, Janus, the inaugural exhibition, and two special projects, presented in partnership with New York City’s The Kitchen and the Polaroid Foundation, respectively, will coincide with the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2024.
Fondamenta Diedo, 30121 Venice VE
Interesting info
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.
«Venice has historically been a catalyzer for creativity, ideas, experimentation, and exchanges. With Berggruen Arts & Culture, we aim to revive the making of artefacts, to animate the extraordinary treasure which is Palazzo Diedo. Together with the Berggruen Institute, which hosts debates and a residency programme at Tre Oci, we see Venice again as a generator of culture and ideas. Janus symbolises our commitment to build on the past in a contemporary way.»
Nicolas Berggruen, collector and founder of the Berggruen Institute
Palazzo Diedo, photo by Massimo Pistore
Palazzo Diedo, detail
Palazzo Diedo, photo by Massimo Pistore
Liu Wei, Speculation N. 2, 2024
Jim Shaw, The Split Fountain
Sterling Ruby, WINDOW of Declinism 2, 2024
Jim Shaw, The Alexander Romances, 2024
