Alexander Dang: Dang’cing Sol’Art Flowers Università Ca’ Foscari, Calle Larga Foscari, Dorsoduro 3246
06/05/2015–22/11/2015
The result of a collaboration between the French artist and Ca’ Foscari University, this exhibition combines art with social awareness, and at its core is the idea of educating young people about sustainability and renewable energy sources.
Architecture Engraved Spazio Gino Valle, Cotonificio Veneziano, Dorsoduro 2196
11/05/2015–22/05/2015
The show presents graphic works by architects, students and lecturers from Venice’s prestigious IUAV university, which have been painstakingly created with the same drawing and engraving techniques used by the great architects of the 18th century.
Arturo Mezzedimi: Architect of an Empire Spazio Gino Valle, Cotonificio Veneziano, Dorsoduro 2196
22/06/2015–03/07/2015
Between 1940 and 1974, the Italian Arturo Mezzedimi realised 1,624 projects in Ethiopia, where he was the trusted architect of emperor Haile Selassie. The exhibition addresses the relationship between architecture and power in Africa as well as the largely forgotten story of Mezzedimi’s achievements.
Byoung Choon Park: Collected Landscape Università Ca’ Foscari, Calle Larga Foscari, Dorsoduro 3246
09/05/2015–30/08/2015
The show presents around 10 large scale works created during the past five years by the Korean artist Byoung Choon Park, which touch on the idea of voyages and landscape, both cultural and topographical. The show is organised by Hyun Joo Choi, a professor of contemporary Asian art at Seoul’s Hoseo University, and presented by Cené International and Infinity Art & Culture Promotion, which promotes cultural ties between Italy and Korea.
Charles Pollock: a Retrospective Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Dorsoduro 701-704
until 14/09/2015
This is the first exhibition in Italy and the first full retrospective of works by Charles Pollock, the eldest brother of Jackson Pollock. Around 120 paintings and sketches are on display, most of which have been loaned by the Charles Pollock Archives thanks to the artist’s widow and daughter. The exhibition also includes a small number of works by Jackson Pollock and Thomas Hart Benton.
Cy Twombly: Paradise Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, Ca’ Pesaro, Santa Croce 2076
06/05/2015–13/09/2015
Organised by the Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo and supported by the Cy Twombly Foundation of New York, the exhibition takes on 60 years of Twombly’s work as a painter and sculptor, and includes more than 60 paintings, works on paper, and sculptures from 1951 to 2011, on loan from collections including the Menil Collection, the Broad Art Foundation and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Damage to Historic Monuments During the Great War: the Photography Collection of Ugo Ojetti Fondazione Giorgio Cini, San Giorgio Maggiore
03/06/2015–31/07/2015
The Institute of Art History at the Fondazione Cini is displaying a collection of more than 500 photographs amassed by Ugo Ojetti during the First World War, that document the damage done to the city’s heritage during those years and the efforts made to protect it from destruction.
Danh Vo: Slip of the Tongue Punta della Dogana, Dorsoduro 2
until 31/12/2015
For this show, the artist Danh Vo has been invited to collaborate with the Pinault Collection not just as an artist but as a curator. Taking the difficult environmental conditions in Venice as a starting point, the exhibition addresses the themes of conservation and heritage by presenting around 120 works from major Venetian collections, such as the Cini and the Accademia, the Pinault Collection and a further 39 artists invited to take part by Vo.
Das Meisterstück Fondazione Giorgio Cini, San Giorgio Maggiore
08/05/2015–07/06/2015
On view in the famous Cenacolo Palladiano of the Fondzione Cini is a collection of photographs of some of the most influential works of art from the past 200 years, taken by the German artist Matthias Schaller. The works, by artists including Francis Bacon, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí and Edgar Degas, chart the history of art from Impressionism to abstraction.
Diego Birelli: Graphic Designer Archivio Progetti Iuav, Cotonificio Veneziano, Dorsoduro 2196
07/05/2015–29/05/2015
The show celebrates the recent acquisition of the archive of Diego Birelli (b.1934), an important Italian graphic designer who worked with numerous public institutions, publishers and cultural and political movements from the 60s to the 90s. On view are a selection of posters, books and publications along with sketches, preparatory drawings and photographs.
Emily Young: Call and Response Madonna dell’Orto, Cannaregio 3512
09/05/2015–22/11/2015
Organised by The Fine Art Society, London, the show presents 20 works by Emily Young, one of Britain’s best-known stone sculptors, in Venice. The artist, who mounted a similar show during the 2013 Biennale, has used rocks from the quarries near her Tuscan studio to create large sculptures that are on display in the charming cloisters of the Madonna dell’Orto church in Cannaregio.
Enki Bilal: Inbox Fondazione Giorgio Cini, San Giorgio Maggiore
08/05/2015–02/08/2015
Ettore Spalletti Palazzo Cini, Campo San Vio, Dorsoduro 864
until 23/08/2015
Ettore Spalletti, the artist who represented Italy at the Venice Biennale in 1997, has prepared an artistic intervention on the second “piano nobile” of the Palazzo Cini, the former residence of Vittorio Cini, the arts patron and founder of the Fondazione Cini, headquartered on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, across the water from Piazza San Marco.
Fabrizio Plessi: the Flux of Memory Galleria Giorgio Franchetti, Ca’ d’Oro, Cannaregio 3932
01/05/2015–31/10/2015
Fabrizio Plessi is known for making works and installations that deal with the theme of water. Using this as his starting point, Plessi has created a site-specific installation over two floors of the city’s famous Ca’ d’Oro, which will be accompanied by a series of 1,000 drawings.
Form of Absence: Radiographs, Paintings, Reliquaries—the Works of Paul O. Robinson Spazio Gino Valle, Cotonificio Veneziano, Dorsoduro 2196
25/05/2015–05/06/2015
The exhibition explores the modes of representation used by the American artist and architect Paul O. Robinson, and aims to show how his composition process for installations can be applied to urban architecture projects.
Future Histories: Mark Dion and Arseny Zhilyaev Casa dei Tre Oci, Fondamenta delle Zitelle 43, Giudecca
09/05/2015–23/08/2015
Curated by Magnus af Petersens, the head of collections at Moderna Museet, Stockholm, and presented by V-A-C Foundation, the exhibition unites the work of Mark Dion and Arseny Zhilyaev in a modern-day wünderkammer that takes as its point of departure the traditional museum practice of collections and taxonomic displays. Both artists have created a large-scale installation for the occasion.
Giovanni Manfredini: Stabat Mater Dolorosa Fondazione Giorgio Cini, San Giorgio Maggiore
08/05/2015–07/06/2015
This emotionally charged installation, composed of a crown of roses fused with gold and suspended in mid air, is accompanied by its own musical score composed by Ennio Morricone. The installation opens in Venice before travelling to New York, Berlin, Istanbul and Rome.
Glass from Finland in the Bischofberger Collection Le Stanze del Vetro, San Giorgio Maggiore
until 02/08/2015
Le Stanze del Vetro, a joint project of the Fondazione Cini and Pentagram Stiftung, is presenting more than 300 works in glass by the most important Finnish designers of the 20th century, including Aino and Alvar Aalto, Arttu Brummer, Kaj Franck, and Göran Hongell, held in the Bischofberger collection.
Glass Tea House Mondrian by Hiroshi Sugimoto Le Stanze del Vetro, San Giorgio Maggiore
06/06/2014–30/11/2015
The outdoor installation—a glass tea house, designed by the Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto—was initially designed for the Venice Architecture Biennale, although it has proven so successful that its run has now been extended to cover this year’s art Biennale too.
Grisha Bruskin: Alefbet Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Santa Maria Formosa5252
until 13/09/2015
This show by the Russian artist Grisha Bruskin is centred around five large tapestries but also includes preparatory drawings, gouaches and paintings that give insight into the monumental work, which is inspired by the Jewish traditions of the Kabbalah and the Talmud. The show is promoted by the Centre of Studies of Russian Art (CSAR) at Ca’ Foscari University and is organised by Giuseppe Barbieri and Silvia Burini in collaboration with Fondazione Querini Stampalia.
Henri Rousseau: Archaic Candour Palazzo Ducale, San Marco 1
until 05/07/2015
This exhibition, which is the result of a collaboration between the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and Paris’s Musée d’Orsay, brings together the greatest works by the idiosyncratic fin de siecle painter Henri Rousseau with the works of his contemporaries, including Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Odilon Redon, Georges Seurat, Giorgio Morandi, Carlo Carrà, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Pablo Picasso.
Jackson Pollock’s Mural: Energy Made Visible Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Dorsoduro 701-704
until 16/11/2015
Organised by David Anfam, the senior consulting curator at the Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, this touring exhibition focuses on Jackson Pollock’s Mural, 1943, which has emerged from an 18-month programme of conservation and cleaning at the Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles. This is the largest work ever created by Pollock and it made a strong impact on American art after Peggy Guggenheim commissioned it for her New York townhouse.
Liu Xiaodong: Painting as Shooting Fondazione Giorgio Cini, San Giorgio Maggiore
08/05/2015–02/08/2015
Magdalena Abakanowicz: Crowd and Individual Fondazione Giorgio Cini, San Giorgio Maggiore
until 02/08/2015
The Polish sculptor, who is known primarily for her work with textiles, presents a large installation called Crowd and Individual, which is composed of 110 figures made out of jupe. The idea of the crowd, both as a passive entity and as a destructive and unpredictable force, has been a recurring theme throughout Abakanowicz’s career and work, and she has exhibited different versions of this installation over the years. The exhibition is curated by Luca Massimo Barbero.
Martial Raysse Palazzo Grassi, Campo San Samuele, San Marco 3231
until 30/11/2015
This is the first monographic show to be dedicated to Raysse outside France since 1965, and its aim is to reintroduce this prolific painter to a foreign audience. Organised by Caroline Bourgeois, who worked closely with the artist, the show brings together more than 300 works, including paintings, sculptures, videos and neon, more than half of which have never been on show before.
Maurizio Pellegrin: Flying Trains, Hanging Notes, and other Thoughts Marignana Arte, Dorsoduro 141
07/05/2015–19/09/2015
The New York-based artist returns to his hometown with an eclectic exhibition that is centred around a main installation of train tracks and trains, suspended in mid air.
Minjung Kim: the Light, the Shade, the Depth Ca’ Boto, Riva dei Sette Martiri
05/05/2015–27/09/2015
Luxembourg & Dayan presents a survey of work by the Korean artist Minjung Kim made over the past 15 years and organised by the art historian Jean-Christophe Ammann. The artist is perhaps best known for her delicate rice paper paintings that are layered to create a mix of landscape and abstract patterns.
Nástio Mosquito Oratorio di San Ludovico, Calle dei Vecchi, Dorsoduro 2552
03/05/2015–26/07/2015
The acclaimed Angolan-born artist Nástio Mosquito, recent winner of the Future Generation Art Prize and well-known for his theatrical and thought-provoking performances, has created a new video and performance project, presented by Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, and Nuova Icona, for the Oratory of San Ludovico.
New Objectivity: Modern German Art in the Weimar Republic 1919-1933 Museo Correr, Piazza San Marco, San Marco 52
01/05/2015–30/08/2015
A collaboration between Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, this is the first comprehensive exhibition both in Italy and the US that explores the driving forces behind the art of the Weimar Republic. Around 140 paintings, prints, drawings and photographs by more than 40 artists go on display, including works by Dix, Grosz, Sander and Beckmann.
On My Way CFZ Ca’ Foscari Zattere, Zattere, Dorsoduro 1392
08/05/2015–05/07/2015
A collaboration between Venice’s Ca’ Foscari university and Cyland Media Lab, a Russian non-profit arts organisation, this show presents work by Russian artists affiliated with the Arefiev Circle, who developed their art under the restrictive conditions of the Soviet Union before its collapse.
Palazzo Cini: La Galleria Palazzo Cini, Campo San Vio, Dorsoduro 864
25/04/2015–15/11/2015
The elegant Palazzo, once the residence of Vittorio Cini, the arts patron and founder of the Fondazione Cini, opens its doors to visitors for the spring and summer seasons. On view is the foremost collection of Tuscan Renaissance art in Venice, including works by Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Piero di Cosimo and Pontormo.
Peter Doig Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Palazzetto Tito, Dorsoduro 2826
05/05/2015–04/10/2015
Despite Peter Doig’s international success, which includes solo shows at Tate Britain and the Fondation Beyeler, this is the artist’s first solo exhibition to be held in Italy. On display in the historic rooms of Palazzetto Tito, part of the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, are a series of new large- and small-scale works being shown to the public for the first time.
Photographs of Contemporary Italy Spazio Gino Valle, Cotonificio Veneziano, Dorsoduro 2196
08/06/2015–19/06/2015
Sixty photographers look at Italy, its landscape and its people, and the changes the country is currently going through.
Portable Classic: Ancient Greece to Modern Europe Fondazione Prada, Ca’ Corner Della Regina, Calle Corner, San Polo 2215
09/05/2015–13/09/2015
This exhibition explores the practice of making small-scale reproductions of antique sculptures during classical antiquity and in modern Europe. The show runs concurrently with the inaugural exhibition of the new Fondazione Prada headquarters in Milan.
Proportio Palazzo Fortuny, San Marco 3780
09/05/2015–22/11/2015
Organised by the Axel and May Vervoordt Foundation and the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, this show looks at the presence of universal and divine proportions in art, science, music and architecture. On view are specially commissioned works by artists including Marina Abramovic, Anish Kapoor and Massimo Bartolini, alongside existing works by artists including Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Alberto Giacometti and Carl André. Also on display are some Egyptian artefacts, Old Masters paintings, a portrait by Botticelli and a sculpture by Antonio Canova.
Rob Pruitt’s Flea Market in Venice A plus A Gallery, Calle Malipiero 3073
05/05/2015–08/05/2015
The American artist Rob Pruitt is bringing his signature “bazar des artistes” to Venice for the first time, in conjunction with the students from the School of Curatorial Studies in Venice. The event, which blurs the line between art and the everyday, only lasts a short time—the duration of the Biennale opening week—and will include artist performances and book signings, as well as a market where visitors can buy all kinds of trinkets from the artists themselves.
Semerani & Tamaro Associates Archivio Progetti Iuav, Cotonificio Veneziano, Dorsoduro 2196
01/10/2015–13/11/2015
The IUAV’s project archive welcomes a new addition to its collection—the archive of Semerani & Tamaro architecture studio, which has been active between Venice and Trieste since 1958.
Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma La Fenice, Campo San Fantin, San Marco 1965
20/05/2015–06/06/2015
The American artist Kara Walker, known for her provocative works that tackle issues such as race, gender and sexuality, has been invited to create the sets and costumes for a new production of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera “Norma”, 1831, which will be staged for just over two weeks in La Fenice, Venice’s historic opera house.
Voices of Africa Spazio Gino Valle, Cotonificio Veneziano, Dorsoduro 2196
06/07/2015–31/07/2015
Africa has proven a fertile ground for architectural projects between the second half of the 20th century and the present day. This exhibition focuses on modern day Morocco, its growth and cultural changes, and the development of its architecture, including projects by Jean-François Zevaco, Abdeslem Faraoui, Patrick de Mazieres and El Kabbaj/Kettani/Siana.
WaVe 2015: Heritage: Architecture Between Past and Present in Veneto Cotonificio Veneziano, Dorsoduro 2196
20/07/2015–24/07/2015
An annual showcase, this exhibition brings together around 1,800 architecture students, divided into 28 workshops, to address issues such as heritage and conservation, and the relationship between past and present.
Weird Tales Galleria Michela Rizzo, Giudecca 800Q
06/05/2015–31/07/2015
Francesco Jodice presents a series of photographs and a film that juxtapose apparently insignificant objects and news cuttings with vast atemporal landscapes.