Berggruen Arts & Culture to open at Palazzo Diedo in Venice with inaugural exhibition 'Janus' featuring Hiroshi Sugimoto and Lee Ufan

13 March 2024

Berggruen Arts & Culture has announced the opening of a permanent contemporary art space in Venice at Palazzo Diedo, launching on 20 April 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 – in the exhibition 'Janus'.

Over the last two years, Berggruen Arts & Culture has completed a major restoration of Palazzo Diedo, sympathetic to its history while readying it for a new beginning as a space of creativity and inspiration. Two significant fresco cycles and a Roman capricci - a scene that combines historical and fictional elements - by Francesco Fontebasso (1707-1769) and Costantino Cedini (1741-1811) have been fully restored. In 2022, Sterling Ruby presented the first project at Palazzo Diedo, a facade-based sculpture called HEX, installed before the completion of the restoration. Established by Berggruen Arts & Culture, a charitable foundation set up by collector and philanthropist Nicolas Berggruenn, Palazzo Diedo aims to deepen the connection between contemporary art and the past, and between East and West. It will host artist residencies, exhibitions, events, film and performance across five levels and a total area of 4,000 square metres.

Following major restoration of the Palazzo, 'Janus', the inaugural exhibition, along with 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.

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. The exhibition takes its name from 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 together the historical and contemporary.

Janus is curated by Mario Codognato, Director of Berggruen Arts & Culture and Adriana Rispoli, Curator of Berggruen Arts & Culture.

Find further information via Berggruen Arts & Culture.

Image: Palazzo Diedo, photography by Alessandra Chemollo.