'Leiko Ikemura: TransLucent - La forma della luce' at Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, Italy

11 May 2026

From 10 September – 22 November, for the ninth edition of The Venice Glass Week 2026, the Gallerie dell'Accademia will host the exhibition titled 'Leiko Ikemura: TransLucent - The Form of Light,' supported by the Ikemura Foundation.

The exhibition fosters a dialogue between the works of Japanese artist Leiko Ikemura (Tsu, 1951), the permanent collection, and the museum’s monumental spaces. The sculptures, some of which were created for the occasion at a Murano glassworks, will be displayed on the ground floor (including the Palladian courtyard) and first floor, in dialogue with masters such as Carpaccio, Giambattista Tiepolo, and Canova. Among the exhibition’s most significant works is the series Sleeping Heads, which reflects on the female iconography of Venetian painting, beginning with Titian’s Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple.

Since the 1980s, Leiko Ikemura has explored themes of transition, cross-culturalism, collective responsibility, and sexuality, emancipating the feminine body from its position in history and mainstream contemporary culture by challenging artistic conventions and disrupting social norms. The internationally recognized artist seamlessly shifts between luminous, otherworldly and often monumental oil paintings, introspective drawings and watercolours, glazed terracotta sculptures, glass and ceramics.

Find out more via Gallerie dell'Accademia.

Image: Photo: Xin Tahara, Tokyo Art Beat © Leiko Ikemura