What's more beautiful than a walk to discover the coolest contemporary art galleries in Venice? Here is the Venice Galleries View project.
Alberta Pane, Beatrice Burati Anderson Art Space and Gallery, Caterina Tognon, La Galleria Dorothea van der Koelen, Ikona Gallery, Marignana Arte, Marina Bastianello Gallery, Michela Rizzo e Victoria Miro: a veritable constellation of 9 galleries that have come together to offer the visitor a new way of enjoying art. How?
The Venice Galleries View project has given life to an interactive map which, in addition to suggesting a magnificent walk among the 9 galleries, keeps you updated on the events proposed by each reality, leading you to discover many “secret” spaces to visit in the city. Thus, in addition to the famous Art Night, organized by the Ca’ Foscari University in collaboration with the Municipality of Venice, the Gallery Weekends were also born, offering fun weekends between vernissages, talks, concerts, aperitifs and many other initiatives.
An opportunity to get to know the work of the 9 art galleries more closely and get in touch with extraordinary artists from all over the world. Let’s discover them, starting from some of the projects that mostly embody the essence of their collaboration.
The curators Emanuela Fadalti and Matilde Cadenti, founders of the Marignana Arte gallery, are the promoters, in fact, of “Finding yourself in Venice”: for the occasion, the other 8 galleries were invited to participate, each proposing its own artist, whose work was exhibited in the Berlendis space in the former Squero Fassi carpentry shop which is added to the historic gallery in Dorsoduro, a few steps from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
Contemporary art galleries are valves that deliver the era in which we live, and anticipate the one we will soon live in, because their watches always run fast.
(Tiziano Scarpa, writer)
A year ago, another exemplary act of dialogue between the various galleries was born: “Together we stand”, an exhibition project created by the Michela Rizzo Gallery, together with Marignana Arte and Marina Bastianello Gallery. Conceived for ArtVerona 2020 with the intent of offering the public the opportunity to visit the stands “outside the fair”, the exhibition is set up in the evocative spaces of the former Birra Venezia production plant on Giudecca, home of the Michela Rizzo Gallery.
Continuing the discovery of wonderful converted spaces, the Beatrice Burati Anderson Art Space & Gallery, located in the 14th-century Corte Petriana, inside an ancient warehouse with two water gates on the Rio de la Madoneta, a few meters from the Grand Canal, scenically makes different art forms dialogue with the rich history of the building; while in the headquarters of the former Il Capricorno gallery, in the heart of the San Marco district, since 2017 Victoria Miro Venice, in parallel with the activity of its famous London office, has been promoting some of the most innovative artists of the moment.
And what do Berenice Abbott, Helmut Newton and Helen Levitt have in common? Photography! So Ikona Gallery since 1989 offers, in the Venice Ghetto, the great international names with a common focus: Venice, as a resource for a unique cultural and photographic experience.
Crossing Calle dei Guardiani, a few steps from San Basilio, through a small door that is always open, the Alberta Pane Gallery awaits you, which for over 10 years has revived the space of a former carpentry shop of 350m², specially restored, welcoming international artists who through their works speak of nature, collective memory, social environment and the relationship between sound and art.
Passing in front of the artists’ entrance of the Teatro La Fenice, it is impossible not to be captured by the characteristic windows at eye level, they put us in contact with the large luminous writings of Joseph Kosuth, that belong to La Galleria. Founded in 2001 by Dorothea van der Koelen, the internationally renowned art historian has been active for over 40 years in the conceptual and minimalist art sectors.
In a fascinating space rich in history such as Palazzo Treves, located in Piazza Corte Barozzi, a stone’s throw from Piazza San Marco, we find Caterina Tognon, gallery owner who since 1991 has dedicated herself to the exhibition of contemporary glass sculpture collaborating, between the others, with the most influential artists of the International Studio Glass movement.
A different scenario but the same hype for the Marina Bastianello Gallery: the large windows in the retail area of the M9 Museum in Mestre put the spectator and the artists in constant dialogue, with a particular focus on young emerging talents.
Can’t wait to visit them all? The next Gallery Weekend will be held in December, an opportunity to enter the heart of the city, in spaces full of history and past lives, which contemporary art has enriched and made open to all.
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