Janus - Marsilio Arte

Janus

Palazzo Diedo, Venezia
Berggruen Arts & Cultures
20th April - 24th November 2024

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

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 is world-renowned for exhibiting contemporary art and for its culture of historic art traditions. Palazzo Diedo will add to that already impressive landscape through its new galleries as well as bringing something new - artists studios. The spaces will enable artists to submerge themselves in the traditions and atmosphere of a city forever located in another era in extended residencies. I am truly excited to see what will emerge.”

Mario Codognato, Director, Berggruen Arts & Culture and exhibition curator

Janus at the Palazzo Diedo will be the first opportunity to see Mariko Mori’s Peace Crystal: A Prayer for Peace, before it is unveiled to the public in the Giardini of Palazzo Corner della Ca’ Granda in San Marco one month into the biennale on 13 May. The work is the third in a series with the Faou Foundation and the exhibition at Diedo will include a film of previous installations in Japan and Brazil, and a model and scroll of Peace Crystal to give the viewer deeper insight into the work. Simultaneously, celebrated New York interdisciplinary cultural institution The Kitchen will present a solo presentation by Rhea Dillon (b.1996). The London-based artist and writer’s work often examines the ways Blackness is conceptualised in an aesthetic and theoretical practice. Previously, The Kitchen presented Dillon’s film (Working Title) Browning 2025; here, they expand their relationship with Dillon in a new constellation of
sculptural work. The Polaroid Foundation will invite the exhibiting artists to create an original work using the world’s largest instant camera, the Polaroid 20×24. Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, Jim Dine, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Mary Ellen Mark, Mickalene Thomas, Robert Frank, Robert Mapplethorpe, Robert Rauschenberg and Sally Mann are among the artists who have worked with this iconic, over-sized camera in the past. Veteran camera operator John Reuter. Reuter, who has operated the camera since 1980, will support the artists as they produce images of 20 x 24 inch (50 x 60 cm) for Palazzo Diedo. Palazzo Diedo also features a small cinema which will screen a film by artist Koo Jeong A, representing South Korea at this year’s biennale, every Thursday until November.