Palazzo Diego, Bergruen Arts & Culture, Venice
20 April - 24 November 2024
On the occasion of the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia 2024, Janus opens at Palazzo Diedo, featuring 11 original site-specific interventions by 11 internationally renowned artists: Urs Fischer, Piero Golia, Carsten Höller, Ibrahim Mahama, Mariko Mori, Sterling Ruby, Jim Shaw, Hiroshi Sugimoto, AYA TAKANO, Lee Ufan and Liu Wei.
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 with contemporaneity.