Sterling Ruby in
JANUS
Opening 20 April 2024
Group Exhibition at Palazzo Diedo, Venice, Italy
Berggruen Arts & Culture opens Palazzo Diedo, Venice’s first major new space dedicated to contemporary art for more than a decade, launching 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.
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.