7 Independent Exhibitions to see in Venice during the 60th Art Biennale
So you’ve already done the Arsenale and Giardini and even popped in to a couple of the official Collateral Exhibitions – what’s next?
Grab a slice of pizza and chow down over a map, because you’ll definitely be needing it shortly. Every other year, the Venice Art Biennale transforms the city into an island-wide microcosm of the art world. By now you’ll have noticed posters everywhere for exhibitions put on by leading museums, arts initiatives, and organizations to concur with the Biennale as well as its “Foreigners Everywhere” theme. The challenge is deciding which ones to go see; in an ideal world one would have weeks to peruse everything that Venice à la Biennale has to offer, but that’s frankly not most people out there.
Here are seven independent exhibitions to get you started. Spanning retrospectives of key modernist figures such as Chu Teh-Chun (1920-2014) and M.F. Husain (1915-2011), site-specific and monumental solo shows by Yu Hong and Zeng Fanzhi, a fantasy duo show installed in a stately patrician library, and group shows of women artists and contemporary international talent, consider this list a helpful surface-scratcher.
All of the exhibitions in this list are free to enter.
Independent exhibitions concurrent to the 60th Venice Biennale include:
Chu Teh-Chun: “In Nebula”
Where: Fondazione Giorgio Cini San Giorgio, Maggiore Island (vaporetto necessary – map)
Hours: 11am–7pm, closed Wednesdays
Produced with the support of the Chu Teh-Chun Foundation and curated by art historian Matthieu Poirier, this is the most important exhibition in recent years dedicated to the Franco-Chinese painter Chu Teh-Chun, a key player in abstract art alongside Hans Hartung and Helen Frankenthaler. Set in a former swimming pool, this exhibition will challenge the classic retrospective, opening with recent large works and progressing in reverse chronological order back to his earliest small-format paintings installed at the furthest depths of the pool. The three-dimensional scenography will resonate with the uncertain space of Chu’s pictorial nebula and the complex volumes of the venue.
Curated by Matthieu Poirier and organized by the Chu Teh Chun Foundation.
James Lee Byars and Seung-Taek Lee: “Invisible Questions That Fill the Air”
Where: Palazzo Loredan, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti (map)
Hours: 9.30am–5.30pm, open all days of the week
Invisible Questions That Fill the Air presents works by American artist James Lee Byars (b. 1932, d. 1997) and Korean artist Seung-taek Lee (b. 1932) in the historical backdrop of the ornate Palazzo Loredan in Venice, a unique stage for both artists. “Poetry and philosophy,” the curator notes, “which are so central to the art of both Byars and Lee, find common ground in the ornate libraries of Palazzo Loredan in Campo Santo Stefano.” The two artists never met, but their works displayed together represent a retrospective parallel of artists who defy categorization, tangentially straddling Surrealism, Dada, Minimalism, Mono-ha, and Arte Povera, and stream through different forms and concepts. The exhibition comprises over six decades of work and bolsters both Byars’ and Lee’s reputations as major contributors to the 20th and 21st century avant-garde.
Curated by Allegra Pesenti, organized by the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, and supported by Michael Werner Gallery and Gallery Hyundai, Seoul.
Zeng Fanzhi: “Near and Far / Now and Then”
Where: Scuola Grande della Misericordia (map)
Hours: 10 am–6 pm; closed Tuesdays
Zeng Fanzhi: Near and Far/Now and Then features new works by renowned Chinese contemporary artist Zeng Fanzhi (b. 1964). With an installation designed by architect Tadao Ando, the exhibition presents the latest breakthroughs in Zeng’s work and sheds light on Zeng’s ambitious practice of redefining the abstract. The exhibition premieres two recent bodies of work—oil paintings and works on handmade paper. Emerging from the artist’s decades of research in color theory, Zeng’s new oil paintings draw on and challenge Impressionist and Pointillist practices, with layers of brushwork creating figurative elements that are readily recognizable from afar but dissolved when viewed up close.
Organized by LACMA, supported by Hauser & Wirth.
I’m Not Afraid of Ghosts
Where: Palazzo Tiepolo Passi (map)
Hours: 11am–6pm; closed Mondays
Exploring parallels between cyclical histories and the female body, I’m Not Afraid Of Ghosts draws together a number of narratives which channel an acute feeling of contemporaneity – a moment in which we pay respect to our past and traditions, yet draw courage to make our own choices and look to the new. Women take centre stage in this exhibition, and as always occupy multiple roles: mother, caregiver, friend, ally, confidant, and adversary. Expressions of love and lust, violence and play, reality and fantasy, are depicted in subjective and uncertain scenarios, which together reinforce the need to search for a new narrative – one in which all people can find joy in liberation and self-actualization.
Curated by Sarah McCrory and Svetlana Marich, organized by TCollection and Malevich.io. Booking a timeslot is advised.
M.F. Husain: “The Rooted Nomad”
Where: Magazzini del Sale (map)
Hours: 10am-6pm, closed on Tuesdays
Maqbool Fida Husain (1915-2011), renowned for his vibrant and dynamic style, was a prolific artist whose work spanned numerous themes and periods. His open-mindedness and eternal curiosity, his international explorations as well as his ability to translate the multiplicities of India's cultural heritage, provided a rich tapestry for this production. The immersive captures Husain's spirit of wanderlust and his deep connection to his roots, illustrated through 182 of his artworks. The Rooted Nomad aims to ignite a deeper appreciation and curiosity about M.F. Husain and his art. By constructing a profound sensory experience, the exhibit encourages visitors to explore and learn more about the artist's indelible legacy.
Curated by Roobina Karode, organized by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art.
Yu Hong: “Another One Bites the Dust”
Where: Chiesetta della Misericordia (map)
Hours: 11am–7pm (20 April–29 September), then 10am–6pm (1 October–24 November); closed Mondays
Yu Hong: Another One Bites the Dust features new figurative and narrative paintings that respond to the architectural and cultural context of the Chiesetta della Misericordia. The site-specific cycle of paintings depicts the arc of the human experience—birth, life, and death—and combines the raw crudeness of social reality with pictorial conventions drawn from Byzantine and Italian Baroque painting to forge a style that may be called “supernatural realism.” Yu Hong is one of the most acclaimed realist painters of China’s New Generation artists and a voracious appropriator, drawing from European painting as well as the complex lineages of modern and contemporary art in China. She is recognized for her large-scale works and multipart series that interpret the raw and often absurd conditions of contemporary life through the position of the female Chinese body.
Curated by Alexandra Munroe, organized by the Asian Art Initiative of the Guggenheim Museum NY and supported by Lisson Gallery.
European Cultural Council: “Personal Structures – Beyond Boundaries”
Where: Palazzo Mora (map), Palazzo Bembo (map), Giardini Marinaressa Gardens (outdoor sculpture garden, map)
Hours: 11am–7pm (20 April–29 September), then 10am–6pm (1 October–24 November); closed Mondays
The seventh edition of the biennial contemporary art exhibition Personal Structures encourages exploration beyond boundaries, fostering a broader perspective, and overcoming restrictions to promote personal, social, and global growth. It features a wide selection of artworks from internationally renowned and emerging artists, photographers, and sculptors as well as worldwide galleries and academic institutions, exhibited in the historical venues of Palazzo Bembo, Palazzo Mora, and Marinaressa Gardens. The group show, with work from more than 200 artists from 51 countries, is intended to encourage dialogue, cultural exchange, and idea-sharing among its participants, exploring the themes of Time, Space, and Existencefrom a variety of perspectives.
Curated and organized by the European Cultural Council.