Other must-see exhibitions in Venice besides the Biennale

The exhibition, titled after Etel Adnan’s poem Sea and Fog, intertwines the monumental ceramic and glass sculptures of American-Lebanese artist Simone Fattal with a new installation by the duo Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano. Curated by Barbara Casavecchia, this project is on view until Nov. 5, 2023 at “Ocean Space”, in the Church of San Lorenzo. With a particular focus on the rapid climate changes affecting the Mediterranean coasts, leading to the expansion of drought-affected areas, alterations in water cycles, and the proliferation of heat waves, the exhibition is a site-specific evolution of a three-year initiative led by the curator. Its purpose is to foster Mediterranean projects and amplify voices across various domains, including art, culture, science, conservation, and activism.

Housed within the magnificent rooms of the historic Ca’ Corner della Regina, this research exhibition curated by Dieter Roelstraete will captivate visitors until November 26, 2023. Titled after the slogan “Alle reden vom Wetter. Wir nicht” (Everyone talks about the weather. We don’t), featured in a 1968 poster by the German Socialist Student Union, the exhibition delves into the significance of weather in the visual arts. Using weather conditions as a starting point, it addresses the pressing issue of the current climate emergency. Over fifty contemporary artworks, accompanied by a complementary selection of historical pieces, trace the various ways in which climate and weather have shaped our cultural identities and how humanity has dealt with our daily encounters with weather events.

Presented on the occasion of the opening of the new space Le Stanze della Fotografia, this exhibition is curated by its artistic director, Denis Curti, in collaboration with Alberto Salvadori, director of the Archivio Mulas. It will be open to the public until August 6, 2023. Organized into 14 thematic chapters, the exhibition presents 296 works, including 30 never-before-seen images, historical photographs, documents, books, publications, and films. This comprehensive presentation offers a fresh reinterpretation of the remarkable body of work by Ugo Mulas (1928-1973), a photographer who transcended all established genres and left an indelible mark in the field. From theater to fashion, to portraits of friends and international protagonists of the art scene, literature, theater, and cinema, as well as research on the Biennale, nudes, and jewelry, the exhibition serves as a tribute to Ugo Mulas.

The Museo Correr is currently hosting an exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential figures in 20th-century art, who played a significant role in establishing abstractionism in Italy. The exhibition, curated by Chiara Squarcina and Pier Paolo Precotto, will be on view until October 29, 2023. To celebrate the centenary of the artist’s birth, the institution has created a captivating dialogue between its spaces and a carefully selected collection of artworks. Although these works have rarely been exhibited, they offer a comprehensive overview of the artist’s research and creative journey. The exhibition encompasses the artist’s Forma Group period (1947) to the 1950s, when Accardi made her mark among the proponents of Michel Tapié’s Art autre. It also explores the artist’s strong social and feminist commitment that emerged in the 1970s, and delves into her artistic endeavors in the 1980s, 1990s, and beyond, which witnessed a renewed interest in painting and ushered in the new millennium.

The A plus A Gallery is currently hosting the first solo exhibition in Italy by Nigerian-American artist Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju (1996), titled “Gymnasia”. This compelling exhibition will be on view until July 15. Through an installation of previously unseen paintings, sculptures, and drawings created between her studio in Berlin and her residency in Venice, Ilupeju ingeniously transforms the gallery space into an arena adorned with nude figures and iron sculptures that allude to both ancient and contemporary gymnastic equipment. 

At the heart of Ilupeju’s artistic exploration lies the theme of contradictions and dual meanings inherent in the gymnasium. “Gymnasia” is the plural of “gymnasium,” which comes from “gumnazo”, meaning exercise, and “gumnos”, meaning nude or cloth-covered genitals. A gymnasium represents a space that encompasses play, sensual pleasure, and collective experimentation, yet it also embodies immense physical suffering and competition, where bodies are subjected to predetermined tests and often pushed beyond their limits. In the current socio-political landscape, the gymnasium thus becomes a metaphor for a world in which marginalized bodies must navigate and survive, finding creative and nimble ways to adapt and thrive.

In conjunction with the Biennale, the Louis Vuitton Foundation invites the French artist to question the ecological future of our planet with a site-specific installation that will be on view until January 7, 2024. Combining a wide range of disciplines, including mathematics, neuroscience, economics, history, and astrophysics, the artist presents “La Foresta Invisibile” (The Invisible Forest), a captivating artwork that brings to life the forgotten forest of Venice – tree trunks, planted centuries ago in the city’s silt, that played a crucial role in stabilizing the islands and thus contributed to the city’s formation. Framing the exhibition space, which includes both a house and a clearing, ghostly glass trees, and celestial bodies converge to form a monumental stained glass window.