Janus

Palazzo Diedo, Venice’s first major new space dedicated to contemporary art for more than a decade, launches 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, coincide with the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2024.

Janus at the Palazzo Diedo is 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 includes 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.

The Polaroid Foundation invites 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.