New Modern Art Museum Opens in Venice

July 2, 2009 By: Jena Tesse Fox

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On June 6th, Punta della Dogana, the new art center for contemporary art of the François Pinault Foundation, opened after 14 months of renovation by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando.

The first exhibition, Mapping the Studio: Artists from the François Pinault Collection, curated by Alison M. Gingeras and Francesco Bonami, is shown simultaneously at Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi, says ArtDaily.org.

Contemporary art by such figures as Jeff Koons, Sigmar Polke, Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Cy Twombly, Takashi Murakami or Jake & Dinos Chapman is presented alongside pieces by emerging talents such as Matthew Day Jackson, Adel Abdessemed, Wilhelm Sasnal, Richard Hughes, Nate Lowman, Mark Bradford and Kai Althoff.

Conceived as a single exhibition that will unfold over the two venues, this presentation will be shaped in response to the particular atmosphere of each space: the inward-looking private sphere on one side, and the outward looking, world-at-large on the other. The two halves of the exhibition will constitute a dialogue between artists of different generations, covering a vast range of practices and aesthetic sensibilities.

Respecting the spirit of the original building, the Japanese architect Tadao Ando has renovated the 17th-century space in order to house a selection of works from the François Pinault Foundation, one of the world’s most important collections of contemporary art. As a center for contemporary art, the former monumental port of the city presents a permanent exhibition of works from François Pinault Collection.