ANISH KAPOOR AT PALAZZO MANFRIN

The exhibition design for Anish Kapoor’s first exhibition at Palazzo Manfrin, the new headquarter chosen by the artist for his foundation, was envisioned and designed to occur within the ongoing building site of the radical preservation project also conceived and supervised by UNA.

UNA worked carefully with the artist to explore the possibilities offered by such an unusual and temporary condition which ultimately led to the creation of site-specific works as Mount Moriah at the Gate of the Ghetto (2022), a pendulous mass inspired by Tiziano’s famous Venetian ceilings.

Beyond these site-specific interventions, the exhibition design supported the more than other sixty works presented throughout the first two floors of the Palazzo, at times establishing unique conditions with the historical patina of the Palazzo and at others recalling the abstract and enclosing condition of the white cube condition. Nonetheless all conditions were achieved by introducing curatorial devices that belong to the construction industry, embracing the state of disrepair of the building itself whilst emphasising the unique “in progress” state of the Palazzo.

Project Title:	Anish Kapoor at Palazzo Manfrin
Location:	Palazzo Manfrin, Venice, Italy
Year:	2022
Status:	Completed
Program:	Exhibition
Scale:	M
Surface:	1200 sqm
Client:	Anish Kapoor
Partner:	Giulia Foscari
Team:	Federica Zambeletti (Project Architect), Niccolo Cesaris, Alessandro Gatti, Joshua Labarraque, Olympia Simopolou and Luca Sopelsa
Consultants:	Carlo Pallieri (Lighting Consultant), Know How Productions (Installation), MTECH (Logistics), Kapoor Studio

Image credits all photographs © Delfino Sisto Legnani