Exhibitions

Anish Kapoor: Palazzo Manfrin

Venice, Italy

Anish Kapoor transforms a 16th-century Venetian palazzo into a portal of voids, mirrors, and deep pigments during the Biennale.

Anish Kapoor: Palazzo Manfrin
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Image credit

© Anish Kapoor

Meet the artist

The Movement

Art Installation, Contemporary Sculpture

ArtLovers Tip

Look closely at the Vantablack pieces from the side; the way the material swallows all shadows makes it nearly impossible for the human brain to perceive the object's true volume.

Exhibition Highlights - What you’ll see

Anish Kapoor has long treated sculpture as a way to bend the space around us. In the historic halls of Palazzo Manfrin, he explores five decades of this pursuit through nearly 100 architectural models and massive installations that challenge our sense of depth. It is a rare chance to see the blueprint of his mind alongside the finished, monumental results.

You're watching a massive black-pigment disc, At the Edge of the World, hover eight metres wide above your head while light disappears into the absolute darkness of Vantablack sculptures. The ornate Venetian ceilings contrast with the industrial grit of cement extrusions and the disorienting pull of concave mirrors. You move through rooms where the distinction between object and air seems to dissolve entirely.

Worth the trip

  • The Vantablack Voids: Experience the surreal, light-eating nanotechnology that makes three-dimensional objects appear as flat, infinite holes in reality.
  • Architectural Genesis: Browse a massive collection of 100 models, revealing the private origins of world-famous landmarks and unrealised dreams.
  • Venetian Dialogue: See Kapoor's radical contemporary language inhabit the fading grandeur of a 16th-century landmark rarely open to the public.

How to experience it

Begin your journey looking up at the suspended pigment works before losing yourself in the intricate maze of models. The scale changes constantly, so give your eyes time to adjust to the intense blacks and deep blues. Afterward, wander the quieter streets of Cannaregio towards the lagoon, letting the solid weight of the city's stones ground you after the optical illusions of the palazzo.

See it here

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