The exhibition will have a particular focus on exploring the issue of space in relation to Merz’s artistic research, as it has developed over time: from individual everyday objects to the dimensions of the space one inhabits and so to the idea of habitats, from our collective and urban space up to space on a cosmic and cosmological scale. The individual perspective expands and broadens out in his work to become a collective one, both natural and artificial, and Merz’s works become a symbol of the negotiation [constantly in play] between our living experience and our natural and architectural context. The works on display reveal an ethical and poetic tension, suggesting the idea of a shared and participatory society in which the balance between nature and culture, tradition and innovation, finds its synthesis in the energy of these constantly clashing elements.

The exhibition has been sponsored by the Superintendence for the Historic and Artistic Heritage of Venice and for the Museums of the city of Venice and the municipalities of the Gronda lagunare (the area between the lagoon and the mainland), in collaboration with the Fondazione Merz and organized by MondoMostre. It is the first exhibition of Merz’s work to be held in any public institution in Italy since the artist’s death and since the major retrospective of his work organised in 2005 by Castello di Rivoli, GAM and the Merz Foundation (Turin), and it brings contemporary art to the new spaces of the great Gallerie dell’Accademia for the first time.