The project consists of installations, film, sculpture and photography, which together form one large single work: Isole. Each individual section has its own precise logic; however, its full vitality is captured when it is seen in relation to the spirit of the overall project. The work has been made possible by collaboration between the Venice Museum Authority, the Superintendence for Venice Museums, the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana and the Museo Storico Navale. It is curated by Alice Rubbini, in collaboration with Michela Rizzo. The individual sections are open to visitors in the normal opening hours of each museum. The entire itinerary is open to holders of the Venice Museum Authority ‘Museum Pass’ (entrance to the installations in the Ship Pavilion of the Museo Storico Navale is free of charge).

Isole speaks of the artist himself and of the spaces he has used here. An important theme is that of Venice, of the continuity between past and present, of the city’s hidden vitality – a far cry from the usual vulgar stereotypes of the place. This is an ambitious work that has required a long time in gestation and creation. As elegant as Venice itself, the work’s various sections touch upon the questions of spirit and body, of states of mind and states of soul. Venice is, therefore, no mere container for events and works imported from outside. It is a workshop for creation and the recipient of that creation – a process that envisages the establishment of harmony even where there is the most striking dissonance.

An autobiographical vision of different states of spirit and matter, the project reflects what has been an essential part of the poetics of Maurizio Pellegrin since 1990: the creation of artistic works for specific spaces.