3 of one of the best exhibitions around Venice

The canal city is teeming with daring, brilliant and delightful art on the Venice Biennale, one among the world’s most prestigious contemporary art events. The predominant exhibition and historic national pavilions are positioned within the Arsenale – once Venice’s vast shipyard – and the nearby Giardini.

But the ever-growing list of national participants – Benin, Ethiopia and Morocco are making their debuts this 12 months – and the extensive list of accompanying exhibitions mean that there’s art waiting to be discovered everywhere in the city. These experiences are value in search of out, each for the high-quality shows and the chance to peek into magnificent palaces or hidden gardens that are usually not normally open to the general public. Plus, most are free.

Here are three exhibitions you should not miss in the event you’re in Venice this summer.

Cosmic Garden

The paintings and embroidery are enchanting and mystical Cosmic Garden are a feast for the eyes. The exhibition, housed on the Salone Verde on a side street within the Santa Croce district, explores ancient Indian myths and contemporary reinterpretations of Vedic symbols.

It features paintings and sculptures by Indian artists Madhvi Parekh and Manu Parekh. Also visible are Karishma Swali and the Chanakya School of Craft, who reinterpret their work in huge embroideries.

“The project seeks to reassess the mutual relationship between women and embroidery by transcending the boundaries of domesticity and bringing hand embroidery into public spaces,” say the curators. The paintings and textiles are breathtaking and ethereal, depicting complex female deities and esoteric symbols.

Breasts

From a Renaissance miniature painting of the breastfeeding Virgin Mary to a gilded breastplate, this exhibition is, because the name suggests, dedicated to breasts.

You enter through Booby trap, a corridor lined with pink curtains and lit pink by chest-shaped lamps on the ceiling. There are then five rooms that begin with a take a look at the way in which breasts were depicted in historical art.

The second gets surreal with a stool with breasts and a Salvador Dali drawing of a girl whose breasts turn into snails. As you make your way through the exhibition you will notice abstract, humorous and hopeful depictions of breasts.

For curator Carolina Pasti, the exhibition goals to deal with topics resembling motherhood, self-determination, sexuality, body image and illness. The exhibition donates 30% of the catalog funds to an Italian cancer research foundation and strives to boost awareness of breast cancer through art.

Personal structures

The Marinaressa Gardens are a handy stopover between the Arsenale and the Giardini and, as a part of the general complex, are stuffed with curious sculptures Personal structures Installation. “Immersion in the challenges of global migration and the complex web of national identities, Personal structures “A lively artistic dialogue is created that crosses borders and reflects the complexity of our networked world,” says Sara Danieli, head of the art department on the organizer ECC Italy.

The exhibition brings together over 200 artists from 51 countries, with artworks also positioned in Palazzo Bembo and Palazzo Mora. Look out for hand-gilded pure gold by Alexander Polzin Double angel and a monolithic stone head by British artist Emily Young.

In a city so deeply affected by climate change, the abundance of works addressing the environmental crisis is especially poignant. A trap for Greta is a tripod sculpture created from three salvaged Bricola oak logs that mark navigable passages through the Venetian Lagoon.

The bricola, already rotted by the ocean, is further carved to weaken it. There is a big block of ice hanging at the highest. When artist Jeremy Chen is present to interact with the sculpture, it becomes a dynamic performance as he hits the block or lies beneath it and the meltwater soaks his clothing. “The artist knowingly brings this project to Venice [its] Fragility and hope for their resilience and preservation,” say the curators.

Lauren Bakers Awakening of consciousness is one other powerful reflection on the fragility of the natural world. It was inspired by the folkloric worship of the silver birch and aspen, known in medieval literature and myth as “the watchful tree.” Baker’s sculpture uses female eyes protruding from a tree-like plant to remind the viewer that Mother Nature is alive and alert. It also evokes the 2024 Biennale’s theme, “Foreigners Everywhere,” by encouraging the viewer to reflect on their role as a foreigner within the vast fabric of existence.