Venice, Fondazione Sandretto opens its third home on the island of San Giacomo

On May 7, 2026, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo will inaugurate its third venue, in Venice, specifically on theIsland of San Giacomo in Paludo, thus expanding its presence in the international contemporary art scene. And it will do so with a project that weaves together exhibitions, performances and site-specific installations conceived specifically for the new lagoon space. After the headquarters in Turin and the one in Guarene, in the Cuneo area, the foundation led by Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo lands in Venice with a project that marks another step in its institutional evolution, strengthening its role as a platform for contemporary artistic production and research. The opening takes place in conjunction with the Venice Biennale, fitting into the calendar of the 61st International Art Exhibition and contributing to the city’s cultural ferment.

The project on the island of San Giacomo had its first preview in April 2024 with Pinky Pinky ’Good’: San Giacomo’s Leap into Tomorrow, a performance by artist and choreographer Eun-Me Ahn curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist. On that occasion, among buildings still under restoration and unused for decades, the artist had staged a collective ritual that evoked the historical memory of the place and celebrated its rebirth as a space dedicated to contemporary art. The island, inhabited over the centuries by monastic communities and later by a military garrison in the Napoleonic era, had thus been symbolically restored to a new cultural function.

Purchased in 2018 by Patrizia Sandretto together with her husband Agostino Re Rebaudengo, the island was the subject of a restoration project that focused on the three powder magazines of the military garrison built in 1810, following the demolition of the ancient monastery of San Giacomo Maggiore. At the same time, the project included landscape redevelopment with the planting of new trees, aimed at restoring the island to its natural setting and placing it within a vision of environmental sustainability.

In fact, the new space was created as a place for production, research and experimentation, open to dialogue between artists and characterized by a completely self-sustainable approach. The delicate lagoon ecosystem becomes an integral part of the cultural project, configuring the island as a laboratory for ecological reflection in which to address, through art, issues related to the environment and climate change. The inaugural program consists of a wide-ranging exhibition program involving international artists and unfolding between the island’s indoor and outdoor spaces. Among the main projects is Fanfare/Lament, a solo exhibition by Matt Copson, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist. The project combines exhibition and performance, with a musical component entrusted to composer Oliver Leith, creating an experience that connects visual and sonic languages.

Alongside this, the exhibition Don’t have hope, be hope! presents a selection of works from the foundation’s collection, offering a glimpse into the lines of research that have characterized its activity over the years. Rounding out the exhibition program, “Island of San Giacomo 2022-2026, a story in images” collects a series of photographs taken by Giovanna Silva and Antonio Fortugno, who were invited in 2022 to document the transformation process of the island and the restoration of the existing architecture.

The path also extends to outdoor spaces, where a series of diffuse installations build a direct dialogue with the lagoon landscape. Among the interventions presented are GONOGO by Goshka Macuga, Old Tree (Pink Seas) by Pamela Rosenkranz, Patriarchy = CO₂ by the Claire Fontaine collective, Nixe by Thomas Schütte, Huff and a Puff by Hugh Hayden, and Imagine Alighiero Boetti Came to São Paulo and After Putting Water on His Head Left the Hose and Left by Mario García Torres. The works fit into the natural context of the island, activating a confrontation between contemporary art practices and the environment.

The island of San Giacomo is thus configured as a new cultural pole capable of dialoguing with the international art system and, at the same time, of taking root in the specific context of the Venetian lagoon. The project also takes on symbolic value for its ability to transform a place marked by historical stratifications and periods of abandonment into an active and productive space. From a refuge for sailors and pilgrims to a military garrison, until long unused, the island now finds a new identity as a contemporary cultural platform in which memory, landscape and artistic experimentation coexist.

Venice, Fondazione Sandretto opens its third home on the island of San Giacomo

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