Palazzo Rota Ivancich will host the first solo exhibition of sculptures in Venice by Koen Vanmechelen

Koen Vanmechelen presents at Palazzo Rota Ivancich his first solo exhibition of sculpture in Venice, on the occasion of the 61st Venice Biennale, from May 9 to November 22, 2026. EntitledWe Thought We Were Alone and curated by James Putnam, the exhibition brings together more than forty new sculptures and installations conceived specifically for the spaces of this historic building.

Moving beyond a view centered exclusively on human beings, the exhibition aims to investigate the evolving relationship between living organisms and the inorganic environment. On the three levels of the palace, visitors will have the opportunity to engage with the fundamental themes of Vanmechelen’s artistic research:intersection,hybridization andidentity, interpreted through his idea of a cosmopolitan Renaissance.

The palace will become part of the exhibition work. Its transformations and restorations accumulated over the centuries reflect the central question of the exhibition: how do we exist in relation to others? Passing through layered environments, visitors perceive the building as a “cocoon,” a space in which forms dissolve, reorganize and re-emerge transformed.

Materials such as bronze, marble, glass, photography and video establish a dialogue between past and future, individual and community, material and form. Classically based sculptures are reinterpreted and juxtaposed with animal figures, creating interweavings between biology and culture, local and global dimensions, isolation and solidarity.

This exhibition represents a further development in Vanmechelen’s artistic practice. The works take their cues from reinterpretations of classical sculptures, such as Medusa or the Three Graces, but go further, focusing on how art is constructed through relationships and collaborative processes. Rather than existing as isolated entities, the works emerge from a network of human, animal, and ecological connections, in which community takes a key role in the production of meaning.

“For centuries we believed we were alone. We imagined ourselves at the center of everything: the measure of progress, the makers of peace, the keepers of paradise, and the pinnacle of evolution. As the exhibition unfolds, the animals reveal themselves not as metaphors or relics, but as messengers of a different truth. In their gaze, we confront the price of our domestication: how we have tamed the world and, in doing so, lost our wildness,” Vanmechelen says. “This is not nostalgia for a lost Eden, but a confrontation with the limits of human exceptionalism. Nature does not need our pity, only our willingness to coexist. The key to survival is not conquest, but reciprocity and hybridization.”

“Vanmechelen does not merely illustrate the idea of interconnected life; rather, he creates the conditions for it to manifest itself visibly. By staging hybrids, thresholds and fragile systems within the building, he transforms a familiar premise into a physical experience: an ongoing negotiation between form and transformation,” explains curator James Putnam.

In addition, one room will be devoted entirely to the Wild Gene Festival, a collaboration with Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour. Initially presented in August 2025 at LABIOMISTA, the project evolved into a shared performance: live music by Youssou N’Dour and Le Super Étoile de Dakar intertwined with the creation, in real time, of a large nine-meter canvas created by Vanmechelen. At the Venetian venue, installations and videos give back the experience of the community that made the festival possible, creating a collective space of music, ritual and shared creativity.

Palazzo Rota Ivancich will host the first solo exhibition of sculptures in Venice by Koen Vanmechelen

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