Collector and philanthropist Nicolas Berggruen established the Berggruen Arts & Culture foundation to host commissioned installations, events, performances, and cinematic presentations. The first of the foundation’s happenings came about in June during Art Night Venice to celebrate the unveiling of Carsten Höller’s Venice Inclined Oval Staircase, a newly commissioned permanent installation of a flight of angled steps produced by the playful German artist. The evening’s program also featured What is Universalism?,  a symposium-style marathon of conversations organized by curator and critic Hans Ulrich Obrist and philosopher Lorenzo Marsili, who helms the Berggruen Institute Europe.

The first of the foundation’s happenings came about in June during Art Night Venice to celebrate the unveiling of Carsten Höller’s Venice Inclined Oval Staircase, a newly commissioned permanent installation of a flight of angled steps produced by the playful German artist

The inauguration of the restored Palazzo Diedo commenced with the exhibition of Janus, the two-faced Roman god of beginnings and transitions. The opening and closing of the exhibition coincides with the dates of this year’s La Biennale di Venezia 2024, the 60th edition of the city’s International Art Exhibition. Janus presents eleven internationally renowned artists each invited to create works or installations expressly adapted to the renewed space of the 18th-century Palazzo Diedo originally designed by architect Andrea Tirali. The exhibiting artists are Urs Fischer, Piero Golia, Carsten Höller, Ibrahim Mahama, Mariko Mori, Sterling Ruby, Jim Shaw, Hiroshi Sugimoto, AYA TAKANO, Lee Ufanand and Liu Wei, and each of their works and installations flood the Venetian palace with physical and psychological presence since every room offers a unique experience. Each intervention interacts with Diedo's architecture and historical elements, which still have frescos by Francesco Fontebasso (1707-1769) and Costantino Cedini (1741-1811).

The inauguration of the restored Palazzo Diedo commenced with the exhibition of Janus, the two-faced Roman god of beginnings and transitions. The opening and closing of the exhibition coincides with the dates of this year’s La Biennale di Venezia 2024

The exhibition plays into the traditional elements of the building while also imagining a future, blending architecture, art, and history, thereby marking a deep connection between the past and the present and between the West and East. For example, Urs Fischer's installation Omen, consists of an entire room with 600 Murano glass drops suspended from the ceiling, fading reflections in the visitor's bodies, on the walls, and through the windows shining towards the city. The sensation is that of being inside a waterfall of motionless rain. It connects the building and its shadows with every drop, the public with the artwork, and the outside with the inside. Nevertheless, the climate plays an important role; the experience will change depending on the weather in the city, which so often struggles with both rising waters and heavy storms.

Urs Fischer's installation Omen, consists of an entire room with 600 Murano glass drops suspended from the ceiling, fading reflections in the visitor's bodies, on the walls, and through the windows shining towards the city

Another example is Lee Ufan exploring Diedo's space and materiality with his series Beyond Venice. The series brings into conversation an old restored fresco on the ceiling, blending his minimalist paintings with traditional concepts of space.

The series brings into conversation an old restored fresco on the ceiling, blending his minimalist paintings with traditional concepts of space.

Additionally, Berggruen Arts & Culture launched a project collaborating with the Polaroid Foundation. Each of the artists of Janus were invited to use the Polaroid 20x24 camera to create a photographic project relating to their engagement with the space. The photographs on view speak to the new venetian cultural landscape, and to each of their reimaginings of the space of the Palazzo.

Each of the artists of Janus were invited to use the Polaroid 20x24 camera to create a photographic project relating to their engagement with the space. The photographs on view speak to the new venetian cultural landscape, and to each of their reimaginings of the space of the Palazzo

Another collaboration on view is a project executed with The Kitchen, New York with the aim of emphasizing transdisciplinary art and contemporary issues. The Kitchen has chosen the poet, writer and artist Rhea Dillon to exhibit work that explores themes such as cultural decolonization, gender and identity. Her work "The Door of the Woman is the glass slipper" (Atlas, in transit laid to rest), 2022,  is a sculptural piece engaging with the history of assemblage following her broader practice of exploring the Black diaspora through themes of representation and reconfiguration of contemporary Western cultural myths.

Her work "The Door of the Woman is the glass slipper" (Atlas, in transit laid to rest), 2022,  is a sculptural piece engaging with the history of assemblage following her broader practice of exploring the Black diaspora through themes of representation and reconfiguration of contemporary Western cultural myths.

The foundation unfolds across Palazzo Diedo’s five floors and approximately 4,000 square meters, which will also play host to an artist residency starting in 2026. Besides Palazzo Diedo, Nicolas Berggruen has also owned since 2021 Casa Dei Tre Oci where the Berggruen Institute Europe is hosted.

The institute is dedicated to rethinking capitalism, democracy, planetary politics, science, and technology, philosophy, and culture. Through the harmonious synergy of the Berggruen Arts & Culture exhibitions and conventions of the thinktank at The Berggruen Institute, Nicolas Berggruen is rekindling the cultural vibrancy of Venice, weaving together its storied past with a visionary future.