Anselm Kiefer: These writings, when burned, will finally give a little light Doge's Palace Venice

This contemporary art exhibition at Palazzo Ducale is set to be the centrepiece of the fifth edition of MUVE Contemporaneo, the key concern of which is to reflect on the relationship between contemporary art and museums. The opening of the eagerly awaited installation by Anselm Kiefer, one of the leading artists active today, is part of the celebrations for the 1,600th Anniversary of the... Show more

This contemporary art exhibition at Palazzo Ducale is set to be the centrepiece of the fifth edition of MUVE Contemporaneo, the key concern of which is to reflect on the relationship between contemporary art and museums. The opening of the eagerly awaited installation by Anselm Kiefer, one of the leading artists active today, is part of the celebrations for the 1,600th Anniversary of the Foundation of Venice. The title of the work is from the writings of the Venetian philosopher Andrea Emo: "Questi scritti, quando verranno bruciati, daranno finalmente un po’ di luce" (These writings, when burned, will finally cast a little light). The series of paintings produced specially for the Palazzo Ducale in 2020 and 2021 are arranged in the magnificent setting of the Sala dello Scrutinio, engaging closely with the 33 monumental paintings on the ceiling, and with the heroic values expressed by the palace’s entire decorative scheme.

The show underlines the role of contemporary art in reflecting on universal themes, transcending Venice and opening up to current philosophical perspectives. The invitation to Kiefer by the Fondazione Musei Civici dates back to 2019, and the decision to host his work in the Palazzo Ducale was aimed at showing the ability of this site — a of the Most Serene Republic — to still serve as a dynamic cultural center and not just a memory. It was a great challenge because it involved adding a new series of temporary paintings to these rooms after almost 300 years, and installing them on top of the older ones. Historically, this was something that happened in response to changing tastes or needs of the state. It was an even greater challenge for Kiefer to work alongside important painters from the past — Tintoretto, Palma il Giovane, Andrea Vicentino — who had been called upon by the Senate of the Republic to repaint the glory of Venice, on land and sea, on the walls of the Sala dello Scrutinio after the devastating fire of 1577.

The result of Kiefer’s impressive undertaking is before our eyes, beginning with the title, a quotation from the philosopher Andrea Emo; both he and the artist remind us that these paintings — as in the inescapable plan of life — emerge from negation, the cancellation of others on which they are superimposed. Those paintings are in a certain sense the outcome of the fire that destroyed the room’s earlier decoration, and the new paintings too are destined to die when they are removed from the Palazzo Ducale. Venice is at the center of this striking contemporary installation, not as an object to be celebrated but rather as a grand metaphor for cultural transits and passages between East and West, as a pretext for a narrative that brings back to the surface the stratification of millennial myths, of solitudes and anxieties to which the artist gives form through a new epic with accents as grave as the darkness of our time.