Cristiana Collu on Her Vision for the Querini Stampalia Foundation in Venice

Cristiana Collu, the new director of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, describes her approach as a 'mutation' rather than a restyling. On May 5, the foundation reopened with new exhibitions, a bronze lion installation by Davide Rivalta in Campo Santa Maria Formosa, a bookshop curated by Tlon, and a social seating piece by Martí Guixé shaped like a Q. Collu, former director of MAN Nuoro, MART Rovereto, and GNAM Rome, aims to shift the institution's axis and language, making it a 'sense-maker' that is both high tech and deep human. The foundation now hosts multiple exhibitions, including a John Baldessari show titled 'No Stone Unturned' and a display on Schiattarella Associati's Diriyah Art Futures museum in Saudi Arabia. Collu emphasizes opening to the community as a structural action, not just inclusion, and sees the foundation as a 'membrane' rather than a monument. She brings her 'out of joint' temporality and a belief that cultural institutions should help construct the present, not chase it.