Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Opens Third Venue on San Giacomo Island in Venice

Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo has inaugurated a new third venue for her foundation on the remote island of San Giacomo in the Venice Lagoon, accessible by a 30-minute boat ride from the Biennale Gardens. The island, abandoned for over 70 years, once hosted Jerzy Grotowski's 1975 Biennale production of "Apocalypsis cum figuris," where the director and his actors camped among Napoleonic ruins for two months. The new space will serve as an outpost for projects spanning art, theater, and cinema, featuring exhibitions, artist residencies, ecological initiatives, and the restoration of existing buildings. The inaugural performance was by Brazilian artist Jota Mombaça, who performed seminude in the cold wind, accompanied by electronic sounds from composer Anti Ribeiro, in a dialogue with curator Hans Ulrich Obrist. Mombaça cited Grotowski, Édouard Glissant, and land artist Beverly Buchanan as influences. The foundation's first Venice project was the 1999 exhibition "Sogni/Dreams" curated by Francesco Bonami and Obrist. The new venue aims to become a fluid laboratory for collective experience and transformation.