M9 Museum in Mestre Faces Financial Collapse, Threatening Sale of Casa dei Tre Oci

The M9 museum in Mestre, a hyper-technological cultural hub inaugurated on December 1, 2018, with a total investment of €110 million, is on the verge of financial collapse. The Fondazione di Venezia, the banking foundation that owns and manages the museum, is considering selling the Casa dei Tre Oci, a historic exhibition space on the Giudecca island in Venice specializing in photography and home to the Zannier archive and De Maria collection, to cover losses. The crisis stems from chronic planning errors, lack of a real strategy, poor audience attraction, and budget deficits due to cost-revenue imbalance and missing retail and office rental income. The foundation has hired advisors to explore options, including the alienation of the Tre Oci. Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who previously championed M9, now opposes the sale, despite having proposed selling works by Klimt and Chagall from Ca' Pesaro's collection in 2015. The article criticizes the short-sighted management and calls for an integrated cultural strategy for Venice, emphasizing the need to leverage cultural heritage sustainably rather than resorting to asset sales.