Marina Abramović and Renata Morales Dual Exhibition at Ca’ Rezzonico Gallery, Venice

During the 58th Venice Biennale, Ca’ Rezzonico Gallery near Ca’ Rezzonico Museum hosts works by Marina Abramović and Renata Morales until July 6. The exhibition, organized by the Phi Foundation for Contemporary Art of Montreal, is not part of the official Biennale program but aligns with curator Ralph Rugoff's theme "May You Live in Interesting Times." Abramović presents "Rising" (2017), a virtual reality piece produced by Acute Art (directed by Daniel Birnbaum) that debuted at Brilliant Minds in Stockholm and later at Art Basel Hong Kong 2018. Visitors wear a headset and use a joystick to interact with an avatar of Abramović inside a glass tank filling with water, symbolizing glacier melt and sea-level rise, prompting reflection on Venice's own water levels. Morales' "Invasor" occupies two other rooms with sculptural installations created during a two-year residency at Phi Montreal (founded by Phoebe Greenberg). The first room features seventy used colorful tires, large self-portraits on worn fabric, ceramic dinosaurs and chimera, and reflective panels. The second, more monochromatic room displays waste objects and casts from José Noé Suro's ceramic studio, exploring Mexican ceramic tradition. It includes an installation/laboratory and a space with black and gold ceramic figures contrasting with paper puppets. Morales creates a dystopian world of opposites—comfort and violence, beauty and brutality—challenging perceptions of materiality.