TBA21–Academy Opens Two New Commissions at Ocean Space in Venice

TBA21–Academy presents "Thus Waves Come in Pairs" at Ocean Space in Venice, featuring two new commissions by Simone Fattal and Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano. Curated by Barbara Casavecchia, the exhibition concludes the third edition of The Current (2021–23), a curatorial fellowship focused on the Mediterraneans. Fattal's installation "Sempre il mare, uomo libero, amerai!" includes sculptures referencing ancient Greek and Arab poetry, while Halilaj & Urbano's "Lunar Ensemble for Uprising Seas" comprises over 40 hybrid creature sculptures that double as musical instruments, co-commissioned by Audemars Piguet Contemporary. The title derives from a poem by Etel Adnan. The exhibition runs in the twin wings of Ocean Space, a former church. A book "Thus Waves Come in Pairs. Thinking with the Mediterraneans" is published by Sternberg Press.