Canicula in Venice

Hours: Wednesday–Monday, 10am–6pm. Free entry.

Special opening hours: May 6–10, 10am–8pm.

T. +39 389 5315152 / canicula@inbetweenartfilm.com

Fondazione In Between Art Film is pleased to present Canicula, the group exhibition opening on May 6, 2026, at the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto in Venice on the occasion of the 61st International Venice Biennale.

Curated by Alessandro Rabottini and Leonardo Bigazzi—the Fondazione’s artistic director and curator, respectively—Canicula is the third and final chapter of the “Trilogy of Uncertainties,” a series of exhibitions initiated by Fondazione In Between Art Film in 2022 and that has seen the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto transformed each time into a form of cinematic architecture. This will bring to an end a narrative arc that, over the course of three editions of the Biennale Arte in Venice, has gradually explored different states of vision as metaphors for human existence: the ambiguity and uncertainty of the faint light of Penumbra, the disorientation caused by the mist in Nebula, and the sense of oppression engendered by the blinding light and torrid heat of Canicula. Each of these atmospheric conditions deceives the senses and raises questions on the reliability of sight and on the interpretations of reality that it produces.

Canicula will premiere eight new site-specific video installations commissioned from Lawrence Abu Hamdan (1985, Jordan), Massimo D’Anolfi and Martina Parenti (1974, Italy/1972, Italy), Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk (1992, Ukraine/1993, Ukraine), Janis Rafa (1984, Greece), P. Staff (1987, United Kingdom), Wang Tuo (1984, China), Yuyan Wang (1989, China), and Maya Watanabe (1983, Peru). All eight works are commissioned and produced by Fondazione In Between Art Film, the initiative conceived by Beatrice Bulgari to promote the culture of moving images and to support international artists, institutions, and theorists in their explorations of the dialogue between disciplines and time-based media.

“Canicula,” the Latin term that translates as “dog days,” is widely used today to refer to the hottest days of summer, a period of the year that, in various ancient Mediterranean cultures, was associated with either great abundance or terrible ruin. The exhibition takes on the dazzling light and sweltering heat as metaphors for the present day, a time saturated with excesses and distortions when matter, people and ideas are subject to immense pressure. The overload of images, the manipulation of information, the abuse of power, and oppressive temperatures are accelerating the approach of society—and of life on Earth itself—towards a critical threshold. Canicula places at the centre of the narrative the individual and collective responses to a landscape consumed by technology, eroded by inequalities and polluted by propaganda, exploring the psychological, political and social dimensions of the “intolerable climate” in which we are immersed. In this sense, mugginess and blinding light are subject to an expanded interpretation: on the one hand, heat is not just a force that is potentially damaging for bodies and for the environment but also a symbol of something that corrodes values, meanings and understandings; on the other, glaring light evokes the relentless contamination of truth by lies, and the ever-increasing perception of reality as a hallucination.

The eight new video installations that comprise the exhibition have been conceived in close spatial and narrative relation to the surroundings of the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto, responding to the architecture, history and existential implications of a place that, for centuries, served as a hospital and religious complex for the care of both body and soul. Indeed, more than one of the works grapples with existential themes such as birth and death, the beginning and end of consciousness, the protection and destruction of life, and the nourishment and exploitation of bodies.

As had already been the case for Penumbra and Nebula, Canicula, too, is staged within a scenography designed by the interdisciplinary studio 2050+, which materialises the exhibition narrative and the curatorial concept through a series of spatial and sensory interventions and through the use of materials that evoke fatigue and deterioration.

Canicula will be accompanied by a cross-disciplinary symposium curated by Bianca Stoppani, curator of the Fondazione’s editorial and discursive programmes, and organised in collaboration with Palazzo Grassi, Pinault Collection Venezia at the Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi on October 26–27, 2026. The symposium will involve the artists included in the exhibition and, via panels with international curators and thinkers, will expand the conversations around their practice.

Edited by Bianca Stoppani with Alessandro Rabottini and Leonardo Bigazzi, a richly illustrated catalogue reflecting on the making of Canicula will feature newly commissioned essays from Svitlana Biedarieva, Leonardo Bigazzi, Leo Goldsmith, Ana Janevski, Mason Leaver-Yap, Alvin Li, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Alessandro Rabottini, Dubravka Sekulić, Jan Verwoert, and Sophie Williamson, on the works in the exhibition. The catalogue will be designed by Lorenzo Mason Studio and will be released by Marsilio Arte in Autumn 2026.

For international media enquiries, please contact Sam Talbot: Matthew Brown, matthew@sam-talbot.com / T +44 (0) 7989 446557

For Italian media enquiries, please contact Lara Facco P&C:
Lara Facco, larafacco@larafacco.com / T +39 349 2529989
Marianita Santarossa, marianitasantarossa@larafacco.com / T +39 333 422 4032

The cultural programme of Fondazione In Between Art Film is focused on the role of contemporary moving images and the support of international artists, institutions, and research centres exploring the dialogue between different disciplines. The Fondazione investigates the boundaries of time-based media—film, video, performance and installation—through commissioning and producing new works, organizing exhibitions and public programs, collaborating with international institutions, and producing editorial projects. The Fondazione continues and expands the work of the production company In Between Art Film, which from 2012–2019 supported video and filmic productions by international artists and directors.