A new exhibition and cultural season for the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, which under the direction of Cristiana Collu reaffirms itself as a place for the community: reimagined spaces, installations for the public, updated visual identity and a cultural offering for the city, international audiences and new generations. Here is the June program.
“To promote good studies and useful disciplines“, the legacy of founder Giovanni Querini, entrepreneur and philanthropist, is the commitment carried forward unfailingly by the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, for more than a century and a half a place of knowledge open especially to young people, a home for Venetians and anyone seeking the peace of a cultural institution, a library of 400,000 volumes open until evening where we have all studied during the nights before exams.
The “Querini” has also always been a barometer of the art world, present with exhibitions dedicated to contemporary art, Bellini, Tiepolo and collections that can inform about the history of Venice and its customs and traditions, and a gateway to the world of Carlo Scarpa, whom you can encounter in the Japanese garden, in the spaces he created to let in the canal water, or in the exhibition halls rich with the classic elements of Scarpian design.
For the Querini’s new chapter from May 5, Campo Santa Maria Formosa and Campiello Querini are inhabited by Leoni in campo by Davide Rivalta, four monumental bronze sculptures. Seated, motionless, devoid of aggression, the lions silently observe the flow of daily footsteps.
Designer Martí Guixé has placed an intervention in the public space of Campo Santa Maria Formosa: Q Spot. Seat, read, think, repeat, a Q-shaped seat that invites passersby to sit, read, think and share.
Guixé’s intervention is also inside the Foundation with the installation of Libreria Giovanni, created in collaboration with the publishing house Tlon, which transforms the idea of a bookshop into an independent bookstore, and Cafè Mariona, the café that in summer will be managed by Rosa Salva.
June events at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia
- Ecocritical Guide to the Fondazione Querini Stampalia
Friday, June 13, at 6:00 PM – auditorium
Free admission
Presentation of the first volume, dedicated to the Foundation, of the Ecocritical Guides series – Wetlands. A dialogue with Cristina Baldacci, Shaul Bassi, Angela Munari and Tiziano Scarpa on how literature, nature and culture intertwine in the history of the Querini and the lagoon.
- Museums and Queer Cultures. Cultural institutions for LGBTQ+ rights
Friday, June 20, from 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM – auditorium
Registration at www.icom-italia.org
A workshop promoted by ICOM on the occasion of the publication of Trans-Inclusive Culture which provides ethical and methodological tools to promote accessibility and well-being for trans and non-binary people in cultural institutions.
- Art Night Venezia
Saturday, June 21, from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM
La Querini in scena. Suoni, sguardi, meraviglia. An extraordinary opening for Art Night 2025 will allow us to discover the Foundation with a new perspective:
7:00 PM – Venetian Roars, Leoni di Venezia
Guided tour of the library collections among ancient volumes, engravings and manuscripts to trace the iconographic evolution of the Venetian lion, from civic symbol to universal emblem and identity of the Serenissima. Free upon reservation
8:00 PM – Garden concert – L’equilibrio impossibile
Poetry and music intertwine with Marta y Micó, the voice of Marta Boldú and the guitar of José María Micó. Among the major contemporary Spanish poets, Micó is also a philologist, translator and musician. His work is finally available to Italian audiences as well: L’equilibrio impossibile (Molesini Editore). Free admission.
9:00 PM
Midsummer’s Eve – Il Solstizio d’Estate
On the longest day of the year, when light triumphs marking a moment of powerful cosmic balance, a special guided tour will lead the public through the ancient treatises on cosmography, astrology and alchemy, preserved in the Foundation’s library collections, to discover the symbolism related to the Sun and Moon and the treasures kept in the library. Free upon reservation.
Exhibitions at the Querini until November 23:
- No Stone Unturned – Conceptual Photography with over seventy works by John Baldessari, a pivotal figure in international conceptual art.
- L’impronta leggera, an exhibition in the Carlo Scarpa Area dedicated to the Diriyah Art Futures project, a new hub for digital arts in Riyadh. A vision combining technology, architecture and culture, designed by the Roman studio Schiattarella in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of Saudi Arabia.
The Palace’s reception spaces and exhibition halls have been redesigned by Verlato + Zordan Architetti Associati and furnished by Edra. Completing the Foundation’s transformation are the launch on TikTok and Spotify, a collaboration with Google Arts & Culture, a podcast coming to YouTube, the new visual identity designed by the graphic studio Designwork and the new website developed by Crafted.
Fondazione Querini Stampalia
Campo Santa Maria Formosa, Castello 5252
www.querinistampalia.org
Article by Lucia Pecoraro and Laura Scarpa.
Photos courtesy of the Foundation, cover photo by Alessandra Chemollo.
