BITTA in Venice 2026
The eleven-channel sound and video installation Bitta is presented from November 3 to 22, 2026, at San Pietro Cantieri del Contemporaneo, a new contemporary art space in Venice. In addition, four drawings from the 2018 series Contrapasso Veneto will also be exhibited.
Bitta is comprised of eleven shots of vaporetto mariners casting ropes to dock their boats. This elegant and expert gesture is repeated hundreds of times each day in Venice and serves as the aquatic city's lifeblood. When the rope is tied tightly from the boat's cleat to the dock's bollard, a loud groaning crack results from the extreme tension, a sonic signature of the constant shift of the boat's bulk, the undulating waves, and the weather. In the installation, eleven asynchronous recordings appear on small video screens arranged in a long, low line along one of the gallery's 25-meter-long walls, and the polyphony of cracks tugs at the ear.
As a contorno accompanying the primo piatto of Bitta, four drawings from the series Contrapasso Veneto offer another related aspect of Venice. Each is a single horizontal gesture intermingling traditional drawing media with Venetian foodstuffs -- charcoal, graphite, pen, squid ink, wine, lemon juice, etc. -- evoking the ever-changing Venetian horizon that intermingles sky, land, and water.
San Pietro Cantieri del Contemporaneo
Campo San Pietro, Castello, Venice
Opening reception: November 3, 2026, 18:30-21:30
Gallery hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 10:00-18:00