AMA VENEZIA
VENICE, IT — AMA VENEZIA is pleased to announce AURA, a major evolving exhibition opening on May 5, 2026, and on view through November 22, 2026.
Timed to coincide with the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, AURA brings together a distinguished group of leading contemporary artists whose practices engage questions of presence, intensity, materiality, and perception. The exhibition features works by Arthur Jafa, Sang Woo Kim, Brandon Morris, Laura Owens, Charles Ray, Ed Ruscha, Jenny Saville, Tino Sehgal, Richard Serra, Christopher Wool, and Joseph Yaeger. All works presented in the exhibition are part of the AMA Collection.
The exhibition opens with a significant new work by Ed Ruscha, articulating a conceptual bridge between Venice, U.S.A. (Venice Beach), Los Angeles, where the artist has long lived and worked, and Venezia, Italia. Deeply rooted in the cultural landscape of Southern California, Ruscha’s practice has consistently engaged with language, typography, urban topography, and the mythology of the American West Coast. Within the context of AURA, his work establishes a resonant dialogue between the constructed identity of Venice Beach, and the historic stratifications of Venice, Italy. Ruscha weaves together ideas of place, translation, and displacement. This transatlantic correspondence amplifies the exhibition’s broader meditation on aura, identity, and site, situating both Venices within a shared yet dissonant imaginary.
From May 5 to June 7, visitors are invited to experience, in complete darkness, a living work by British-German artist Tino Sehgal, Kiss (Clean Version). The work unfolds through movement, proximity, and human presence rather than objects or images. As with Sehgal’s practice, the piece exists only in the moment of its activation, challenging conventional notions of exhibition, documentation, and materiality. Within the context of AURA, Kiss (Clean Version) heightens the viewer’s sensory awareness and reinforces the exhibition’s emphasis on immaterial presence and lived experience.
As the exhibition unfolds, it culminates in the spectacular unveiling, in mid-June, of a monumental new painting by British artist Jenny Saville, measuring 12.4 × 26 feet (380 × 800 cm), conceived as a single panel. This work—Saville’s largest and most ambitious painting to date—marks a pivotal moment in her practice. Extending her long-standing exploration of the human body into an unprecedented spatial and painterly scale, the painting occupies the exhibition space as both image and physical presence. Conceived specifically for AMA VENEZIA, it redefines the relationship between painting, architecture, and the viewer, asserting itself as a landmark work within Saville’s oeuvre.
Founded by Laurent Asscher, AMA VENEZIA is dedicated to presenting contemporary art through a combination of collection-based exhibitions and ambitious, long-term artistic commitments. Since its opening in 2025, AMA VENEZIA has established itself as a space that privileges depth, artistic freedom, and sustained engagement over spectacle or scale. Particular attention is given to artists working from the 1960s to the present, with a strong focus on American art within a global and historical context.
Located in the Cannaregio district, near the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, AMA VENEZIA occupies over 10,000 sq. ft. (1.000 sq. m.) of exhibition space within a historically layered building whose origins trace back to Venice’s early industrial past. The restoration, led by TA Torsello Architettura, preserves the site’s material memory while allowing for contemporary artistic interventions of exceptional ambition.
With AURA, AMA VENEZIA continues its commitment to presenting exhibitions where works are experienced not as isolated objects, but as sustained encounters—inviting visitors to slow down, to look closely, and to engage with art on physical, emotional, and intellectual levels.
AURA
May 5 – November 22, 2026 | Free admission
May 5 – 10 | Biennial Opening week May 13 - November 22
Open every day | 11am-6pm Open Wednesday to Sunday | 11am-6pm
Closed
July 20 – August 25
AMA VENEZIA
Fondamenta de Ca’ Vendramin, 2395
30121 Venezia
Vaporetto stop: Ca’ d’Oro