At Venice airport, Koen Vanmechelen's Noah's Ark. It will be on display for one year

A traditional Venetian vaporetto is reinterpreted and transformed into a modern ark carrying a microcosm of our world. It is Noah’s Ark, the impressive work by Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen, which has been on display for a few days at theVenice airport, in an area of the dock where it will remain visible for a year.

The initiative stems from a collaboration between the Berengo Foundation, lineadacqua and the SAVE Group, who chose the Venice airport as the ideal place to host this work, which is intended to inspire reflection on the future. Like Noah’s Ark, a symbol of salvation and hope, Vanmechelen’s work accommodates figures representing human genius, philosophical thought and the power of change: from Frida Kahlo and Albert Einstein to Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. At the back of the boat are passengers, while the roof houses a multitude of trees and animals, including nearly extinct species that underscore the impact of human actions on the environment.

The installation was contributed by Berengo Studio, a well-known creative furnace on the island of Murano, renowned for producing glass artworks in collaboration with internationally renowned contemporary artists. Noah’s Ark is part of a diptych. The second work, titled Looking for the Ark, is a sculpture depicting a two-meter-tall child holding a bronze anchor and a glass chain, currently on display at the Giardini della Biennale di Venezia.

“Looking for the Ark stands as a beacon of reflection in the city of water and wonder, inviting us to embark on a journey through art and the very core of what it means to be human. In Venice, a city perpetually poised between yesterday and tomorrow, the work offers a journey into the soul of humanity, a voyage across the seas of time, consciousness and collective memory. Above all, it is an ode to the future in which there is room for life in all its forms,” the artist explains.

“Vanmechelen’s installation speaks to the thousands of people who daily pass through our airport, urging their wonder at this diverse world saved in a reimagined steamer, questioning them about the deeper meaning of travel. Once again we are particularly proud to be able to include in our passengers’ experience the enjoyment of a great work of art, offering them the possibility of a moment of reflection and experience of beauty,” said Enrico Marchi, President of SAVE Group. “Our airport is a hinge between the historic center, the mainland and the rest of the world, and as such constitutes an artistic and cultural gateway, hosting internationally recognized artists of diverse backgrounds and training.”

At Venice airport, Koen Vanmechelen's Noah's Ark. It will be on display for one year

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