Padua, Palazzo della Ragione welcomes Ex It, Yoko Ono's site-specific installation on peace

Until January 6, 2025, the Palazzo della Ragione in Padua hosts Ex It, a site-specific installation by Yoko Ono (Tokyo, 1933) consisting of one hundred wooden coffins of different sizes with olive trees growing from within as a metaphor for the resilience of life and the vitality of nature. The work intends to speak of peace and tell about life by passing through the tragedy of death. Ex It has already been exhibited in many international museums from 1997 to the present, but it was while visiting the Hall of Palazzo della Ragione that Yoko Ono first thought of making the work.

“I had the opportunity to visit Padua, Italy,” the artist recounts. “I was taken to an ancient stone palace, built many centuries ago: Palazzo della Ragione, built in 1218. Without giving me any explanation, a man took me up to the second floor. In front of me now opened a huge space, similar to a ballroom. Suddenly, in my vision, I saw many people lined up in a row in the room. What was going on? At that moment, the person who had brought me there explained to me that that was a room where executions were carried out. It was not a ballroom.” “I saw many, many coffins of men, women and children filling the room,” he continued. “Eventually, trees sprouted from each of the coffins. The trees became a forest. Birds sang all around ... and I began to cry. That’s how this work was born. It is the memory of every race, every country. It is the memory of genocide: the pain, the horror and the salvation. The dead wanted us to remember, I think. Our tears will help heal the memory.”

The exhibition is the brainchild of Paolo De Grandis, whose desire was to bring Ex It to Palazzo della Ragione. The collaboration between Yoko Ono and De Grandis began in 2002 in Venice during the OPEN exhibition and has developed over the years with numerous site-specific projects. The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Paolo De Grandis, his commitment as a curator, his enlightened vision and his extraordinary ability to create connections between artists, works and places. Ex It is curated by Jon Hendricks and realized with the contribution of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo and the support of the Padua Chamber of Commerce, the Padua Tourism Promotion Consortium, AcegasApsAmga, with the collaboration of the FSP Police Union. It is organized by Carlotta Scarpa with PDG Arte Communications.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity to bring together an installation rich in meaning, of constant and renewed topicality precisely because of the universality of its themes,” says Culture Councillor Andrea Colasio, “with the city’s civic monument par excellence, and with an extremely evocative fresco cycle that is part of the UNESCO World Heritage list Padua’s 14th-century fresco cycles. It is also confirmation of an increasingly convinced interest in promoting contemporary art in Padua.”

Hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Padua, Palazzo della Ragione welcomes Ex It, Yoko Ono's site-specific installation on peace

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.