Matthias Schaller brings "Controfacciata" to Venice: a fresh look at the city

The Berggruen Arts & Culture Institute announces a major new exhibition at the Casa dei Tre Oci in Venice: Controfacciata, a solo show by German photographer Matthias Schaller, curated by Mario Codognato. The exhibition, which can be visited from April 5 to Nov. 23, 2025, offers a visual journey through the lagoon city, told through 28 shots, many of which were taken especially for this occasion.

Known for his ability to explore the relationship between architectural spaces and memory, Schaller is pursuing a project he began in 2004, focusing on a peculiar architectural element: the counterfacades of Venetian palaces. These spaces, located between the exterior and the heart of the buildings, emerge in his images as places suspended in time, immersed in a penumbra crossed by an intense and elusive light.

An unprecedented portrait of Venice

Schaller proposes a vision of Venice that is far from stereotypical. While the city is often portrayed as a place in decay, the German photographer instead offers a more nuanced interpretation: a city in constant transformation, traversed by a life cycle that leads it to renew itself.

His photographs, made with an analog technique and later digitized to emphasize their desaturated tones, create a dialogue between interior and exterior, between light and matter. The environments portrayed become metaphysical still lifes, in which architectural elements dialogue with the reflections of the lagoon, evoking a profound symbolism about the fragility and beauty of the city.

“The interior constitutes in my vision the interpretation of a cultural reality,” Schaller explains. “I draw on the counterfacades as would a historian who starts from the past to look at the present.”

The project is in the photographic tradition of masters such as Carlo Naya and Carlo Ponti, but also finds connections with the work of contemporary artists such as Hiroshi Sugimoto. Schaller uses photography as a narrative tool, capable of rendering an indirect, yet deeply authentic, image of Venice.

The exhibition will be accompanied by the publication of a catalog published by Marsilio Arte, containing more than 60 photographs and a critical essay by Mario Codognato. Admission to the exhibition will be free on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, while on weekdays it will be accessible by appointment.

Born in 1965 in Dillingen an der Donau, Matthias Schaller graduated in Cultural Anthropology between Göttingen, Siena and Hamburg, specializing in the 19th-century photography of Giorgio Sommer. His work has been exhibited in major museums around the world, including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Venice Biennale, and the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf. Throughout his career, he has received numerous awards, including the German Photobook Award. Today he lives between Venice and New York and is represented by Sonnabend Gallery in New York.

Palazzo Diedo: a new space for contemporary art

In parallel with Schaller’s exhibition, Palazzo Diedo, the Venetian headquarters of Berggruen Arts & Culture, is preparing to host new exhibitions. Prominent among them is the installation Untitled (floor) by artist Piero Golia, created using the traditional Venetian terrazzo technique.

After a long gestation period, during which the public has been waiting for the work, Golia unveils a work that manifests itself only when darkness falls, blending into the floor of the ground-floor portego. The work plays on the concept of trust and expectation, a stylistic feature typical of his work, which aims to surprise and engage the viewer in a kind of visual magic.

The installation will be officially presented on April 4, 2025, in an invitation-only event. Piero Golia, born in Naples in 1974, has lived in Los Angeles since 2002. His works range between sculpture and performance, challenging the boundaries of conceptual art. Exhibited in major international museums, including MoMA PS1 in New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, he represented Italy at the 53rd Venice Art Biennale.

Palazzo Diedo is not stopping there: in May, on the occasion of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, a major new project will be inaugurated, the result of international collaborations, which will help consolidate the institution’s role as one of the most dynamic centers of the Venetian contemporary art scene.

Matthias Schaller brings "Controfacciata" to Venice: a fresh look at the city

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