TOMÁS SARACENO

Up until June 30^th 2025, three works by Tomás Saraceno will transform the historic garden of Villa Pallavicino delle Peschiere into a meeting place for contemporary creativity, heritage preservation, and environmental care. Two installations from the Cloud Cities series and a refined weather vane – presented for the first time in Italy following its debut at the Web(s) of Life exhibition at London's Serpentine Gallery in 2022 – engage in dialogue with the architecture and landscape, offering a poetic reinterpretation of the monumental complex through the works of one of today’s most renowned artists.

The event marks the launch of Palazzo Foundation’s activities. Two of Saraceno’s three works take the form of habitat modules inspired by natural geometries—beehives, cells, and spiderwebs—that will host birds and insects throughout the spring. These sculptures are part of the artist’s manifesto project, Degrowing Ownership… Regrowing Stewardship…, designed to raise awareness about the need to rethink the relationship between humans and nature.

An innovative artistic contract establishes that the human owners of these sculptures will co-own them with the animals and will not be allowed to remove them as long as they remain inhabited. The installation of these works at Villa delle Peschiere marks the first realisation of this vision, placing them in perfect harmony with the animal species that inhabit the garden’s trees.

Complementing the Cloud Cities habitat structures, the Weather Vane, standing over two metres tall, rises against the Villa’s southern façade. The sculpture, which shifts position with changing winds, is crowned by a circular sundial supported by a spider – an iconic element in Saraceno’s work – symbolising the delicate balance between natural forces.

Developed in collaboration with Genoa’s Pinksummer Contemporary Art gallery, this exhibition project uses the poetic language of contemporary art to critique extractive and exploitative logics that threaten the planet, while offering an alternative vision in which art becomes a tool for change and a guardian of life.

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