The Brenta Riviera has always been a place of transit — between Venice and the mainland, between private wealth and open water. This spring, two of its historic villas become sites for new work by Koen Vanmechelen, shown as part of Ancestrale, an arts and culture festival rooted in the landscape and history of the river. The works on view at Villa Moscheni Volpi and Villa Widmann were first presented at the opening of We Thought We Were Alone , Vanmechelen's major exhibition

From 1 April to 5 May 2026 Koen Vanmechelen is both a featured artist in GLASSTRESS – The Modern Art Revolution in Venice at Tsinghua University, as Chief Artistic Director of the project. The exhibition, curated by Ma Sai, Dean Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University and Adriano Berengo, founder Berengo Studio, brings together 56 artists from over 20 countries and presents more than 60 works. Unfolding across four thematic sections, it explores the role of glass within

The prestigious Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam invites Koen Vanmechelen to participate in the group exhibition Metamorphoses . Rijksmuseum - 2014 - © John Lewis Marshall Passion and desire, lust and jealousy, cunning and deceit — few classical texts have stirred the imagination of artists as deeply as Ovid’s Metamorphoses . In the eponymous exhibition artists as Titian, Correggio, Cellini, Caravaggio, Rubens, Rodin, Brancusi, Magritte, and Bourgeois rival the imaginative power and

Koen Vanmechelen presents his first solo sculptural exhibition in Venice, We Thought We Were Alone , at Palazzo Rota Ivancich during the 61st Venice Biennale. The exhibition features more than 40 new sculptures and installations created specifically for this historic palazzo. Moving beyond human-centred perspectives, the exhibition explores the dynamic relationship between living organisms and the inorganic environment. Across three floors of Palazzo Rota Ivancich, visitors e