Punta della Dogana - Pinault Collection — Attraction in Venice

During the fifteenth century, developments in Venice’s commercial activities led to the Sea Customs House, which had previously been near the Arsenal, being transferred to the western point of Dorsoduro. At the time of the Republic of Venice, the complex, due to its central position between the San Marco Basin and the entrance to the Grand Canal and the Giudecca Canal, was used as a customs office for goods and an object of naval trade. The building as it stands today was completed in 1682, five years before the nearby Basilica Santa Maria della Salute. The seventeenth-century building, the work of the architect and engineer Giuseppe Benoni, has a triangular plan, consisting of 8 spans spread over two floors and is crowned by a tower dominated by the Palla d'Oro, a sphere in gilded bronze supported by two atlases, depict the world on which the statue called "Occasio" rests. This statue represents Fortuna, the work of the sculptor Bernardo Falconi, rotating to indicate the direction of the wind and, symbolically, the mutability of fortune itself. The building continued to be a customs house, and thus intrinsically linked to the city’s history, until the 1980s. After twenty years of abandonment, the Venice city council announced a tender to transform it into a contemporary art space. Important restoration works, from January 2008 to March 2009, have allowed the creation of a contemporary art center connected to Palazzo Grassi inside the Dogana da mar complex, designed by the Japanese minimalist architect Tadao Andō, assisted by a pool of Italian professionals, commissioned by the French fashion magnate François Pinault, owner of Palazzo Grassi and collector of contemporary art. All in all a very...

The Punta della Dogana is an art museum housed in a stunning old customs building in Venice. It is located on the triangular area where the Grand Canal meets the Giudecca Canal. The views alone of these waterways, from the galleries large lunette windows, is worthy of a visit.

I visited the Icônes exhibition which presented works from the Pinault Collection. In the context of this exhibition the term icons is used in the sense of objects that engenders other states of consciousness - meditation/contemplation/reflection.

I have to say that I was immediately immersed in a sense of wonder by Lygia Pape’s Ttéia 1. This very large installation of intersecting gold wires, stretching from floor to ceiling and anchored by cubes. It is illuminated by lights that as one moves cause patterns in the wires to emerge or disappear - this is a delight for the eyes.

The most unusual exhibit was Camille Norment’s Prime - a sound installation composed of several wooden benches that send out vocalisations when visitors sit on them and send vibrations through the body.

Altogether a very worthwhile...

Today I experienced one of the most humiliating situations of my life. Yesterday, I was at the Ponta Della Dogana to visit Pierre Huyghe's exhibition, but I couldn't take my time browsing the bookstore. Today, I returned to the museum with my sister, who hadn't seen the exhibition yet. Upon arriving at the entrance, I asked for permission to go to the bookstore, but there was a misunderstanding with the security guards, who treated me extremely rudely and verbally agressive. Despite that, I was escorted there and began looking at the books. Five minutes later, I was expelled, and of course, without the slightest desire to purchase anything after such a horrible experience. I explained multiple times to the security guard that I was pregnant, but they still made me leave through the back doors, leaving me in the rain. I've never felt so mistreated and humiliated. It was a completely ridiculous situation, and I hope no one else goes through this. I was a victim of brutal discrimination, and I hope no one else feels humiliated like...