Damien Hirst in Venice: between lies and truth

I personally think that Damien Hirst is a genius and his exhibition "Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable" is fascinating by itself on top of the fact that he uses the beautiful Venice surroundings as part of the exhibition. The exhibition is very well organized because it is divided into two beautiful locations: Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana.

Damien Hirst tells an imaginary story through his exhibition. The story takes place in 2008, when a vast ship wreck site was discovered off of the East African Coast. The findings are assumed to be part of the Cif Amotan II legend, who had become a freed Antioch slave around 100 BC. He had accumulated an immense fortune by building an incredible art and artifacts collection. However, all of the sudden he lost his fortune when his vessel, Apistos translated from Greek as “Unbelievable”, was shipwrecked and sank to the bottom of the sea to remain there and be discovered in 2008.

The exhibition brings together the works recovered in this extraordinary finding. A number of statutes, which are impressive because of their out of ordinary size, are exhibited prior to undergoing restoration, heavily encrusted in corals and other marine life, at times rendering their forms virtually unrecognisable. A series of contemporary museum copies of the recovered artefacts, which have been reproduced to resemble the originals before being damaged, are on display. There are also photographs of the scuba divers rescuing the statues and artefacts from the deep sea.

The exhibition will run until the 3rd of December, 2017, and it is worth a visit if you are in Venice!

Demon with Bowl