Venue:
Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

Curators:
Germano Celant and Susan Cross.

Artists:
Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Bruce Nauman, Maria Nordman, Eric Orr, James Turrell, Doug Wheeler.

Exhibition description:
This exhibition presented a selection of masterworks drawn from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s Panza Collection. As one of the preeminent collections of art from the 1960s and 1970s, the Panza Collection includes many of the best examples of Minimalist painting and sculpture, conceptual art, process and postminimal art, and perceptual environments from the postwar period. This presentation of eighteen artworks highlighted the contribution of seven Californian artists whose work produces a heightened awareness of sensory experience. In keeping with Venice’s artistic legacy, which champions the magical quality of luminous sky and water found here, this exhibition focused on a group of artists who have worked and exhibited in Venice Beach and Santa Monica, California. The ocean light characteristic of the area inspired in local artists an interest in light effects and how they are perceived. The artists featured in the exhibition were Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Bruce Nauman, Maria Nordman, Eric Orr, James Turrell and Doug Wheeler. They create environments which make palpable and recognizable sensory stimuli as simple as light and sound, challenging the isolated nature of the traditional art object by treating art as part of a larger architectural, urban, or natural environment. This was a landmark exhibition which illuminated for Italian audiences the significant contribution of these Californian artists to the development of contemporary art as well as the profound impact the Panzas have had on the appreciation and understanding of this complex and awe-inspiring work.

Catalogue:
Celant, Germano and Susan Cross. Venice / Venezia: California Art from the Panza Collection at the Guggenheim Museum. New York: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2000.

Two catalogues, in English and Italian. Catlogues include preface by Thomas Krens (Director, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation) and acknowledgements by Germano Celant and Susan Cross. Catalogues also contain essays by Giuseppe Panza di Biumo, Germano Celant, Gregory Williams, Melanie Mariño, Susan Cross and Meghan Dailey. An appendix includes provenance information, exhibition histories and a bibliography.

In addition, there was a supplement in English and Italian for Maria Nordman’s installation.

Library location: GUGG PGC 2000 .04, GUGG PGC 2000 .03 (English) ; GUGG PGC 2000 .01, GUGG SRG 2000 .04, UFFICIO 32 0001 (Italian).