London’s much-admired non-profit exhibition space, Parasol Unit, which closed in 2020 after 16 years, is back, and is now launching a new exhibition, Turandot: To the Daughters of the East, as an official collateral event during the Biennale.
The exhibition features 11 female artists from Central Asia and surrounding regions, and is curated by Ziba Ardalan, the founder of Parasol Unit. It is being held in the historic Palazzo Franchetti and will span the duration of the Biennale.
“Without the limits of a single location [as we had in London], we are well positioned to bring world-class exhibitions to wherever an art-related dialogue is needed most,” Ardalan tells The Art Newspaper. “I wanted to focus the importance of the East-West link, at the time in which the East has established itself as a huge force in every aspect: presenting this exhibition in Venice is a must.”
The exhibition spans multiple genres, from video work by Lida Abdul, Hera Büyüktaşçıyan, Daria Kim and Tala Madani; installations by Afruz Amighi, Saodat Ismailova and Nazira Karimi; sculpture by Huma Bhabha and Mona Hatoum; painting, video and spoken word by Farideh Lashai; and textile and sound work by Madina Joldybek. “There are some remarkable artists within this region, which I think we ought to know better,” says Ardalan, who is herself of Iranian origin. The title of the exhibition is inspired by the Turandot narrative—Turandokht in Farsi means daughter of Turan—and the show is in turn inspired by the historical relationship between Iran and Turan, a nomadic region in Central Asia. The story is best known now from the Puccini opera but it was originally adapted for the stage by the Venetian playwright Carlo Gozzi, premiering in 1762 in the now-demolished Teatro San Samuele, which stood just a few streets away from the Parasol Unit exhibition.
As part of this new era for Parasol, it also has a very different project in Athens, during the celebrations of the birth, 100 years ago, of the Swiss sculptor Heidi Bucher. “Turandot entails history, poetry and so much more,” Ardalan explains, “but it doesn’t define the future activities of the foundation.” There are more initiatives to come in the future.
• Turandot: To the Daughters of the East, ACP–Palazzo Franchetti, San Marco 2847, 9 May-31 October
