Venice: Art for Tomorrow 2024 – Imperfect Beauty

Art for Tomorrow 2024 took place in Venice from 5 to 7 June at the Palazzo Grassi for the opening evening and at the Palazzo Diedo, owned and newly renovated by the Berggruen Institute. This annual event was organised, under the motto Imperfect Beauty, by the Democracy and Cultural Foundation under the leadership of its President, Achilles Tsaltas. Europa Nostra was proud to be one of the culture partners of this international gathering with an impressive line-up of speakers and participants active in the wider field of arts and heritage in Europe and on other continents.

 

The city of Venice was an appropriate setting to consider the complex problems that beauty can bring: How can cities and cultural sites celebrate their heritage without becoming victims of their own success through overtourism? How can museums and monuments protect themselves from the inevitable impact of the climate crisis? How should institutions and artists think about and reflect the concerns of their changing populations?

These are just a few of the questions that were discussed at Art for Tomorrow 2024, in a rich programme with sessions moderated by journalists from The New York Times. Underpinning it all was the central question of how the arts can unite and heal.

Europa Nostra’s Executive President, Hermann Parzinger, who is the President of the Prussian Heritage Foundation, took part in the plenary debate on Sustainability in Heritage Cities with a special focus on the threats caused by overtourism, which are so evident in Venice. Hermann Parzinger shared the stage with Irina Bokova, former Director General of UNESCO and current Chair of the Democracy and Culture Foundation, as well as with Toto Bergamo Rossi, Director of Venetian Heritage.

In addition to Hermann Parzinger, the Europa Nostra delegation at the Art for Tomorrow 2024 was composed of Cristina Loglio, Vice-President; Jimmy Jamar, Head of the Brussels Office; Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, Secretary General; and Carla Toffolo, Project Manager at the European Heritage Hub.

 

The plenary sessions were complemented by exclusive cultural visits to iconic landmarks and some of the city’s best-kept secrets, such as guided tours of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection to view the exhibition “Jean Cocteau: The Juggler’s Revenge“, the Orsoni furnace and Giardini and Arsenale at the 60th Venice Biennale titled “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere.”