Rink and file

Whether it’s Christmas or anticipation of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Venice is catching “ice fever.” After the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, the city seemed ready for a quiet artistic pause, yet new exhibitions and installations pop up every day. On December 13, Berggruen Arts & Culture unveils Eisfeld II by Olaf Nicolai at Palazzo Diedo: a 1000-square-foot ice rink set in the frescoed ballroom of the 18th-century palace accompanied by a soundtrack from Berlin band To Rococo Rot. First shown in Zurich in 2001, Eisfeld is reimagined here as a skating space within baroque grandeur, framed by Nicolai’s light boxes ENJOY/SURVIVE, reflecting on the balance between pleasure and survival. Inserted into Palazzo Diedo’s context of twelve site-specific works by international artists, Nicolai again creates artificial landscapes that suspend viewers between playful non-sense and stark reality.

Featured image: Olaf Nicolai – Photo Dale Grant