Author: Biennale Gherdeina

Dormancy by Jacopo Belloni—one of the projects that, from 31 May to 13 September 2026, will be part of (Future) Paradise Gardens, the tenth edition of Biennale Gherdëina curated by Samuel Leuenberger—was among the winners of the fourteenth edition of the Italian Council 2025, the programme of the General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture aimed at promoting Italian contemporary art worldwide.

Dormancy takes shape through the creation of two sculptural cycles. The first cycle, Dormienti (Sleepers), consists of seed collectors, a kind of caskets or reliquaries that will contain seeds studied and gathered together with associations and communities living in the places where the project is exhibited, in this case Val Gardena.

The second sculptural cycle, Nenie (Laments), comprises copper distillation devices that act as extractors for obtaining essential oils from plants with calming and soporific properties. The second sculptural cycle, co-produced by Biennale Gherdëina, will be contributing to reflections on gardens – seen not only as sanctuaries for flora and fauna but also as spaces embodying aspirations for a future grounded in justice and equality. Additionaly, Dormancy benefits from the scientific consultancy of the working group Arable Crops and Aromatic Plants at Laimburg Research Centre, the leading research institute for agriculture and food processing in South Tyrol.

In the attic of an old school building in St. Cristina, Dormancy, consisting of both sculptural cycles, engages both the biological and emotional dimensions of suspension. Together, these works inhabit a state of stillness and latency. They invite visitors into a slowed perception, where dormancy is not absence, but a condition of endurance—an interval where life withdraws, prepares, and quietly persists.

The first part of the project was produced and exhibited at Halle Nord in Geneva, Switzerland, within the exhibition Jardins Défiants (Defiant Gardens) curated by Elise Lammer, in collaboration with Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, from September 10 to October 20, 2025. In May 2026, in Italy, the second part of the project will be presented within the context of Biennale Gherdëina 10. Belloni’s project will also be exhibited at the event Fogo Fátuo organised in collaboration with Galeria Municipal do Porto, Portugal on July 4, and promoted at Triangle-Astérides in Marseille, France, over the course of summer. Biennale Gherdëina will host a public event during Summer, dedicated to the harvest of the seeds that will complete Belloni’s sculptures. At the end of the exhibition in Val Gardena, Dormancy will then join the permanent collection of GAMeC – Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo.

The project is realised with the support of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture within the framework of the Italian Council programme (14th edition, 2025), dedicated to promoting Italian contemporary art internationally.

On Saturday, 30 May, Biennale Gherdëina opens at 10:00 am. in front of Sala Trenker in Ortisei. Following the official welcome and institutional presentation, visitors are invited to join a curatorial tour with Samuel Leuenberger. At 1:00 pm., a culinary intervention by artists Sandra Knecht and Leonardo Bürgi Tenorio will take place at Piazza S. Antonio.

The programme continues at 3:00 pm. in Santa Cristina with a guided tour followed by a performance by the artist Ana Prvački, titled Applied Honey Proverbs. A folkloric dip into proverbs from around the world, where ecology meets language and wisdom accumulates in drip.

From 6:00 to 7:30 pm., the public is invited to join a guided tour at Pilat. The day concludes from 7:30 to 9:30 pm with a celebration of the Biennale’s 10th anniversary at Pilat, accompanied by a DJ set.

On Sunday, 31 May, at 10:30 am., the Biennale welcomes its youngest visitors to a Vernissage for Kids, featuring the workshop Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Us by and with the artists Pedro Abu Wirz and Michael Marder.

Throughout the summer, (Future) Paradise Gardens invites visitors to experience contemporary art as a space for reflection and engagement with our shared socio-ecological future. The exhibition is accompanied by a rich public program of guided tours, workshops, studio visits, hikes, talks, and performances unfolding across the season.

Discover all the events!

May 7, 2026, 10:00AM-01:00PM
Associazione I Bochaleri
Castello 1257, Venice (next to the Serra dei Giardini)

As done for the previous editions, Biennale Gherdëina warmly invites you to an open-air breakfast in the garden of the Venetian ceramicists’ association I Bochaleri.

On the occasion of the Biennale’s tenth edition, there will be the launch of the anniversary publication “BG1–10. Biennale Gherdëina Anniversary”; the President of the association Zënza Sëida, Eduard Demetz, as well as the Biennale’s Director, Doris Ghetta, will be present.

The breakfast offers an opportunity to explore the theme of this year’s edition, (Future) Paradise Gardens, together with the Curator Samuel Leuenberger and several of the participating artists.

We look forward to welcoming you!
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From 31 May to 13 September 2026, the tenth edition of Biennale Gherdëina, (Future) Paradise Gardens, curated by Samuel Leuenberger, will take place across three locations in Val Gardena.

This edition’s design is once again rooted in a collaboration between a participating artist and Biennale Gherdëina — as previously in 2024 with Atelier dell’Errore, in 2022 with Giles Round, and in 2020 with Marcello Maloberti. The identity of this tenth edition has been developed together with Alice Bucknell, whose work evocatively interprets the central theme: (Future) Paradise Gardens explores multiple themes and concepts related to the paradise garden.

The visual concept was created by Studio XXY in Milan, led by Massimo Lafronza. The design not only highlights Bucknell’s work as the main subject but also captures key elements of it, creating a direct visual dialogue with the Biennale theme: organic shapes and lines, letters that deform and grow, and a continuously blooming gradient that accompanies visitors across different communication channels – moving, blossoming, and eventually dissolving.

 

“(Future) Paradise Gardens is a recipe for conjuring many worlds and a song that carries us back to earth. Across its interwoven chapters is a many-headed story both rooted in the unique ecosystem of the Dolomites where the Biennale unfurls and also, a heady scent on the breeze that rustles through landscapes both real and imagined, anthropogenic and autonomous, near and far. It’s an honor to see the wriggling aliveness of ecosystemic play from the worlds of my work flow into Biennale Gherdëina 10, and I can’t wait to see the unruly germinations this pollination event will spawn in the months to come”. 

Alice Bucknell on collaborating with Biennale Gherdëina 10.

Biennale Gherdëina 10 – (Future) Paradise Gardens will take place from May 31 to September 13, 2026 in Val Gardena, in the heart of the Dolomites, welcoming visitors in its three main exhibition venues, in a continuous exchange between art, nature and landscape.

The opening will take place on May 30, starting at 10am from the center of Ortisei.