Monte di Pietà

During the Art Biennale, the Venice venue, located in the historical palazzo Ca’ Corner della Regina, will present the project “Monte di Pietà” conceived by artist Christoph Büchel (Switzerland, 1966) from 20 April to 24 November 2024.

Originally the home of Venetian merchants Corner di San Cassiano, Ca’ Corner della Regina was built between 1724 and 1728 on the ruins of the Gothic palazzo in which Caterina Corner, the future queen of Cyprus, was born in 1454. In 1800, the palazzo became property of Pope Pius VII, who assigned it to the Congregation of the Padri Cavanis. From 1834 to 1969, it hosted the Monte di Pietà (pawnshop) of Venice, whereas between 1975 and 2010 it became the Historical Archive of the Venice Biennale and has been an art institution since 2011. This layered history is Büchel’s starting point for the construction of an articulated network of spatial, economic, and cultural relationships.

The study of debt as the concept at the base of society and an instrument of power takes shape as a complex installation. The project will include historical and contemporary works, new installations and a vast selection of objects and documents related to the history of property, credit and finance, the development of collections and archives, and the creation and meaning of real or artificial wealth.

Among the works of different artists and objects on display, the exhibition will also feature Christoph Büchel’s The Diamond Maker (2020-), a suitcase containing lab grown diamonds, the end- result of the process of the transformation of the artist’s entire body of artworks in his possession, including the ones from his youth and childhood, and those yet to be created.