Where Are We Going?
For the first time in its history, from 29 April to 1 October 2006 the Pinault Collection was partially unveiled during the “Where Are We Going?” show at the Palazzo Grassi. The questions are big ones: where is humanity going? Where is art going? And especially, where is the collection going? After all, the future in the making is also that of today’s institutions.
The title was taken from a work by Damien Hirst, who himself borrowed it from Paul Gauguin. This ironic work presented in the exhibition raises the issues of destination, origin and reason - the foundations of metaphysics. In light of the renewal of forms and contextual issues involving contemporary art, it also questions the meaning of François Pinault's enterprise. Since 1970, the undertaking has involved bringing together artists and works from this post-war blended family, which, between abstraction and figuration, minimalism and Arte Povera, reinvented existential questioning in art.
"Where Are We Going?” is at the heart of the Pinault Collection. This first exhibition was held in the place that in 2006 marked the start of Pinault’s Venetian chapter and his commitment to thoroughly modern art addressing the issues of his time.