The historic Procuratie on Piazza San Marco in Venice is opening to the public for the first time, as the home of a new arts institute: San Marco Art Centre (SMAC). Ahead of the launch during the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, Architecture Today spoke with its co-founders Anna Bursaux, David Gramazio and David Hrankovic. Here is a summary of the building, the opening programme and the founders' thinking.
Sixteen galleries in the restored Procuratie
SMAC launches on 9 May with 16 new galleries on the second floor of The Procuratie. The building is owned by the Italian insurer Generali, which commissioned David Chipperfield to restore the whole structure; the work created more than 1,000 square metres of new exhibition space for the centre.
The galleries line up along a continuous 80-metre corridor, with ceilings of four and a half metres and windows over the square. Walls are finished in light grey Venetian marmorino made from crushed marble, floors are white terrazzo, the original doors of the enfilade have been kept, and some rooms reveal Renaissance beams.
A kunsthalle for Venice
According to the founders, Venice has many museums and foundations but lacked a kunsthalle, a non-collecting institution devoted to temporary exhibitions. SMAC aims to fill that role as an independent platform for artists, curators and institutions, changing its shows more often than other venues so that the city has a strong cultural offer all year, not only during the Biennale. Beyond the opening, the centre plans two to four major exhibitions a year.
Harry Seidler and Jung Youngsun
The opening shows were chosen to differ from what the Biennale usually presents: two monographic exhibitions on architects. Migrating Modernism: The architecture of Harry Seidler surveys the Australian modernist, whose work the founders feel is not as well known in Europe as it should be. The show covers his buildings, his life and his collaborations with artists such as Albers, Frankenthaler, Stella and Calder. Loans include a maquette painted by Helen Frankenthaler for a proposed tapestry in Seidler's Hong Kong Club building, and Theo van Doesburg's Space-Time Construction #3 from the National Gallery of Australia.
For all that Breathes on Earth: Jung Youngsun and Collaborators, curated by Jihoi Lee, presents the Korean landscape architect, now in her 80s. She was the first woman officially licensed as a land development engineer in Korea, and one of her recent projects was a collaboration with David Chipperfield at the Amorepacific building in Seoul. The exhibition design, by MMCA and produced in Korea, draws on traditional Korean building techniques.
An open, experimental programme
The founders describe an institution without a permanent collection or a fixed curatorial line, open to ideas from artists, curators and their wider network. In autumn 2025, Daniel Birnbaum and Jacqueline Davies will co-curate The Quantum Effect, linking science, art, cinema, architecture and philosophy through installations, experiments and a public programme. They see Chipperfield's restoration as a model for SMAC itself: contemporary in spirit, respectful of the past, and a high-quality container that keeps the focus on the work shown.
Credits
- Institution: San Marco Art Centre (SMAC), The Procuratie, Piazza San Marco, Venice
- Co-founders: Anna Bursaux, David Gramazio, David Hrankovic
- Restoration architect: David Chipperfield
- Building owner: Generali
- Photography: Mike Merkenschlager, Alessandra Chemollo, Andrea Artoni, Max Dupain, Matteo de Mayda
- Source: Architecture Today