Swizz Beatz announces Venice show with Belgian artist Arne Quinze.
Arne Quinze, renderings of Impact Glass, 2024. Renders by Dave Bruel. Courtesy of Arne Quinze Studio.
Belgian artist Arne Quinze and American music producer Swizz Beatz will present a collaborative exhibition titled “Are We The Aliens_” in Venice, coinciding with the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale. The show, on view from April 20th to November 24th, will be held in the 16th-century church San Francesco della Vigna.
Visitors will be engaged with Swizz Beatz’s soundscapes and Quinze’s sculptures in the immersive installation Sonic Levitation (2024), which will be on the first floor of the church’s Scoletta—the 300-square-meter private religious study. The ground floor will also host Quinze’s Impact Glass (2024) installation—fifteen individual glass sculptures created with Berengo Studio. The church’s voluted colonnade will feature the artist’s first large-scale ceramic sculptures, created in collaboration with Atelier Vierkant. The exhibition is co-curated by Hervé Mikaeloff, an advisor of the Louis Vuitton Foundation, and Reiner Opoku, an independent art consultant.
“The process of marrying sound to art is a special one,” Swizz Beatz said. “Creating this sonic experience with Arne Quinze, every second is important, every sound has meaning, the combination takes you on a journey of expression. This will be a sonic installation for the world to enjoy.”
Arne Quinze and Swizz Beatz, paper model of Sonic Levitation, 2024. Photography by Dave Bruel. Courtesy of Arne Quinze Studio.
The exhibition aims to rekindle appreciation for nature, encouraging viewers to contemplate the human impact on the environment through a multisensory experience. “Are We The Aliens_” coincides with the Biennale’s theme “Foreigners Everywhere,” inviting a reflection on humankind’s alienation from nature. Among the featured installations, Quinze’s “Ceramorphia” series of large-scale ceramic sculptures draw inspiration from natural forms and textures, embodying the artist’s exploration of nature and diversity.
“My ultimate goal is to reawaken our sense of awe and appreciation for the natural world,” Quinze said. “In my journey through a wildflower-filled microcosm, ‘Ceramorphia’ reflects a decade of observing nature’s transformative architecture. The work aspires to set out a blueprint to reshape cities into open-air museums, harmonizing again with nature, with the ultimate aim of reawakening our sense of awe and appreciation for the natural world.”
