Venice reopens its private airport with a pair of design exhibitions

Nina Yashar of Nilufar Gallery brings in iconic design and avant garde ceramics

You may not be flying into Venice’s exclusive Nicelli private airport at Lido San Nicolò (or perhaps you are), but you’ll have reason to visit this spring if you’re in town for the 59th Biennale.

Nilufar Gallery, arguably Milan’s most prestigious, is hosting two exhibitions at the recently restored Art Deco landmark to celebrate its new partnership with the space.

Curated by Nilufar founder Nina Yashar, the first includes historic furniture design by Gio Ponti, BBPR, Joaquim Tenreiro, and others, alongside new, avant-garde pieces by Martino Gamper, Bethan Laura Wood, and Analogia Projects. Yashar treats each piece like a museum artefact, arranging them in dialogue with one another across striking moquette rugs from Besana Carpet Lab in the airport’s main hall.

Photography: Giovanni Emilio Galanello

The second exhibition sits next door in Spazio Esso, the airport’s fuel distributor. Here Yashar and ArtHub have curated potted works by Sin Ying Cassandra Ho – chic ceramic pieces that fuse Chinese decoration with contemporary motifs across unusually bulbous silhouettes.

Above all, visitors can enjoy the 100-year-old architecture. A treasured relic dating to 1926, Nicelli hosts 7,000 private flights annually and connects to Giardini della Biennale in just 10 minutes.

Photography: Giovanni Emilio Galanello
Photography: Giovanni Emilio Galanello

Read next: “Future Shock”: new show at 180 The Strand explores the conflux of the digital and physical worlds

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