Emilio Vedova. More than movement for its own sake

In November 1963, the Venetian artist Emilio Vedova came to Berlin on a fellowship from the Ford Foundation. He encountered a city that, perhaps more than any other, embodied contradiction: traumatised by its Nazi past, divided by the Cold War, and at the same time brimming with cultural energy. This »island city«, as Vedova called it, became the setting for an exceptionally productive engagement with art and society. In Arno Breker’s former state studio in Dahlem – a site imbued with the legacy of National Socialist propaganda art – Vedova created a wide range of experimental works.

His Plurimi in particular – movable picture panels that opened painting into space – reflect the dynamic and tension of the time. In them, artistic innovation and political consciousness merge into a striking testimony to his Berlin period. This exhibition and this catalogue are dedicated to this formative phase in Vedova’s oeuvre and invite visitors to rediscover his work – as a passionate plea for freedom, critical thought, and artistic independence.