Marie-Dominique Saramito at Palazzo Nani Bernardo

Palazzo Nani Bernardo presents a special exhibition of work by Marie-Dominique Saramito, conceived especially for the historic palazzo and timed to coincide with the 2026 Venice Biennale. Saramito is a French Riviera-based artist whose practice mixes art history, material devotion, and a touch of alchemy. Working with fragments of 18th- and 19th-century textiles, Ottoman embroideries in gold thread, Venetian velvets, Louis XVI brocaded silks, she assembles objects that feel simultaneously ancient and startlingly alive: monumental pomegranates studded with amethyst geodes, baroque fruits trailing coral and mother-of-pearl, a violin fashioned from silk and faceted garnets.

The exhibition consists of twenty-four sculptural works that arranged around an offering table in the Porcelain Dining Room on the first floor of the palazzo. The painted marbled walls and glass chandeliers all work together to create total work of art.  Saramito has never worked in such a large scale before, her pieces tend to be more intimate and jewel-like. The objects presented in “Objects of Desire” retain this jewel-like quality, the scale and surroundings of the palazzo creating a fantasy-like experience.

Saramito sought to evoke a contemporary reinvention of the banquet and the theatrical social rituals that come with that, from past and present. As curator Laurence Dreyfus explains: “For this exhibition at Palazzo Nani Bernardo, the idea of a contemporary banquet emerged naturally, echoing the gatherings and dinners that animate Venice during the Biennale. Built in 1740 and still belonging to the same family today, the palazzo possesses a rare elegance — refined, intimate and never ostentatious… Using eighteenth- and nineteenth-century textiles, embroideries and forgotten fabrics, Marie-Dominique reanimates dormant materials through contemporary forms: monumental pumpkins, flowers, birds and imagined fruits. The artworks seem almost to emerge from the palazzo’s garden — the largest private garden in Venice — extending its atmosphere of abundance and quiet poetry into the interior spaces.”

Saramito’s work is opulent without being excessive, layered with art-historical references including imagery from the Renaissance, yet the objects are grounded in the physical intimacy of the handmade. The exhibition forms part of a broader programme organised by cultural platform ARTSA, which has transformed the palazzo into a multi-exhibition environment for the duration of the Biennale, with works spanning the groundfloor, garden, and first floor.

Open by appointment through 30 May. Palazzo Nani Bernardo, Sestiere Dorsoduro 3197, Venice.