Entering Palazzo Diedo during the Venetian winter already means slowing down. We are in Cannaregio, far from the city’s busiest routes, inside a 17th-century palace that still preserves all of its historical elegance. But with Eisfeld II – Enjoy / Survive, the feeling is immediate: this is not a traditional exhibition. You are inside an experience that begins the very moment you cross the threshold.

The installation by Olaf Nicolai, on view from 13 December 2025 to 22 February 2026, transforms the frescoed grand hall on the piano nobile into a 100-square-metre ice rink. A simple, almost direct gesture, yet one capable of creating a powerful short circuit between body, space and perception.

When the work truly begins

At first, you observe. You see the ice — or rather, a surface that simulates it through sustainable technology — set within a baroque setting. Then you put on the skates. And that’s when you realise the work is not in front of you: you are the one bringing it to life.

Movement changes everything. The sound of skates, unstable balance, the body responding to a surface that is never entirely predictable. The electronic soundtrack, diffused throughout the space, doesn’t simply accompany the experience: it amplifies it. Every step, every curve, every hesitation becomes part of a collective composition built in real time.

There is no rush. No fixed route. Eisfeld II takes its time — and invites you to do the same.

The contrast that makes the experience unique

Skating beneath frescoed ceilings is not a scenic detail, but one of the installation’s strongest elements. The distance between contemporary artistic language and historic Venetian architecture is not erased — it is made visible.

This contrast is precisely what makes the experience so intense. The body, focused on maintaining balance, perceives the space differently. Your gaze rises and falls, lingers on the frescoes, then returns to the ice. Past and present coexist without merging, creating a continuous tension that never stops working.

Enjoy / Survive: a message felt through the body

At either end of the rink, the light boxes ENJOY / SURVIVE I & II mark the conceptual core of the project. They do not explain. They do not impose a single interpretation. They suggest.

Pleasure is evident: skating, moving, sharing space with others. But there is also effort, focus, the need to adapt. The body becomes the place where these two ideas coexist — not as theory, but as direct experience.

It is a subtle reflection on how we experience cultural spaces, on the boundary between entertainment and awareness, between consuming an experience and truly taking part in it.

A work that is constantly changing

Eisfeld II is never the same twice. It changes with the people who move through it, with the number of visitors, with the rhythm of movement. Every session on the rink is different from the one before.

This makes the exhibition alive, unstable, impossible to reduce to a single image or moment. Even those who don’t skate, but watch from the edge, enter into a relationship with the work — observing others, listening to the sounds, sensing the transformation of the space.

Venice and winter

Visiting Eisfeld II in winter means encountering a quieter, more intimate Venice. The cold outside naturally resonates with the theme of ice, while the city offers the perfect setting for an experience that invites you to slow down and truly feel.

The exhibition also unfolds during the year of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, reinforcing the connection between athletic gesture, performance and artistic practice. Without ever becoming didactic, the installation opens a dialogue between sport, culture and the body.

Why Eisfeld II stays with you

This is not an exhibition remembered for a single artwork or a spectacular display. It stays with you as a sensation. As the way the body responds to space. As that unusual mix of play, focus and awareness that lingers long after you leave.

Eisfeld II is an exhibition to be lived, not quickly consumed — an experience that shows how contemporary art, when it truly engages those who step into it, can become deeply personal.

Live Eisfeld II, stay in the heart of authentic Venice

If this exhibition makes you want to experience Venice with more time, more freedom and fewer rushes, Bloom is the perfect starting point. After Eisfeld II, you can walk home, cross silent streets, stop for one last drink and feel the city slow down with you.

Eisfeld II – Enjoy / Survive
📍 Palazzo Diedo, Cannaregio 2386 – Venice
📅 13 December 2025 – 22 February 2026

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