ZEGNA at Venice Biennale 2026: shaping the Italian Pavilion through ZEGNART

At the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, ZEGNA is present in the Italian Pavilion not as a sponsor, but as a cultural collaborator embedded within the work’s conceptual and material structure. Presented by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Pavilion is centred on Con te con tutto by Chiara Camoni, curated by Cecilia Canziani—a work unfolding around ideas of coexistence, shared memory, and the delicate interdependence between people, landscape, and time.

This edition also signals a defining moment for ZEGNART, the platform that structures ZEGNA’s artistic initiatives. Rather than operating as a patronage programme in the conventional sense, it articulates a long-term methodology in which art, craftsmanship, territory, and industry are held in continuous dialogue. Instead of acquiring finished works, ZEGNA develops sustained collaborations with artists and curators, allowing each commission to emerge from shared research, material exploration, and lived environments.

The origins of this approach can be traced back to Ermenegildo Zegna and his vision of Oasi Zegna, where landscape, architecture, and cultural production were conceived as a single interconnected system. Over time, collaborations with artists such as Michelangelo Pistoletto, Daniel Buren, and William Kentridge have further shaped this idea, reinforcing the notion that art is not separate from daily life, but deeply embedded within it.

Within the Pavilion, this philosophy becomes tangible. Earth, ash, and minerals sourced from Oasi Zegna are integrated into Camoni’s sculptural language, while yarns produced by Lanificio Ermenegildo Zegna are woven directly into the installation. Landscape and textile heritage operate not as references, but as active materials—carrying within them traces of labour, memory, and place.

A solo exhibition by Chiara Camoni at the Fondazione Zegna

Fondazione ZEGNA presents a solo exhibition by Chiara Camoni at Oasi Zegna, curated by Ilaria Bonacossa. The project carries the ideas first articulated at the Biennale back into the landscape from which they emerge, dissolving the distance between artwork and origin.

Through ZEGNART, ZEGNA proposes a quieter, more integrated form of patronage—one in which art is inseparable from place, material, and the communities that shape both. Here, the relationship between culture and the brand is never ornamental; it is embedded at its core.