Punta della Dogana, Venice

The Punta della Dogana is a contemporary art center in Venice, managed by the François Pinault Foundation, and housed in a 17th-century building renovated in 2009.

Above; the Punta della Dogana art center, view from the Grand Canal; photo Tim Rawle (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

The complex was built in the 15^th century to accommodate the Sea Customs House of Venice, called in the Venetian dialect Dogana del Mar, which was formerly located at the Arsenale.
The Dogana’s triangular construction sits on the tip of an island which projects into the lagoon and divides the Grand Canal from the Giudecca Canal (hence its name: punta means headland in Italian). The building we see today was completed in 1682 after a design by architect Giuseppe Benoni.

Aerial view of the “Punta della Dogana” in Venice with its peculiar triangular shape; photo © Thomas Mayer, courtesy of Palazzo Grassi.

In 2009, the building was refurbished by the François Pinault Foundation, after a design by acclaimed Japanese architect Tadao Ando, and converted into a center for major exhibitions of contemporary art.

The renovated Punta della Dogana, interior view; photo by Guillaume Meunier (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Punta della Dogana is part of a larger project, developed in Venice by the Pinault Foundation, which also includes the Palazzo Grassi, restored and re-opened in 2006, and the “Teatrino”, inaugurated in 2013 as a conference, concert, and meeting center.

Tatiana Trouvé, In Praise of Doubt exhibition at Punta della Dogana, 2011; photo Lux & Jourik (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Jeff Koons, In Praise of Doubt exhibition at Punta della Dogana, 2011; photo Lux & Jourik