President of the Berggruen Institute, ‘Venice is the door to the future’

The Berggruen Institute has acquired the historic Casa dei Tre Oci in Venice and now intends to create a European cultural center for an exchange of ideas between the best minds of the globe and to respond to the needs of the present, with an eye towards the future. A novelty is the transfer of ownership from the Venice Foundation to the US institution but in the name of continuity because there will be no lack of art, in all its forms. Yesterday the first event in front of Piazza San Marco, on the Giudecca where the building stands: “We see Venice as a door for those who seek answers to the most urgent questions and challenges of our time – says Nicolas Berggruen, president of the Berggruen Institute – Italo Calvino wrote that ‘You don’t enjoy the seven or seventy-seven wonders of a city, but the answer it gives to your question’. We consider the Casa dei Tre Oci as the nexus of the Institute’s work in developing ideas for building a better world. We are deeply grateful to take this step forward with the Venice Foundation to establish a European presence. We look forward to developing our program at the Tre Oci in the coming years ”.