James Lee Byars: The Golden Tower

Michael Werner Gallery presents, during the 57th Venice Biennale, The Golden Tower by James Lee Byars in Campo San Vio, on the edge of Grand Canal.

The Tower was conceived by the artist starting from 1976 and then the project developed following the artist’s conceptual studies until GegenwartEwigkeit show when it was first exhibited at Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin.

This 20 meters hight tower is the most ambitious work of the artist and in this occasion, for the fist time, the installation sculpture is exhibited in a public space following the artist’s intentions.

The Golden Tower, placed between the Accademia and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, is visible from various areas of the city, returning with its gilded surfaces the golden mosaic of the adjacent Palazzo Barbarigo.

The exhibition is very important for the connections Byars had with the city of Venice, where he lived from 1982 working closely with master glass-blowers of Murano for the sculpture The Angel, enhancing various performances and been exhibited at the 1999 and 2013 Venice Biennale.

This presentation of “The Golden Tower” is possible thanks to the generosity of Fondazione Giuliani, Rome.