March 27th 2026
Ocean Space, Venice
San Lorenzo Church
Castello 5069, Venice
An exhibition project curated by Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll arrives at Ocean Space, presenting new
site-specific commissions by Repatriates Collective. Through multimedia installations, video, sound,
textiles, and shell sculptures, the project explores the repatriation of cultural heritage stolen during colonial
times, intertwining Indigenous perspectives from Northern Australia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America.
The exhibition proposes cultural restitution as a relational practice grounded in care and shared
responsibility, with water as a vehicle of memory and healing. For more information.
The event will begin at 6pm with the opening of the exhibition, followed at 6:30pm by From My
Mother’s Country, a reinterpreted purification ritual led by Noeleen Danjibana Lalara and Annabell
Demalmerrangguma Amagula, elders of the indigenous community of Groote Eylandt (Australia). At 6:30pm,
Nigerian artist Samson Ogiamien will present the poetry reading The Moon Says They Are in Venice.
In the cloister, from 6:45 to 9pm, we will celebrate the new exhibition season with a convivial gathering
accompanied by Perlage organic prosecco. For more information.
As part of this event there will also be a presentation of Nature Speaks. Listening for Rights of Nature
in Venice and Europe, an Ocean Space Research Unit curated by Pietro Consolandi and Amalia Rossi.
The project takes the form of a policy lab dedicated to developing a legislative proposal on the Rights of the
Venetian Lagoon. For more information.
March 28th 2026
The program continues on the morning of March 28 with Between Tides: Gatherings on Return, a
symposium on cultural restitution in the context of Venice and Italy, followed by a Dadikwakwa-kwa Doll
Workshop from 2:30pm led by Noeleen Lalara and Annabell Amagula on the history and making of shell
dolls, also featured in the exhibition Tide of Returns.
Between Tides: Gatherings on Return
Symposium | Saturday, March 28, 10:00 – 13:00pm | #sharing
During two events, on March 28 and May 8, the symposium explores restitution as a living and decolonial practice. This first edition is dedicated to the context of Venice and Italy, through feminist and Indigenous methodologies, alternating presentations by Indigenous scholars and artists with moments of public discussion.
Dadikwakwa-kwa Doll Workshop
| Saturday, March 28, 2:30 – 4:30pm
| For all ages | #making
Dadikwakwa-kwa are shell dolls made by the Warnindilyakwa women of Groote Eylandt: living objects, custodians of sacred knowledge and stories to be passed down to future generations. In the workshop, Noeleen Lalara and Annabell Amagula will guide participants in their creation using shells, fabrics, and natural fibers
CREDIT
Header: Dadikwakwa-kwa at Dingala, Noeleen Danjibana Lalara, 2025. Ph: Britten Syd Andrews
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
Tide of Returns
March 28 – October 11, 2026
Commissioned and produced by TBA21−Academy
Nature Speaks. Listening for Rights of Nature
March 28 – October 11, 2026
Nature Speaks. Listening for Rights of Nature in Venice and Europe (2026) is Ocean Space’s Research Unit,
curated by Pietro Consolandi and Amalia Rossi, co-produced by TBA21–Academy and NICHE Centre for Environmental Humanities, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia in collaboration with IDRA and the Confluence of
European Water Bodies.