Exhibitions
Jannis Kounellis and the wandering memory of the Mediterranean with Labyrinth Without Walls at Es Baluard
Kounellis was born in Piraeus, Greece, in 1936, and lived in Rome from a young age. He is one of the leading figures of Arte Povera, a movement coined by the Italian critic Germano Celant during the 1960s. His presence on the contemporary art scene has become canonical, as he is one of the few masters who has continued working at the forefront, contributing new forms of knowledge and understanding of the human spirit, with a force capable of transforming ways of thinking and reformulating them throughout history.
Labyrinth Without Walls is the new temporary exhibition at Es Baluard in Palma, an exhibition featuring the work of Jannis Kounellis, curated by David Barro, which will be on display from December 4th until August 30th, 2026. It offers for the first time a privileged look at the deep connection that unites Kounellis with the Mediterranean Sea.
Jannis Kounellis, Sense titol, 2013. Col·lecció r/e. © de l'obra, Jannis Kounellis, VEGAP, Illes Balears, 2025. Photography: Col·lecció r/e. Stefan Müller.
The project brings together Venetian sails, fragments of boats, and pieces created from Majorcan and Italian sails, establishing a subtle dialogue with the idea of displacement as a historical, vital, and aesthetic experience. This interpretation falls within the tradition of Arte Povera, a movement of which Kounellis was a key figure and which is reactivated here as a murmur that transcends time and geography.
The exhibition is a co-production with the Galician Center for Contemporary Art (CGAC) and features the collaboration of KEWENIG, Palma / Berlin, and the Kounellis Archive. A Se Baluarte Museo will be on view at Espacio A and the CGAC from September 25, 2026, to February 21, 2027, unfolding like a journey across shores and seasons.
Jannis Kounellis, Senza titolo (Albatross), 2001. Courtesy of Kewenig. © de l'obra, Jannis Kounellis, VEGAP, Illes Balears, 2025. Photography: Courtesy of Kewenig. Claudio Abete.
An itinerary that invites the viewer to delve into Kounellis's personal experience with Piraeus, the Mediterranean, mythology, origins, and cultural boundaries. The centerpiece of the exhibition is an imposing installation comprised of nine Venetian sails arranged in a fan shape. Dating from the 17th century to more recent times, these sails evoke the Mediterranean's maritime tradition and merchant culture, while simultaneously suggesting the disappearance of the poetic dimension of travel in an era marked by industrialization and globalization.
Kounellis presents a perspective in which the journey becomes a metaphor for transformation and the construction of meaning. The materials he uses, far from being mere forms, are containers of memory: they reveal how objects retain the marks of their past and make them visible in the present. This attention to material history allows us to read his work as a crossroads between experience and displacement, a space where cultural heritage is revisited with a critical sensibility that renews it and keeps it alive.
