STATIC CINEMA 2026 in Venice: Recap and Press
ART-ICON · San Pietro – Cantieri del Contemporaneo · Venice
September 3–24, 2026
Following the selection of my photograph Between Heats for STATIC CINEMA 2026, the exhibition took place in Venice from September 3–24 at San Pietro – Cantieri del Contemporaneo, during the Venice International Film Festival and Biennale Arte.
Organized and produced by ART-ICON and curated by Danila Tkachenko and Slavica Veselinović, the second edition of Static Cinema explored the territory between photography and film — the ways a still image can imply movement, narrative, memory, and events extending beyond the boundaries of a single frame. Art-icon
Between Heats
Between Heats, 2026, captures a young swimmer during a pause in competition, turning toward something beyond the frame. Surrounded by partially obscured figures and activity, the moment remains unresolved: an ordinary interval transformed into a scene of anticipation.
Within the context of Static Cinema, the photograph reflects the exhibition’s central premise — that a single image can preserve one instant while suggesting both what came before and what may follow.
Exhibition Context
Static Cinema brought together artists working across documentary photography, portraiture, staged imagery, conceptual practice, cinema, and projection. The exhibition considered the inherent relationship between photography and film: cinema creates the illusion of movement through successive still frames, while a photograph can contain the suggestion of an unfolding narrative despite remaining fixed in time. The Edge Magazine
Participating artists included Lars von Trier, Julia Fullerton-Batten, Nick Zinner, Graziano Arici, Natalie Curtis, Bernis von zur Muehlen, Lindsay Elizabeth Warner, and others from an international group of established and emerging artists. E-zine
The exhibition was presented at San Pietro – Cantieri del Contemporaneo, a former Venetian shipyard adapted for contemporary visual art, at Castello 71 in Venice. MC2 Gallery
Press Coverage
Static Cinema received coverage across international and Italian arts media.
The Edge Magazine examined the exhibition’s central tension between still and moving imagery in “STATIC CINEMA: When the Image Refuses to Stand Still,” describing photography as capable of documenting an instant while leaving viewers to complete the narrative beyond it.
Read The Edge Magazine article
Artuu Magazine covered the exhibition’s dialogue between photography and cinema and its presentation within the former shipyard setting, with particular attention to artists including Julia Fullerton-Batten, Graziano Arici, Natalie Curtis, and Lars von Trier.
Read Artuu Magazine coverage
Notiziarte published further coverage during the exhibition, considering the project’s relationship between photography, moving imagery, memory, and narrative construction.
Read Notiziarte coverage
Additional coverage and listings appeared in Pikasus ArteNews, Artribune, Il Giardino della Cultura, and Corriere della Sera’s Style coverage of events surrounding the Venice Film Festival. Pikasus
Exhibition Details
Exhibition: STATIC CINEMA 2026
Organizer: ART-ICON
Curators: Danila Tkachenko and Slavica Veselinović
Venue: San Pietro – Cantieri del Contemporaneo
Location: Venice, Italy
Dates: September 3–24, 2026
Selected Work: Between Heats, 2026
Artist: Nicol Hockett