Within Venice’s serene Cannaregio district, innovative art foundation AMA VENEZIA offers local and international visitors a compelling new experience with contemporary art. Skillfully founded by Belgian collector and philanthropist Laurent Asscher, the foundation unfolds within a meticulously restored 10,000-square-foot former soap factory, revitalized as an experiential realm for vibrant presentations and critical conversations.
The foundation’s much-anticipated, inaugural show, “AMA COLLECTION,” features creations exclusively derived from the AMA Collection. Currently on view through June 28, visitors can look forward to riveting artworks by visionaries like Avery Singer, Brice Marden, David Hammons, Elizabeth Peyton, Florian Krewer, Jacqueline Humphries, Jeff Koons, Jordan Wolfson, Lauren Halsey, Mohammed Sami, Refik Anadol, Rudolf Stingel, Salman Toor, and Wade Guyton. Each work meditates on both the art of the human hand and the wonder of new technology.
Asscher’s vision for AMA VENEZIA is rooted not just in presenting art, but in preserving place. Discovered online in 2021, the former soap (and possibly glass) factory revealed 600-year-old ovens during renovations—testament to Venice’s layered history. Working with architect Alberto Torsello, Asscher rejected the sterile white cube model in favor of textured authenticity. Visitors move through a crescendo of spaces, from intimate chambers to a soaring final gallery, encountering works from gestural painters like Elizabeth Peyton to digital pioneers like Refik Anadol. ‘It’s about quality, not quantity,’ he says—AMA is free to visit, and fiercely focused on craft, curation, and conversation.
Whitewall had the opportunity to sit down with Asscher to discuss his voyage in art collecting, his sincere vision for a private turned public collection, and breathing new life into the contemporary art scene in Venice.
Laurent Asscher at AMA VENEZIA with Wade Guyton artwork, © Matteo de Mayda.
2025, AMA VENEZIA, Installation view of Elizabeth Peyton, “The Age of Innocence, 2007, oil on board; © De Pasquale+Maffini.
WW: What drew you to this particular historic space in Venice for AMA VENEZIA?
LAURENT ASSCHER: What I love is, you start with a small room and finish with the main room. It’s quite unique for Venice. Basically, you have two types of buildings. You have the palazzo and you have what I call the working building, and I wanted a building like that. I did not want a palazzo for many reasons. First of all, for logistics, to be able to show high-contemporary art, they are often very large. I found it on Idialista (online property search) in 2021 and had to wait for the owner’s vacation to finalize the deal.
The advantage of Cannaregio is it’s one of the unique places where there are still a lot of Venetians living there. And for a very long time in the 15th century, artists were working in Cannaregio. So it’s going back to its origins. We are not programming residencies, but the space is equipped for them if a good idea comes.
“For a very long time in the 15th century, artists were working in Cannaregio. So it’s going back to its origins,”
Laurent Asscher
The Evolution from Private Collection to Public Foundation
AMA installation view, © De Pasquale+Maffini.
WW: What shaped the evolution of your private collection into AMA?
LA: At the beginning when I started to collect, I was collecting artists like Basquiat. Then, when I learned more about art, I started to look at newer, younger artists. I think it’s very difficult to choose the younger artists. There are so many, and it’s not only a question of talent. If they don’t have good galleries or a good partner, it will be very difficult for them to emerge.
AMA will be 95% living artists. The idea is to show what they can do. It could be a commission, a group show, but we will show a rich legacy as an art institution. If you look at the Guggenheim, it was a private place and then became a public place.
Second is the size, which is very decentralized. Perhaps we will be more agile because of the size, be able to do more exhibitions, and special things. I come from the tech world and in the tech world the ecosystem is very important. I think in art it’s similar. If you’re in Venice and you have all these other foundations, it creates an ecosystem where people want to be in Venice, show in Venice, and it’s positive for everybody.
Everybody who is interested in culture goes to Venice on average every two, three years. And when you go to New York or Paris, you go to the exhibition and then you go back to work. In Venice, people will visit five, six, seven places for two, three days. So it’s a great place to be because people have time, and it’s small. You can do three exhibitions on the same day.
Showcasing Diverse Talent and Sparking New Dialogues at AMA VENEZIA
Installation view of Jordan Wolfson, “Female Figure,” 2014, mixed media; © Sebastiano Pellion di Persano.
WW: Interestingly, the Elizabeth Peyton painting was once on Whitewall’s cover in 2008. What vision or purpose drives your creation of AMA VENEZIA with artists such as Peyton?
LA: Basically we wanted to show how you can go from pure gesture, or pure painting, with artists like Elizabeth Peyton, or Mohammed Sami, to a pure digital artist like Refik or Jordan Wolfson. I thought it was interesting to show not just two types of art, but two types of techniques. One is not not one better than the other. People can have opinions, that’s normal. In the end, you have to evolve with your time. Even today, I have amazing contemporary art of gestural painting, and amazing art where a human hand has not touched it.
“I have amazing contemporary art of gestural painting, and amazing art where a human hand has not touched it,”
Laurent Asscher
WW: On the role of the foundation in today’s art world, how do you define it and what responsibility comes with opening such a space?
LA: I think collectors first buy an art piece and think of which wall to put it on. When they start to evolve it, they go from that stage to say, I need to share my collection. Because there’s no point in having your collection, being passionate about art, and keeping it just for yourself. So I think it’s a logical evolution when you’re a collector to go from a super private collection to a sharing collection. I think all of these foundations in the world now are really about sharing, and giving possibilities to artists. You have more and more artists, it is more and more complicated to install and to show because of the sizes, I think the more places you have the better it is.
“I think all of these foundations now in the world are really about sharing, and giving possibilities to artists,”
Laurent Asscher
The advantage of Venice is that it is not an expensive place in terms of real estate. The Grand Canal is very expensive. But if you’re not on the Grand Canal, compared to any other city in the world, and with the audience of Venice, it’s a very inexpensive place. And Venice is a logistic city from the 14th century, the city is very well organized.
WW: What kind of engagement or dialogue do you hope to inspire?
LA: If I have a choice between a big artwork, very commercial, that could bring a lot of visitors, but not the best quality, and a better quality work, but maybe more difficult for people to understand, I will go with the better quality work. I will always go quality over quantity.
“I will always go quality over quantity,”
Laurent Asscher
We start with a group show where I show my collection. And then after we will go to a single show for artists, or something very thematic. It doesn’t have to be my collection, it can be work that people lend to us, or within what we do with other galleries or museums. The space is free, people don’t have to pay for tickets, what’s important to me is not the number of visitors but that people love the space.
Collaborating with Venetian Architect Alberto Torsello
Installation view of Jeff Koons, “Hulk Elvis Serie (Rock),” 2004-2013; © Sebastiano Pellion di Persano.
WW: Can you speak about the collaboration with Alberto Torsello?
LA: Alberto Torsello is one of the most important architects in Venice. He’s Venetian. From the first minute he saw the building, he said we should change only what needs to be changed. So we changed the floor, because we had no choice, but we did not change the wall. We did not change the roof, just restored it. That was the spirit of how we did it. He wanted people to feel like it’s an old historical building from Venice. We found 600-year-old ovens while digging, maybe it was a glass factory before a soap factory.
“Alberto Torsello is one of the most important architects in Venice,”
Laurent Asscher
I worked very well with him because he did my apartment in Venice, so it’s not the first project that we did together. He will never make a decision that lets us forget where the building comes from.
AMA VENEZIA in Conversation with Leading Art Foundations and the Venice Biennale
2025, AMA VENEZIA, installation view of Mohammed Sami “Family Issues,” 2022, mixed media on linen; © De Pasquale+Maffini.
WW: How do places like Glenstone and Dyer resonate with you?
LA: Glenstone is my favorite private foundation in the world. I think it’s an amazing place. I love what they collect. I love what they do. I will say we’re not in the same league. It’s another scale. It’s huge. It’s inspiring to me in terms of details, quality of the collection, quality of what you show. Dyer is an historical place, an amazing place. The challenge, and this is why I didn’t want too big of a place, is that you need to have the quality to show. Because of the size, we will be more agile, and do smaller or medium-sized projects.
What we want to do outside the Biennale is one exhibition per year. The year of the Biennale should be like a six months exhibition, roughly depending on the dates. There will be a platform to do the best show every year with a link to my collection. So to have the best show, we need to do residencies, as well as collaborations with museums and galleries. There are no rules.
