Palazzo Pisani, San Marina, Calle del Erbe, Cannaregio 6103

Curated by Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland and Venice 2009 is a partnership project initiated by the Scottish Arts Council, British Council Scotland and National Galleries of Scotland.

In a series of new works that reference the constructed landscape, Martin Boyce transforms the fading grandeur of a 15th Century palazzo. ‘No Reflections’ collapses the interior and exterior space and echoes the labyrinthine nature of Venice, creating a heightened sense of displacement and abandonment.

'CÀ PISANI, SANTA MARINA, VENICE. June 1894' is the incidental inscription in the mottled pages of a found copy of 'The Story of the Nations'. This intense book by writer Alethea Wiel is perhaps one of the first to personify the picturesque tale of Venice's struggle and influence, beginning with the island as a source of refuge for those fleeing from the mainland. By coincidence the text was written in the exact location of Scotland and Venice 2009. The palazzo's fading grandeur and qualities of abandonment create a charged location for this solo presentation of Martin Boyce. The tensions between the sculpture and palazzo also recall the modernist work of Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa. As the title suggests the work does not reflect one specific context.

This concept of built and natural environment references earlier work developed by Martin Boyce for Münster Sculpture Project and for Kaldor Art Projects. In both instances new ideas are based on the photograph of four concrete trees created by Joël and Jan Martel for the 1925 "Exposition des Arts Décoratifs" in Paris. These trees, Boyce says, "represent a perfect collapse of architecture and nature" - visualising oppositional elements of urban existence: the natural versus the constructed, the populated versus the uninhabited, old versus new.

‘No Reflections’ has been conceived for the context of Venice and return to DCA.

The exhibition will be reconfigured for Dundee Contemporary Arts from 12 December 2009 - 14 February, 2010.