European Cultural Centre Italy to Present Intimate Unthinkables, an Exhibition of Work by Adrian Elisheva Parr Zaretsky (A.Z) and Liu Shiming
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May 9 - November 22, 2026
Palazzo Mora, Strada Nova, 3659, 30121 Venezia, Italy
Adrian Parr Zaretsky, No Name #2, 2025, watercolor, pencil, pastel and soil on paper, 18 x 24 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
Venice, Italy, March 10th, 2026 — The European Cultural Centre Italy is pleased to announce
Intimate Unthinkables, a two-person exhibition featuring contemporary artist Adrian Elisheva Parr
Zaretsky (A.Z) and Chinese sculptor Liu Shiming (1926-2010). On view from May 9 to November 22, 2026, at Palazzo Mora in Venice, the exhibition runs concurrently with the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
Intimate Unthinkables is one of three exhibitions comprising ECC Italy Personal Structures 2026, the eighth edition of its biennial survey of contemporary art. Produced in collaboration with the Liu Shiming Art Foundation, the exhibition is curated by A.Z and brings into dialogue two artists whose practices, though separated by geography, generation, and political context, converge in their sustained attention to intimacy, tenderness, and the poetics of daily life.
Across sculpture and works on paper and canvas, Intimate Unthinkables considers imagination and intimacy as generative tools, means of bridging distance and forming connections across time and space. Both artists turn toward the domestic and the quotidian not as retreat, but as a site of quiet resistance. In their hands, small gestures—an embrace, a shared glance, a solitary figure—become expansive meditations on vulnerability, attachment, and resilience.
Though working decades apart, A.Z and Liu share a commitment to rendering interior worlds visible. Liu’s sculptures, created in 20th-century China amid profound social transformation, often depict couples, families, and laborers with understated warmth and psychological nuance. A.Z’s contemporary works on paper and canvas—layered with watercolor, pencil, pastel, and soil—explore the emotional and material qualities of the body, positioning intimacy as both related to physicality and memory.
Liu Shiming, In Love, 1983, bronze, 41.5×40.8×32 cm. Image courtesy of Liu Shiming Art Foundation.
Installed at Palazzo Mora, the exhibition unfolds through three pairings of works by the two artists, each juxtaposition highlighting affinities in form and feeling despite differences in medium and scale. A.Z’s No Name #2 (2025) will be presented alongside Liu’s intimate ceramic sculpture In Love (1983). While materially distinct, both works foreground touch and proximity, framing tenderness as an active, deliberate stance. In this dialogue, intimacy becomes not sentimentality but agency, a subtle yet insistent counter-narrative to histories marked by division.
By situating these works within the broader international context of Venice in parallel with La
Biennale, Intimate Unthinkables invites audiences to reconsider the political and aesthetic force of
closeness. The exhibition proposes that the most private gestures, those often left unspoken or
unseen, can carry profound cultural resonance rooted in care, reciprocity, and the sustaining power of human connection.
About Adrian Elisheva Parr Zaretsky (A.Z)
A.Z is an internationally recognized philosopher, cultural thinker, and creative practitioner. She
currently serves as a UNESCO Chair on Water and Human Settlements, as the Dean of the College of Design at the University of Oregon, and as a Senior Fellow of DesignIntelligence. Prior to joining the University of Oregon, she served as the Dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington, and as the Director of the Taft Research Center at the University of Cincinnati. She has produced two award-winning documentaries, Thirsty and Drowning in America and The Intimate Realities of Water, directed in collaboration with Sean Hughes. Her video works, A Tale of Three Rocks and Watershed Urbanism have both received multiple honors at art film festivals in the United States and Europe. Her artistic works have been internationally and nationally reviewed and featured in design and news publications such as Dezeen, Domus, Observer, among others.
About Liu Shiming
Liu Shiming (1926-2010) is a revered Chinese artist whose works have had a distinct impact on the course of modern Chinese sculpture. Born in Tianjin, Liu attended the prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing where he was part of the first generation of sculptors trained by the People’s Republic of China to study both traditional Chinese art and French modernist principles. He continued to create and exhibit his sculpture in China until his death. Less than decade later, Liu’s sculpture began to be shown outside of China, appearing in public spaces and special exhibitions, notably at the Oculus in New York City and the Asian Cultural Center in Washington, DC. More recently, he has shown in university galleries and museums throughout the US and Canada, with exhibitions planned for Europe in the next year. His works are in the permanent collections of the American University in Cairo, Egypt; Czech National Museum in Prague; Georgia State University, Atlanta; Henan Art Museum, Zhengzhou, China; Macaulay Honors College in New York City; and the National Art Museum of China and the National Museum of Chinese History in Beijing.
About the European Cultural Centre
The European Cultural Centre, founded by the Dutch artist Rene Rietmeyer in 2002, creates dynamic cultural centres worldwide devoted to generating exchange through organizing international art and architecture exhibitions, symposia, and a wide range of cultural projects. ECC’s goal is to create awareness, strengthen cultural commons, cherish uniqueness, and learn about the qualities within differences. ECC believes that progress is best made by creating a deeper awareness about the serious challenges facing the world today. personalstructures.com
About the ECC Italy
European Cultural Centre Italy (ECC Italy), based in Venice, is part of the non-profit association ECC Worldwide, based in the Netherlands. In Venice, it operates within the fields of art, architecture, and design. The organisation strives to create dynamic exhibition spaces that foster the exchange of ideas across cultures. ECC Italy’s core activities include cultural projects, planning exhibitions, publications, videos, and educational programmes. In addition, it restores and cares for historic venues, opening them to the public free of charge and sharing art, culture, and beauty with everyone.
For media inquiries, please contact:
ECC Italy Press Office:
Blue Medium
Max Kruger-Dull
+1.212.675.1800
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