Casey Kaplan
Johanna Unzueta: Miracles of Plumbing opens April 24, 2026 at Galleria Finley, Casa Muraro: Research Center for Venetian Studies, 350 Dorsoduro, Venice.
Taking the intricacies of Venetian water systems as a point of departure, this solo exhibition by the acclaimed Chilean-born artist Johanna Unzueta brings together two distinct but related bodies of her work: hand-sewn felt faucets and indigo abstract drawings based on classical geometries. For the past three decades, Unzueta has investigated issues of labor, production, and gender through fiber-based sculptures that mimic building pipes and municipal drainage tubes. In her drawings, she uses textile tools such as embroidery hoops and needle pricks to create distinctively dazzling abstract imagery. On seas of aquatic blue, lines spiral and intersect to create delicate, optical fields. She employs hand-ground pigments in her works on paper that reference naturally occurring—and wondrously composed—patterns of plants.
For Galleria Finley at Casa Muraro, Unzueta has created a site-specific installation with fabric pipes that takes into consideration the unique challenges of Venice as a “miracle of plumbing” in which water, bodies, and resources are channeled and redirected. Seeing her cloth pipes together with her drawings showcases the artist’s interest in everyday feats of engineering across human and non-human realms.
Image:
Johanna Unzueta along with her sculpture Nel pomeriggio non ci serà la luna (2024)
Miracles of Plumbing is open Thursdays and Saturdays through July 18th, and is curated by Julia Bryan-Wilson.
For more information, please visit Casa Muraro’s website.