Italian
On Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9, the artwork travels on a boat along the city’s canals to allow citizens to admire it, thanks to Banca Ifis
Venice – After months of restoration, The Migrant child, ‘the migrant child‘ that the street artist Banksy created on the wall of a building in Campo San Pantalon on the night between May 8 and 9, 2019, returns to Venice.
One of the two well-known works of the British artist in Italy, destined to disappear with the high tide (the placement of the work was not random) has been saved by the intervention of Banca Ifis, which purchased the building, the artwork, and financed its restoration.
The presentation symbolically took place during the 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, the same context in which Banksy created the work seven years ago, at the Arsenale’s halls.
With the interventions of the President of the Regional Council of Veneto, Luca Zaia, the Nobel Peace Prize winner (2014) Kailash Satyarthi, and the former Undersecretary of Culture Vittorio Sgarbi, who strongly promoted the restoration of the Banksy during his term.
This completes the journey started by Banca Ifis in 2023, after responding to the joint call launched by the Ministry of Culture, the City of Venice, and the Veneto Region. In the meantime, the safety measures for the building, the removal of The Migrant Child, and the commencement of restoration works, which are still affecting the building itself, have taken place.
A work for everyone
On the days of yesterday and today, Saturday, May 9th, the artwork will travel on a boat along the city’s canals to allow citizens to admire it.
Subsequently, once the restoration of Palazzo San Pantalon is completed, The Migrant Child will be relocated to its original position on the wall of Palazzo San Pantalon and permanently returned to the community. It will still take some time as the restoration of the palace is extremely complex, given the state of deep decay it was in.
“With the rescue of Banksy’s Migrant Child, we wanted to respond concretely to the institutions’ call, taking on a responsibility that we feel deeply ours: to preserve and make accessible a heritage that is both artistic and civic,” said the president of Banca Ifis Ernesto Fürstenberg Fassio. “Urban art, with its direct and immediate force, is a valuable tool for interpreting reality and bringing urgent themes of our time into the public space. And it is right here, in Venice, an open city and a historical symbol of dialogue between different worlds, that this message finds its most authentic expression.”
Luca Zaia defined the president of Banca Ifis Zaia as “a visionary, a contemporary patron.” Vittorio Sgarbi recalled the complexity, including bureaucratic aspects, of the intervention: “This work by Banksy enters the history of art. It was necessary for this story not to dissolve. It is a work for everyone. The palace thus becomes a monument, due to an unexpected decoration.”
The choice of the restorer was conservative: the work was not returned as it was created in 2019, but consolidated in the state it was in at the time of detachment for preservation.
