The seven Heavenly Places

“The seven heavenly places” is a permanent, site-specific installation by Anselm Kiefer at Hangar Bicocca in Milan.

A post-apocalyptic scenery that reaches into the archetypes and deepest roots of our western culture with concrete broken towers sprouting out of a solid, yet grainy ground.

A window to a shady future where all life has turned to dust and every work is silenced.

I visited in 2014, shot these photos of Kiefer’s monumental work and made some attempt at ICM. I recently had a chance to think back on this and decided to fish out the photos.

The next batch is from Kiefer most recent site-specific work at Palazzo Ducale in Venice. This man gets me every time. The photos are made with a smartphone, still I decided to pair the two.

In front of the Venice piece the emotion was real and violent and probably impossible to convey. My heart broke and some slivers were left there.

Milan, Feb. 2014
Venice, Dec. 2022