In Piazza San Marco, the façade of the Procuratie becomes a mosaic of stories but also of absences. From September 3 to 7, 2025, the installation Dreams in Transit brings one hundred black-and-white portraits of migrants, all photographed from behind, to the heart of Venice. A simple yet powerful gesture that holds within it both the memory of departure and the anticipation of a new future.

Curated by Art for Action and inspired by Inside Out by JR, the work uses the monumentality of the Procuratie as a collective canvas, transforming it into a stage dedicated to identity, belonging, and inclusion. The unseen gazes become an invitation to set out on a journey, to imagine a shared path that transcends borders and boundaries.

The initiative is part of the After Migration program, launched during the Architecture Biennale, and dialogues with the project For Refugees by The Human Safety Net, active since 2017 in supporting thousands of refugees in six countries through training and entrepreneurship.

The full exhibition can be visited until March 15, 2026, at the Casa of The Human Safety Net, also in Piazza San Marco. Here, different languages and perspectives intersect: the video Echoes of Dreams by Sarah Makharine, the photographs of Leila Alaoui, the visions of Ange Leccia, and the installation The Babel Tower by Lorraine de Sagazan and Anouk Maugein.

Not just art: on September 4, a conference will be held by the International Panel on Social Progress, with associations and experts invited to reflect on the future of migration. On the same day, parallel to the Venice Film Festival, the short film Sweet Refuge by director Maryam Mir, already internationally awarded, will be screened, followed by a debate with producer Anadil Hossain.

Dreams in Transit does not simply bring images into the urban space: it suspends them over one of the world’s most iconic squares, asking passersby to look beyond the surface and to recognize in the dreams of migrants an essential part of both our present and our future.