The new intervention by JR in Venice, Il Gesto, starts from an iconic image – The Wedding at Cana by Paolo Veronese – and brings it into the present. The Renaissance masterpiece becomes a contemporary device, capable of telling real stories instead of biblical scenes. For one week, the work unfolds across the façade of Palazzo Ca’ da Mosto, from the Grand Canal to the Piano Nobile, moving between public and private space. It then continues inside The Venice Venice Hotel as an immersive installation.

The scene replaces the biblical figures with 176 members of the Refettorio Paris; guests, volunteers, and chefs. Not symbols, but real people. The miracle changes: no longer religious, but human, when hardship turns into shared experience. Refettorio Paris welcomes people facing difficult circumstances every evening as honored guests, building a cultural experience around food. Here, one rule is clear: no photographs of the guests. In Il Gesto, only those who chose to participate appear, maintaining their identity and voice.

As in the Chronicles, every figure is in focus, without hierarchy. The image becomes a shared space where every presence matters equally. The project connects different trajectories: San Giorgio Maggiore Island, where Veronese’s work originated and the site of Omelia Contadina, and Paris, with the Refettorio. In between, the Louvre Museum, where the painting is now held.