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In the year of the Winter Olympics 2026, Berggruen Arts & Culture presents the spectacular installation Eisfeld II by internationally renowned artist Olaf Nicolai.

Eisfeld II is a 100-square-meter skating rink which will be located in the Palazzo’s frescoed grand banqueting hall on the first floor. The environmental installation uses new sustainable technology that simulates ice and is accompanied by a soundtrack that invites visitors to enjoy an alienating sensory experience while in an enclosed space.

First presented in 2001 at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Zurich, Eisfeld is now reinterpreted for Palazzo Diedo, immersed in an imposing Baroque atmosphere and created using advanced technologies. Olaf Nicolai renews the debate on the function of cultural institutions.

Nicolai’s two lightboxes ENJOY/SURVIVE (I & II), located at either end of the rink, invite visitors to reflect on the delicate balance between "Pleasure" and "Survival", transforming the skating experience into a sensory and conceptual meditation.

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Olaf Nicolai, born in Halle/Saale in 1962, is one of Germany's leading artists. He works conceptually and breaks new ground in detaching art from the classical forms of representation and marketing. He links art with reflections on markets and materialism, with memories and archival material, and with settings from everyday life. He creates artificial landscapes and urban sceneries, enlarges consumer goods into the gigantic and works with alienated advertising graphics. Nicolai often incorporates scientific findings into his concepts. His fascination with mathematical models, universal algorithms, symbolism, and regular patterns is evident in many of his installations.