Kapoor has decided to lay bare fifty years of creative obsessions. At the heart of the exhibition are around 100 architectural models (yes, there are 100: the whole exhibition feels like a studio): these are the artist’s dreams, his ‘miniature visions’. Some of these have since become world-famous steel giants — such as Chicago’s famous Cloud Gate, known to everyone as ‘the bean’ — whilst others have remained projects on paper, architectural utopias just waiting for the right moment to defy the laws of gravity. But don’t expect a simple archive for industry insiders: this exhibition is a brutal and fascinating head-to-head with the material itself.

But who is Anish Kapoor really? We might describe him as the contemporary sculptor who has changed the game of sculpture worldwide. Born in Mumbai but a Londoner at heart, Kapoor is the man who has appropriated the world’s deepest black (the famous Vantablack, complete with copyright) to create black holes in which the human eye loses its bearings, and he is the same artist who uses stainless steel as a distorting mirror to throw an unforeseen reality right in our faces. For him, art is not an object to hang on a wall, but a space to be invented from scratch. "To make new art, you have to create new space," is his mantra. And at Palazzo Manfrin, he puts it into practice with a radicalism that leaves you breathless.

Why must you absolutely go there? Because it is rare to witness such a vibrant, almost violent dialogue between Venice’s past and a dystopian future. Kapoor’s sculptures cannot be viewed from the safe distance of the average visitor: they draw you in, they reflect you, they force you to ask yourself whether what you see is real or merely a clever trick of your perception. Kapoor’s art is visceral, conveyed through the blood-red of his wax and the blinding light of his mirrored surfaces, compelling the viewer into constant physical interaction.

If you’re tired of the political messages (sometimes a bit heavy-handed, shall we say?) in the Art Biennale pavilions and are looking for something different, a visit to Cannaregio is a must. Palazzo Manfrin ceases to be merely a venue and becomes an alchemical laboratory.

In an age of digital imagery and augmented reality, Kapoor reminds us that the real revolution still takes place in physical space, where emptiness and matter collide. The challenge facing Palazzo Manfrin is not merely to host a retrospective, but to demonstrate – and how much we need it! – that Venice can still be the setting for a modernity that respects the past whilst looking towards new horizons of meaning.