Punta della Dogana

Sister-space to the Palazzo Grassi gallery, this extraordinary venue opened in June 2009 after a long, fraught struggle over who to assign the immense historic bonded warehouses to, and over aspects of what was a controversial makeover by Japanese archi-star Tadao Ando. The Punta is designed to provide a showcase for a changing selection of pieces from the private collection of French magnate Francois Pinault, one of the world's leading collectors of contemporary art. 

The Punta's inaugural exhibition dragged on until January 2011 – too long for many contemporary art-lovers who were soon eager for a glimpse of more novelties from Pinault's collection. But however you feel about the items on show (and I can't say I love them all...) there's no getting away from the fact that what Ando has done to this space – looking across to St Mark's on one side and the Giudecca on the other – is quite staggeringly impressive.