MILAN (AP) — Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn created a splash on the sidelines of the Venice Biennale contemporary art fair two years ago with a gigantic sculpture of a child's hands reaching out of the Grand Canal, calling attention to climate change that threatens, among other things, to sink the lagoon city.

For this edition, Quinn has created a successor sculpture that he wants to be a call to action: Six pairs of clasping hands creating a bridge over a Venetian waterway, symbolic of the need to overcome divisions. "Building Bridges" will be officially unveiled on Friday with a performance by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, the day before the Biennale opens its six-month run.

Quinn told The Associated Press his message is that "humanity has never grown by creating barriers."