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28.08.2024

From restoration to valorization | Guided tours

 
1/4 Fondazione Alberto Peruzzo, Nero Oro, 2024. Photo: Ugo Carmeni
2/4 Fondazione Alberto Peruzzo, Fresco Fragments, 14th century
3/4 Fondazione Alberto Peruzzo, Hypogeum, 2023. Photo: Chiara Rigato
4/4 Fondazione Alberto Peruzzo,Hypogeum, 2023. Photo: HMG
Guided tour
On the occasion of the exhibition Nero Oro curated by Riccardo Caldura ( 6th Apr. – 13th Oct.) the public will also be guaranteed free use of the state-owned historical-artistic finds currently set up in the Hypogeum, on Wednesday mornings from 11 am to 2 pm .
The first guided tour scheduled for Wednesday 18th August at 11am with reservations required while places last. It will therefore be necessary to register for each appointment and indicate the number of participants and a telephone number to the institutional mailbox of Dr. Debora Tosato (debora.tosato@cultura.gov.it).

Archive

08.05.2024 – 29.05.2024

Events | A Love Supreme Festival

 
Events

A Love Supreme is a monthly event dedicated to avant-garde music. The hosted artists will perform solo or small ensembles, taking advantage of the acoustic characteristics of Nuova Sant’Agnese. A project created in collaboration with the Gemma Association founded in 2018 made up of musicians, artisans and urban planners/architects.

Nuova Sant’Agnese
via Dante 63, 35139 – Padova
Free admission

For information
Send an email to alovesupremefestival@gmail.com
phone +39 3485632840

05.04.2024

Opening | Plessi, Nero Oro

 
1/7 Fabrizio Plessi, Nero Oro, Opening 5th April 2024. Photo: Chiara Rigato
2/7 Fabrizio Plessi, Nero Oro, Opening 5th April 2024. Photo: Chiara Rigato
3/7 Fabrizio Plessi, Nero Oro, Opening 5th April 2024. Photo: Chiara Rigato
4/7 Fabrizio Plessi, Nero Oro, Opening 5th April 2024. Photo: Marco Albertini
5/7 Fabrizio Plessi, Nero Oro, Opening 5th April 2024. Photo: Marco Albertini
6/7 Fabrizio Plessi, Nero Oro, Opening 5th April 2024. Photo: Marco Albertini
7/7 Fabrizio Plessi, Nero Oro, Opening 5 April 2024. Photo: Chiara Rigato
Events

The monograph dedicated to Fabrizio Plessi was inaugurated on Friday 5 April in Nuova Sant’Agnese. Visitable from Wednesday to Sunday from 11:00 to 19:00, the evocative environment of the former sacred building meets the recurring elements of Black and Gold that characterize the entire exhibition space. For the first time all the exhibition spaces (Nave, Sacristy and Hypogeum) are linked by a single common thread unfolding through video installations, drawings and sculptures.

Credits and acknowledgements

Design and set up| Voxel studio
Editing video | Daniele Orfano
Photos | Chiara Rigato
Press| Lara Facco Press

12.02.2024

Talks | Alberto Biasi and Esther Stocker

 
1/5 Talk Alberto Biasi and Esther Stocker, marzo 2024. Photo: Alvise Busetto
2/5 Talk Alberto Biasi and Esther Stocker, marzo 2024. Photo: Alvise Busetto  
3/5 Talk Alberto Biasi and Esther Stocker, marzo 2024. Photo: Alvise Busetto
4/5 Talk Alberto Biasi and Esther Stocker, marzo 2024. Photo: Alvise Busetto
5/5 Talk Alberto Biasi and Esther Stocker, marzo 2024. Photo: Alvise Busetto
Meetings

The second meeting dedicated to A mental scenario and Warps of rationality was held at Nuova Sant’Agnese, organized by the FAI Delegation of Padua in collaboration with the Foundation. Two events dedicated to contemporary art and the discovery of its languages.

Monday 12 February at 5.30pm
A dialogue with Guido Bartorelli, professor of Art History at the University of Padua, who retraced the experiments (starting from the 1960s) in the optical, kinetic and neo-constructivist world.

Friday 1 March at 5pm
Second appointment with Alberto Biasi and Esther Stocker. Two generations compared who talk about their artistic experiments, stories and ideas; the meeting was led by the curator of the exhibition Riccardo Caldura and on this occasion he presented the latest notebook (Notebook series) dedicated to the current exhibitions.

 

Acknowledgements

Delegazione FAI of Padua
Riccardo Caldura
Esther Stocker
Alberto Biasi Archive
Marta Previti

23.12.2023

Side by Side – Lilium SoundArt

 
1/7 Performance Side by Side, credit: Lilium Sound Art, December 2023
2/7 Performance Side by Side, credit: Lilium Sound Art, December 2023
3/7 Performance Side by Side, credit: Lilium Sound Art, December 2023
4/7 Performance Side by Side, credit: Lilium Sound Art, December 2023
5/7 Performance Side by Side, credit: Lilium Sound Art, December 2023
6/7 Performance Side by Side, credit: Lilium Sound Art,  December 2023
7/7 Performance Side by Side, credit: Lilium Sound Art, December 2023
Events

On Saturday 23 December, the artistic performance of the Lilium Sound Art Association was presented inside the nave of the former church with the patronage of the Department of Culture of Padua.

Side by Side – contamination of the Arts, consists of two synesthetic events, between ancient art and contemporary languages, an immersion in the arts in two museums in Padua. Original artistic performances dialogued with the Nuova Sant’Agnese and the Museo Civico Eremitani of Padua, two spaces full of history and at the same time aimed at the contemporary.

Side by Side refers not only to the union between performing arts and visual arts, but also to the way in which the performances are enjoyed, where the public had the opportunity to experience the exhibition space accompanied by the interpretations of young talents. A multisensory experience in which participants were invited to enjoy the performances as a transfigurative event of the works available to them. A project involving artists from the United Kingdom and Austria, who involved you with original performances, in the first Italian performance.

Link

Video

16.11.2023 – 19.11.2023

Padua Jazz Festival

 
Events

The Padova Jazz Festival is organized by the Miles Cultural Association with the contribution of the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Municipality of Padua and the support of the Ministry of Culture.

The Padova Jazz Festival 2023 is as multifaceted in its artistic choices as in the places that host them: a variety of expressions of jazz culture summarizes the history of the festival, which this year celebrates the milestone of its twenty-fifth edition. There will be numerous stages of the festival: from the most prestigious venues for Paduan music and places with a strong architectural connotation including the former Church of Sant’Agnese.

Program

Information

10.11.2023

Opening A mental scenario and Warps of rationality

 
1/7 Opening 10.11, Esther Stocker. A mental scenario and  Wraps of rationality, Photo: Alvise Busetto
2/7 Opening 10.11, Esther Stocker. A mental scenario and  Wraps of rationality, Photo: Alvise Busetto
3/7 Opening 10.11, Esther Stocker. A mental scenario and  Wraps of rationality, Photo: Alvise Busetto
4/7 Opening 10.11, Esther Stocker. A mental scenario and  Wraps of rationality, Photo: Alvise Busetto
5/7 Opening 10.11, Esther Stocker. A mental scenario and  Wraps of rationality, Photo: Alvise Busetto
6/7 Opening 10.11, Esther Stocker. A mental scenario and  Wraps of rationality, Photo: Alvise Busetto
7/7 Opening 10.11, Esther Stocker. A mental scenario and  Wraps of rationality, Photo: Alvise Busetto
Events

The inauguration of the latest exhibition proposal which closes the season in the Nuova Sant’Agnese was held on Friday 10 November. “Esther Stocker. A mental scenario” and “Wraps of rationality” curated by Riccardo Caldura will inhabit the spaces of the Nave and Sacristy of the Foundation until March 2024. Esther Stocker’s black and white canvases and geometries enter into dialogue with the second exhibition, an international collective where the works from the Foundation’s collection dialogue with important works from public and private collections exhibited for the first time in the Nuova Sant’Agnese .

Link

14.10.2023 – 15.10.2023

FAI days

 
Events

The FAI autumn days are back throughout Italy on 14 and 15 October. During the weekend, special visits will be offered to hundreds of places with the aim of promoting and enhancing the cultural sites of our country.

For this occasion the Alberto Peruzzo Foundation will open the Nuova Sant’Agnese to tell the story and restoration of the ancient medieval church. Over the two days it will be possible to access the spaces with a guided tour, discover the foundation’s modern and contemporary art collection and participate by reservation in the collateral events organized within the spaces.

Events

14.10 at 5.00 pm talk with Alessia Glaviano, Head of Global PhotoVogue and Director of PhotoVogue Festival. Topic: art and artificial intelligence.

15.10 at 5.00 pm talk with the President Alberto Peruzzo. A moment of discussion to talk about heritage recovery, contemporary art and the Nuova Sant’Agnese project.

Admission

Free admission from 10.00 am to 6.30 pm

More informations on
FAI – Fondo Ambiente Italiano

14.10.2023

Art and image in the era of the algorithm

 
Events

Dreams are among the most spontaneous expressions of human existence. Although they have been the subject of studies for more than a century, there remains an aura of mystery regarding their activation and functioning mechanisms. But dreams are also related to the concept of creativity, and the processing processes that concern them closely resemble creative processes. Onirica () by fuse*, transforming the stories linked to dreams into a flow of moving images, thanks to the use of automatic learning algorithms capable of translating textual content into images, poses some questions. To what extent can artificial intelligence help us understand typically human phenomena? How do algorithms and creativity interact? How is the creative industry (cinema, photography, literature above all) changing? Originality versus standardization, amazement versus alarm, new opportunities for artists versus risks: these are just some of the polarizing themes that have emerged in recent times.

07.10.2023

GDC 19 – Contempoary Art days

 

Binta Diaw per la Diciannovesima Giornata del Contemporaneo, Pa(y)sage Corporel, 2023

Events

Contemporary Day returns on Saturday 7 October 2023, the event promoted by AMACI – Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums and carried out with the support of the General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture and the collaboration of the General Directorate for Public Diplomacy and Cultural Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Contemporary Art Day involves museums, foundations, public and private institutions, galleries, studios and artist spaces throughout the national territory, recounting the vitality of contemporary art in our country.

Link

03.10.2023

Lesson with Giovanni Bianchi

 
Meetings

Today at the Nuova Sant’Agnese a new meeting with the students of the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Padua accompanied by Giovanni Bianchi, professor of History of Contemporary Art.

A renewed opportunity to raise awareness of the church’s exhibition spaces and the ongoing temporary exhibition Onirica (), an audiovisual installation curated by fuse* created in collaboration with the Foundation.

27.09.2023

Guided visit – Notturni Padovani

 

Hypogeum, Roman road, photo: Marco Furio Magliani

Events

The “Notturni Padovani” are back, evenings dedicated to the cultural and tourist proposals of the different areas of Padua. The initiative is carried out thanks to the collaboration between the Culture Department of the Municipality of Padua and the Padua Tourist Promotion Consortium.

Via Dante is an ancient street, already called Stra’ Maggiore, among the busiest in the city, because who entered from Ponte Molino passed through it and numerous noble families lived there. In Roman times it was the Cardo Maximus that crossed the ancient Medoacus river with the Roman bridge (Ponte Molino). The walk along Via Dante will give the opportunity to know the ancient city through archaeological finds, stories of roads and travels, rivers and bridges, palaces, towers and churches.

Link

15.09.2023

Onirica () Opening

 
1/7 Speech by Giovanni Bianchi
2/7 Opening Onirica (), 15th September
3/7 Opening Onirica (), 15th September
4/7 Audiovisual installation, Onirica (), 2023
5/7 Audiovisual installation, Onirica (), 2023
6/7 Audiovisual installation, Onirica (), 2023
7/7 Audiovisual installation, Onirica (), 2023
Events

The exhibition Onirica () curated by fuse* was inaugurated on Friday 15 September at the New Saint Agnes, created in collaboration with the Foundation, which on this occasion underlines the connection with the city of Padua and its scientific tradition where studies related to psychology and perception have often met with the world of art. Partecipated to the opening: Miranda Occhionero, head of the Laboratory of Psychophysiology of Sleep and Dreams “M. Bosinelli” of the University of Bologna, thanks to which it was possible to develop a project that linked the scientific approach with the creative mutability of dream activity and Giovanni Bianchi professor of History of Contemporary Art at the University of Padua.

04.07.2023 – 15.07.2023

Kounellis and the sketches of the work Resistenza e Liberazione

 
Projects

From July 4, some preparatory sketches made on paper by Jannis Kounellis for the realization of the work Resistance and Liberation, were temporarily exhibited until the end of the fist exhibition in the New Saint Agnes. 

For the first time, thanks to the collaboration of the University of Padua General Archive, it was possible to visit the sketch on paper realized by the artist in the New Saint Agnes.

The relationship with the artist began in 2021 when the president Alberto Peruzzo decided to restore the site-specific work Resistenza e Liberazione (Resistance and Liberation) made by the artist in 1995, in the prestigious Palazzo del Bo (Bo Palace), venue of the University of Padua. After the restoration, the foundation realized in collaboration with the university the notebook that tells about the history, the artist and the restoration after 25 years from the inauguration.  

Among the objectives of the foundation there is the recovery and enhancement of the cultural heritage and the territory, in fact, the recovery of the work of Jannis Kounellis is not a random choice; today the foundation has chosen to permanently place a work by the artist in the position of the former altar of the New Sant’Agnese, destined to become the symbol of the former sacred place.

Acknowledgement

The University of Padua
Carlo Manfredi of the University of Padua Archive
Professor Guido Bartorelli
Dott. Chiara Marin

Dir. of the Venice Academy of Fine Art, Riccardo Caldura
Soprintendenza Archeologica e Belle Arti  e Paesaggio per l’area metropolitana di Venezia e le province di Belluno, Padova e Treviso

Correlati

04.07.2023

Notebook Series. I Quaderni della Fondazione

 
1/5 The speech of Riccardo Caldura, July 2023.
2/5 Notebook series presentation, July 2023.
3/5 Notebooks series, July 2023.
4/5 Notebooks series, July 2023.
5/5 Notebooks series presentation , July 2023.
Events

On Tuesday 4th July at 6.30 pm the Notebook series of the Foundation was officially presented at the New Saint Agnes; an editorial project, which began in September 2021 with the aim to talk about the cultural activities and projects promoted by the Alberto Peruzzo Foundation in synergy with the local area.

First of all was the notebook dedicated to the restoration of the site-specific work made by Jannis Kounellis Resistenza e liberazione  located in the  Cortile Nuovo of Palazzo del Bo, commisionned by the University to the artist in 1995. This is follow the second pubblication Ante-Poster. Dichiarazione di uno spazio realized in collaboration with Multiplo Studio, which tells about the transofrmation process of Saint Agnes church through the creation of six artist posters which for about seven months followed one another in the windows of the future bookshop of the Foundation. The third notebook was born in collaboration with the University of Padua and tells the story of Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia  and the monument restoration dedicated to her figure in occasion of the anniversary (800 years) of the University. In this occasion was presented the last notebook dedicated to the first exhibition in the New Saint Agnes (Nuova Sant’Agnese) curated by Riccardo Caldura, director of the Venice Academy of Fine Arts.

Relatori

President Alberto Peruzzo
Director Marco Trevisan
Curator of the exhibition Riccardo Caldura
Professor Guido Bartorelli
Prorector of Cultural Heritage Monica Salvadori
Professor Tiziana Plebani

23.05.2023

5 Lessons on restoration

 
Events

On 25.05, the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Padua held the last of a cycle of lessons dedicated to the restoration and site-specific work Resistenza e Liberazione (Resistance and Liberation) by Jannis Kounellis from 1995 realized in the Cortile Nuovo of Palazzo del Bo, historic seat of the University of Padua. The restoration carried out in 2021 thanks to the support of the Foundation was a careful maintenance and recovery of the work in compliance with the artist’s intentions in order to guarantee its physical integrity and the transmission of its historical and symbolic value in the future.

19.05.2023

Lesson in Saint Agnes

 
Meetings

The foundation had the opportunity to host some of the Cultural Heritage students of the University of Padua in the New Saint Agnes. Accompanied by the professor Guido Bartorelli, the students visited the exhibition space, an opportunity to observe thanks to the intervention of Director Marco Trevisan, the modern and contemporary art collection of the Foundation, the restoration and the history of the ‘building.

 

15.05.2023

Cultural map – Arte del Novecento

 
Projects

The New Saint Agnes becomes part of the Arte del Novecento network, a project created in collaboration with the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Padua which provides for the first time the distribution on the territory of a map dedicated to a #20th century art itinerary in Padua.

31.03.2023

Opening New Saint Agnes

 
Events

Finalmente il 31 marzo 2023, dopo un lungo percorso, siamo giunti all’inaugurazione di un nuovo spazio dedicato all’arte nell’ex-chiesa di Sant’Agnese. Si tratta di un luogo di culto molto amato dai padovani, risalente al 1100. In quest’ottica il progetto espositivo Uno spazio ritrovato. Opere storiche e contemporanee nella Nuova Sant’Agnese rappresenta in maniera esemplare l’impegno nel far convivere passato, presente e futuro da una parte, sacro e quotidiano dall’altra, in chiave artistica. La realizzazione di questa mostra segna il compimento di un lungo percorso, iniziato molti anni fa con i primi progetti legati all’arte che da oggi vive una nuova entusiasmante fase grazie alla possibilità di concentrare le attività in una chiesa sconsacrata che diventa la nostra cattedrale dell’arte.

Ringraziamenti

Soprintendenza Archeologica, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per l’Area Metropolitana di Venezia e le Province di Belluno, Padova e Treviso
Il Sindaco Sergio Giordani
L’Assessore alla Cultura Andrea Colasio
Il curatore della mostra Riccardo Caldura
Coloro che hanno lavorato al recupero e restauro della chiesa

Crediti

Foto: Hub Media Agency

Correlati

01.12.2021 – 11.07.2022

Ante—Poster

 
1/6 Ante—Poster 06, Marc Nagtzaam, This Variation/ The Same Arguments, 2021
2/6 Ante—Poster 05, Serena Fineschi, Ingannare l’attesa (about Rothko), Trash Series, 2021
3/6 Ante—Poster 04, Esther Stocker, Senza titolo, 2021
4/6 Ante—Poster 03. Giulia Siviero, Full Coverage Painting, 2020
5/6 Ante—Poster 02. Susanne Kutter, The “Even Given” on Her Way Through the Suez Canal, 2020
6/6 Ante—Poster 01, Ignacio Uriarte, Semicircle Shift, 2021
Projects

The posters were displayed in the windows of what will become the Alberto Peruzzo Foundation’s bookshop. Their presence shows the community a process that is underway: the restoration and renovation of the Church of Saint Agnes, the Foundation’s new exhibition space.

The project was developed in collaboration with the Multiplo graphic design studio and involves six artists: Serena Fineschi, Susanne Kutter, Marc Nagtzaam, Giulia Siviero, Esther Stocker and Ignacio Uriarte.

It is presented as a ‘public art’ initiative conceived and realised with the intention of being visible and accessible to the community. It is about giving back to the community an important place in the city, which through contemporary art can come back to life, expressing new meanings.

The foundation’s roots lie, among other things, in the printing of books and art catalogues, and the project will be completed with the printing of six artist posters on fine art paper in a 50×70 cm format in a limited edition of 100 numbered and signed copies, available to the public.

Purchase information

Available
Ignacio Uriarte, Semicircle Shift, 2020
Susanne Kutter, The “Even Given” on Her Way Through the Suez Canal, 2020
Giulia Siviero, Full Coverage Painting, 2020
Esther Stocker, Senza titolo, 2021
Serena Fineschi, Ingannare l’attesa (about Rothko), Trash Series, 2021
Marc Nagtzaam, This Variation/ The Same Arguments, 2021

send an email to info@fondazionealbertoperuzzo.it

12.01.2022 – 14.04.2022

Restoration of the work Saint Agnes refusing gifts

 

Restoration of Saint Agnes refusing gifts,  c.a 1650.

Projects

The painting Saint Agnes Refusing Gifts (ca. 1650) is being restored by the Alberto Peruzzo Foundation.The painting, once part of the spaces of the Church of Saint Agnes, will be temporarily relocated within the new cultural space of the foundation once it is open to the public.

Moved from its original location, the church of Saint Agnes, immediately after the building was deconsecrated in the 1940s, the work is still housed in the Church of San Nicolò in Padua. The painting, whose execution was initially attributed to Francesco Minorello, is part of a pictorial cycle created between the end of 1500 and 1600.

 

01.12.2020 – 21.09.2021

Restoration of the work Resistenza e Liberazione by Jannis Kounellis

 
1/2 Jannis Kounellis, Resistenza e Liberazione, 1995
2/2 Jannis kounellis, Resistenza e Liberazione, 1995.
Projects

Jannis Kounellis’ work Resistenza e Liberazione, commissioned in 1994 and inaugurated on 29 May 1995, was strongly backed by the University of Padua in order to commemorate the heroic deeds of three of its professors, Ezio Franceschini, Concetto Marchesi and Egidio Meneghetti, who played a leading role in the Italian resistance movement. For the artist himself, the site-specific installation represented an important stage in his career; a commemorative work that was not long in provoking heated debate in the community for aesthetic reasons. The initial bewilderment was overcome in time and today the work is a symbol of the precious value linked to the history of the university, but also to the city of Padua.

The work was made with a series of wooden beams showing the signs of age, chipped and damaged, of different colours, and assembled using a technique used by the artist himself since the 1970s. Embedded in the wall, it is composed of irregular stratifications that take on a more linear shape in the upper part. Jannis Kounellis collected old wooden beams around the outskirts of the city with the intention of giving the entire project a value linked to the territory. The choice of wood takes on a second meaning in this context, recalling Galileo Galilei’s famous chair in the Bo Palace’s Sala dei Quaranta. The work is completed by the flag of the Italian Republic, reminding us of the value, identity and history of the nation and of Italians.

The Alberto Peruzzo Foundation supported the restoration of this important work by Kounellis a little over 25 years after its creation, for participation in the 800th anniversary celebrations of the university that hosts it.

Extraordinary maintenance on the work Resistenza e Liberazione, carried out by the restorer Valentina Piovan, was planned by assessing the artist’s intentions in its execution. The degradation of the work had to be considered as intentional on the part of the artist, therefore as an ‘execution technique’. Incoherent deposits were removed, the adhesion of colour residues was checked, wooden surfaces were prepared and fixed (using non-invasive techniques), and disinfection was carried out using suitable and previously tested solvent-based biocide agents. Lastly, mapping was carried out to catalogue the elements used to create the work, indicating their position, size, composition status of the wood species used and the level of degradation in progress in order to monitor the work over time.

Special thanks

Thanks to Università degli Studi di Padova, Giovanna Valenzano, Kounellis Archive and Michelle Coudray for the partecipation.

Credits

Restoration: Valentina Piovan
Photos: Marco Furio Magliani
Texts: Vincenzo de Bellis e Guido Bartorelli

Link

03.2020 – 06.2020

Digital Project. The Power of Art

 
Meetings

Digital Project – The power of art (March – June 2020)

This project was developed in the first months of 2020 during the first lockdown period that saw much of the world change rapidly. The themes addressed within this project essentially concern the role of art in contemporary society. Each day was told through the words of collectors, museum directors, artists and simple enthusiasts of #thepowererofART, of how art has marked our lives during an unusual time. The role of art in contemporary society is often discussed, and on this occasion the Foundation simply wanted to emphasise the ‘power of art’, by asking the interlocutor to talk about a work that has impressed them or even changed their life, or even to talk about a work that tells us something in these complex times. Not only to emphasise the miraculous and redeeming power of art, but also to remind us that art is an expression of life and of what surrounds us, for better or for worse, that it can be comforting or not, and can also be a stimulus for change.

Complete articles

Link

01.2019 – 06.2019

Church of Saint Agnes multimedia project

 
Projects

A multimedia project for the church of Saint Agnes in Padua, born from a collaboration between the Fondazione Alberto Peruzzo Foundation and IED Venice. Through in-depth historical research into the archives of the Paduan territory and the church, the students of Media Design of the European Institute of Design in Venice reconstructed an urban scenario halfway between the past and the present.

18.10.2018

Workshop. From performance to data visualisation

 
Meetings

Open to students, thesis students and PhD students from humanities, art and science faculties, as well as to young professionals, designers and creatives, the workshop was an interdisciplinary and immersive experience dealing with data as a contemporary cultural artefact. Starting from the analysis of the data, the participants, divided into groups, were asked to collaboratively imagine, with the assistance of the teachers, concepts for installations, works, services and interventions in public spaces and to transform the new source of open data into immersive experiences capable of generating meaning, in which to understand the phenomenon of the Biennale and its coexistence with the city of Venice and its inhabitants.

The heart of the workshop is the new source of open data generated by the Human Architecture installation starting from the opening of the Biennale, which, when returned in the form of an artistic installation in the Venice Pavilion, becomes observable and accessible material, shared knowledge and a starting point to trigger city practices and projects as a new element of public space.

Initiative promoted by

Alberto Peruzzo Foundation, Starts, Her, PlusValue with Management Department collaboration of Ca’Foscari University of Venice.

Link

01.2011 – 05.2011

Restoration of Venice Pavilion

 
1/2 Restoration of Venice Pavilion, 2011
2/2 Restoration of Venice Pavilion, 2011
Projects

The Venice Pavilion of the Biennale has been a historically exceptional space since 1932, reserved for special projects, owned and managed by Venice City Council. Inaugurated for the 18th International Art Biennale, it was conceived as a pavilion for the decorative arts, from glass, through fabrics, to mosaics, in order to allow for the finest worldwide examples of work being done in those fields to be compared and contrasted. In the post-war period, it was no longer used for its original purpose and fell into disrepair. Thereafter it was not occupied on a continuous basis.

In architectural terms, it embodies the idea of an exedra – a sort of stage set – inspired by Renaissance and baroque models. The external hemicycle also conditions the rigorous, white internal spaces, which are lit from above. The pavilion was designed in the early 1930s by the architect Brenno del Giudice, who was also responsible for the beautiful marble flooring. Over the decades, the pavilion held up a mirror to the local avant-garde movements, serving as a showcase above all for exquisite craftsmanship and technical mastery.

In 2011, the reinstatement of the Venice Pavilion’s original function was a commitment that indicated the vitality that the city intended to express – a commitment that continues to this day. Fondaco co-ordinated the works, Lares dealt pro-actively with the restoration, while two companies helped to fund the interventions: Arzanà Navi and Louis Vuitton. 

The ex-Mayor, Giorgio Orsoni, said: “Arzanà Navi is a prestigious, young, local business, with the ability to export innovation and expertise in the high-end nautical sector – a sector that is very much part of Venice’s DNA. The city, which boasts a rich artistic legacy, is itself a workshop of creativity and not simply a theater for the representations of others. As such, Venice needed its own impressive space in which to present the very best output from those local exponents of art on the cutting edge”.

Madile Gambier, Commissioner of the Venice Pavilion, referred to the operation: «a philological restoration of the highest order, which refers back to the city’s great history of artistic virtuosity».

After the restoration, in the same year during the 54ª Internation Exposition of Biennale Artehas been presentd at Venice Pavilion (curated by Renzo Dubbini and Madile Gambier) the exhibition of Fabrizio Plessi, “Mari Verticali”. An exhibition that essentially connects the two greatest passions of Arzanà Navi and Louis Vuitton: sailing and the sea. The artist has proposed here a new vision of his digital fleet that has developed in a symbiotic way within the hemicycle structure of the Venice Pavilion.