What to see in Venice

Sure, everyone remembers 1984, particularly because it was the year that Madonna began her  particularly frantic conquest  on the world. There was another song but “Like a Virgin” without a doubt made her the undisputed Queen of Pop. Of course, MTV was a world reference and the video “Like a Virgin” would strengthen the impact of such a hot topic .

To remember the video is almost to live it, and of course, Madonna departs from New York and goes s to Venice, she walks through the streets, dressed as a bride, a lion appears by her side and she sings, jumps and bounces in a gondola through the old channels, not just turning the song into an anthem of the postmodern eighties of free love, but also bringing punk and a romantic attitude to merge in one of the most romantic cities in the world. In the video, the gondola tour shows us the magic of Venice with the music of Madonna, a perfect combination.

But how is it nowadays to be on a moving gondola? just as magical but surely quite different. It is known that around the eighteenth century there were thousands of gondolas in Venice. Today, around 400 are still sailing. The canals of Venice are quite deep, the gondoliers oar does not reach the bottom of the water so just be  very careful about falling into it. It is said that early last century, the gondola had a sort of cabin in which people could sit, especially to avoid possible moments of rain or cold. However, these were withdrawn with the intention of selling the sights to tourists and the curious ones who wanted to see the city from a different point of view  and take millions of photographs of the channels. Nearly all the Gondolas are available for tourists to travel in. Although now a gondola is a symbol of “cool” in city of canals, years ago, they were were used as public transportation, ie, all the Venetians had access to them. Today, they retain their old character, curiosity and tradition for visitors coming to this beautiful city.

Gondolas of course have changed, and over the years have gone through several modifications. It is a matter of culture to keep those who still have a classic style to be of interest to travelers. These vessels are admired throughout the world as the most romantic vehicle to express love, and are made out of different types of wood, from oak to cedar. Usually the left side is longer than the right side of this vessel, thereby facilitating rowing in the Venetian canals. As you can imagine, besides being used for racing and some rowing competitions, gondolas are also the charm of those newly married couples, looking to find a tour through the canals of Venice, the essence of eternal love.

Prices  for a gondola ride in Venice are different, usually you can save some cash if you take the trip during the early hours of the morning or just before noon. later on, due to the romanticism of the sunsets, plus you get a gondola serenade while walking, borders makes the price vary between 50 and 100 euros for a journey of nearly an hour. The price will also vary, of course, according to the quality and aesthetics of the gondola you choose.

Alexa Ray

Get apartments in Venice and enjoy a romantic evening on a gondola.

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Translated by: Marc
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Sure, everyone remembers 1984, particularly because it was the year that Madonna began her  particularly frantic conquest  on the world. There was another song but \”Like a Virgin\” without a doubt made her the undisputed Queen of Pop. Of course, MTV was a world reference and the video \”Like a Virgin\” would strengthen the impact of such a hot topic .

To remember the video is almost to live it, and of course, Madonna departs from New York and goes s to Venice, she walks through the streets, dressed as a bride, a lion appears by her side and she sings, jumps and bounces in a gondola through the old channels, not just turning the song into an anthem of the postmodern eighties of free love, but also bringing punk and a romantic attitude to merge in one of the most romantic cities in the world. In the video, the gondola tour shows us the magic of Venice with the music of Madonna, a perfect combination.

But how is it nowadays to be on a moving gondola? just as magical but surely quite different. It is known that around the eighteenth century there were thousands of gondolas in Venice. Today, around 400 are still sailing. The canals of Venice are quite deep, the gondoliers oar does not reach the bottom of the water so just be  very careful about falling into it. It is said that early last century, the gondola had a sort of cabin in which people could sit, especially to avoid possible moments of rain or cold. However, these were withdrawn with the intention of selling the sights to tourists and the curious ones who wanted to see the city from a different point of view  and take millions of photographs of the channels. Nearly all the Gondolas are available for tourists to travel in. Although now a gondola is a symbol of \”cool\” in city of canals, years ago, they were were used as public transportation, ie, all the Venetians had access to them. Today, they retain their old character, curiosity and tradition for visitors coming to this beautiful city.

Gondolas of course have changed, and over the years have gone through several modifications. It is a matter of culture to keep those who still have a classic style to be of interest to travelers. These vessels are admired throughout the world as the most romantic vehicle to express love, and are made out of different types of wood, from oak to cedar. Usually the left side is longer than the right side of this vessel, thereby facilitating rowing in the Venetian canals. As you can imagine, besides being used for racing and some rowing competitions, gondolas are also the charm of those newly married couples, looking to find a tour through the canals of Venice, the essence of eternal love.

Prices  for a gondola ride in Venice are different, usually you can save some cash if you take the trip during the early hours of the morning or just before noon. later on, due to the romanticism of the sunsets, plus you get a gondola serenade while walking, borders makes the price vary between 50 and 100 euros for a journey of nearly an hour. The price will also vary, of course, according to the quality and aesthetics of the gondola you choose.

Alexa Ray

Get apartments in Venice and enjoy a romantic evening on a gondola.

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Translated by: Marc
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Peggy Guggenheim was a very famous woman in the cultural and artistic world, since she was one of the past century’s biggest collectors. She was born in New York in 1898, in a golden cradle. Her family were European jews who had emigrated to the states over two generations ago and they were making a lot of money in America. But even though she had a lot of money from the moment she was born, not everything was easy for her.

Peggy’s family was the creator of large companies, but they suffered a tragedy in 1912 when the girl’s father drowned and died when the Titanic sunk. From then on, the young girl’s life was put through never ending problems and unpleasant circumstances, although none of them related to anything material, since she had plenty of money.

Being a teenager, she began to work in a bookshop in the big city of New York, and it was at that time when she made her first approach to art, especially in the European one. That’s why, in 1920, Peggy Guggenheim, trying to search for her heritage and after earning her inheritance after her father’s death, decided to go back to Europe where her parents were born.

She lived in different countries and cities, but it was in Venice where she stayed to spend the rest of her life. She chose that city to establish herself, and that’s where the museum which carries her name is located today, at the place where her house was during the 20th century. This young adventurer became an art collector thanks to the fortune that she had and her good taste in art.

She slowly bough all the paintings and pieces that seemed exotic and beautiful to her. And so, she made up various collections that were the envy of more than one museum and which went around the world more than once.

In the Italian city of Venice, there0s the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, where she lived with her lovers, her dogs, her servants and her friends. At the beginning she used the house as a personal and private museum but, later, she opened it to the general public.

It was in 1960 when Peggy stopped collecting works of art and dedicated herself to enjoy them. They say, as a family anecdote, that in the house of the ever young and entrepreneurial Peggy Guggenheim, there were paintings even in the restroom and that she changed them around so that everyone who used it could enjoy art as well.

For more information visit the museum’s webpage: http://www.guggenheim-venice.it/inglese/default.html

d.b

Visiting the collection ‘The hidden treasures of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection’ is something that you must do if you’ve rented apartments in Venice and you’re in the city at that time. It will be an experience you’ll remember forever.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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The city of Venice is one of the most romantic in the world for how singular its architecture and social organization is. The canals are famous all around the world and getting to know this city is an objective that many travellers aim to achieve one day.

But the city which also offers never ending possibilities in the fields of gastronomy, history, culture and even clubbing, is one of the most famous hosts of the best international art exhibitions. Although it’s also the home of many museums of social relevance, such as the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, which has a place in the city, but its exhibitions travel around the world and are famous for being really exclusive and of unsurpassable quality.

Peggy Guggenheim was a woman dedicated to art. She was a collector during the 20th century and that’s why her collection is exhibited in the museum which bears her name. The building that holds the museum used to be her home and she later opened it to the public, to share with the city she loved so much, all the art that she’d valued and bought during her whole life.

During October 2011 up until January 2012, the exhibition called ‘Themes and Variations. Script and Space’ will be open to the public in this great museum in Venice. It’s an exhibition which reveals the post-war society, the psyche of people demolished by misery and famine, which makes it a greatly interesting exhibition to visit because it was prepared exclusively for the city of the canals, with works belonging to the Peggy Guggenheim collection and some other ones lent by other international museums.

Some of the authors that you’ll be able to recognize in the exhibition are Novelli, Picasso, Agnetti and some more contemporary than others, but all of the same artistic conditions.

d.b

If you rent apartments in Venice as well as enjoying the city, you’ll be able to visit the Peggy Guggenheim Museum and appreciate the art of various geniuses of the 20th century. It’s a trip you’ll always remember.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Until the 13th of November, the Bevilacqua de la Masa Foundation exhibits ‘Essai (y). Giovani artisti diplomati all’Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia’ (Essai (y). Young artists of the Fine Arts Academy in Venice). The exhibition tries to put on the scene the work of a select group of artists winners of the Prize and the internship that the Bevilacqua de la Masa Foundation gives to young artists.

There are five artists, whose works are what make up this exhibition and who studied at the Fine Arts Academy in Venice: the Venetians Stefano Bullo and Giulia Filippi, the artist from Ferrara Nereo Marulli and Thomas Braida from Gorizia. The exhibition aims to show the route of each one of them, whose lines of work are a plastic polyphony which gives a panoramic outlook on contemporary art.

The Fine Arts Acadamy in Venice is popularly known as ‘The Academy’, expressing the importance that history of art has on a world scale. The origins take us back to the 18th century, more specifically to 1750, when the city determines that it needs to have a school of formation for painters and sculptors. It was the painter Giovanni Baptista Piazzetta who was in charge of giving shape and content to the project, and he settled into the Fondaco della Farina. From that moment, the School became the place which gathered works of art of great value and it became a symbol of art around the world, but it also was a place for formation and thinking of art and culture.

Thomas Braida, born in 1982, has painting at the Fine Arts Academy in Venice as his speciality, although he’s also worked in interesting sculpture proposals. In 2010 he carried out his first individual exhibition at the Galleria Traghetto di Venezia. He’s also made collective exhibitions in Verona, Art Stays 2011, the European Academies of Fine Arts exhibition in Ptuj, Slovenia, in 2011, the International Art Exhibition in Venice, the Venice Biennial of 2011 and he was selected in the 94th edition of the Young Artists Award by the Bevilacqua de la Masa Foundation.

Stefano Bullo was born in Venice in 1985. In February 2011 he graduated in painting from the Fine Arts Academy in Venice and he’s participated in various collective exhibitions. Bullo works painting with concepts which reflect society’s most immediate problems, such as communication, which despite the great technological advances like the Internet, the regular human being lives more and more isolated all the time. Because of that, his representations are isolated events, like a photograph with no context. Some have defined his painting as some sort of graphic painting.

Giulia Filippi was born in Venice in 1982. She graduated in painting at the Fine Arts Academy in Venice and she’s participated in various collective exhibitions and in the 15th Mediterranean Biennial, in Thessaloniki Greece, in 2011.

Nereo Marulli was born in Ferrara in 1985. He graduated in art and public space from the Fine Arts Academy in Venice and he’s exhibited in numerous collective exhibitions. Among them there’s Art, Science and School, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice and ArteFiera, the contemporary art fair in Bologna.  In 2009 he exhibited in Threshold, Grad Vipolze, in Slovenia.

For more information: http://www.bevilacqualamasa.it/essai-y

Nancy Guzman

Now is a great time to think about renting apartments in Venice especially because with the calm that autumn brings you can enjoy the city in a more relaxed way, as well as its romantic corners and visiting exhibitions such as ‘Essai (y)’.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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There are plans and there are big plans. The one I put forward to you today is in the latter category. The fact that Venice merits two, three and more visits cannot be argued. Even if the exhibitions, the events, the theatre or the concerts in the City of the Canals had disappeared, the simple view of the place is enough to take someone’s breath away, even from the more refined ones. If we add to that the fact that not a day goes by without a classical music concert taking place in one of it’s baroque churches or variegated palaces, Venice is, today, not only a destination for art lovers but also for the most demanding music fans. For example, the opera offering is simply overwhelming.

The concerts that occupy us today take place in the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, the home of a medieval brotherhood of the order of the flagellants (let’s not go into depth about such obscene practice), which was dedicated to studying and education, as well as to the promotion of the arts. Although the origin of the brotherhood is from the 13th century, the building that has reached us – with modifications, restructuring and constructions – is essentially baroque. Profusely decorated with marble and beautiful wood, it treasures wonderful works of art and important relics, such as a piece of Christ’s Cross (let’s remind the reader that the biggest piece is located in Spain, in the Monastery of Santo Toribio de Llébana). The institution, today, is dedicated to the attention of the visitor, the teaching of music and the organization of magnificent opera concerts.

Specifically, these musical evenings are offered in the impressive room of San Giovanni who, probably, was the noble placement of the order, where the special meetings between the brothers took place. The place is literally jaw-dropping, and there isn’t a single inch that hasn’t been decorated: the ceiling is painted with frescos, the altarpiece (now the stage) is presided by a marble sculpture of the Virgin, which is flanked, as well as the walls, with paintings from past centuries, and even the floor shows a shining marble mosaic. In this aristocratic location, Italian opera stagings and recitals of the most famous arias take place. Until the 31st of December, with the Opera House Orchestra, you can enjoy a selection of different arias called ‘La Gran Gala dell’Opera’ (the Great Gala of Opera), with Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’ or Puccini’s ‘La Tosca’. But what you can’t miss is the New Year’s Eve Concert, which takes place, obviously, on the 31st of December at 7.45pm. That is the proper way to say goodbye to 2011.

This short space isn’t enough to indicate the specific days and programme. That’s why we refer the reader to the webpage of the Scuola where, also, they can make bookings and get more information both of current concerts as the ones programmed for next year: http://www.scuolasangiovanni.it/index.php?page=21.

Candela Vizcaíno

With so many bookings, don’t forget the apartments in Venice because you have to rest your body and your soul.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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In the novel of Arthur C. Clarke ‘Childhood’s End’, the protagonists are the Overlords: alien beings who are enormously brainy. Their curiosity has taken them to go down to Earth to assist to a musical concert. At the end they congratulate the composer for his great inventiveness but everything that they’ve just witnessed they find absurd and baffling. They don’t understand or are able to understand what human beings feel when they make or listen to music, because the Overlords are unable to feel anything. As a species, they lack music. They suffer from what is known as ‘amusia’ in medical terms; it’s a series of disorders which disable the capacity to recognise musical tones or rhythms or to reproduce them.

In the music perception, elements related with perception, decoding and the synthesis of sound and time participate. The experts identify at least 12 different types of amusia, distinguishing between the receptive amusia and the interpretative one. Amusia can be congenital or acquired, partial or total.

Deafness to tone or rhythm can exist. There’s the famous story of Che Guevara, deaf to rhythm, to which you could see dancing a mambo while the music that was playing was a tango. In the case of deafness to tone, the people who suffer it are out of tune without knowing about it or are unable to acknowledge that other ones are out of tone.

In total amusia, the tones aren’t recognised as such, and music, therefore, isn’t perceived as muci. The people who suffer it can be listening to the best interpretation of a music piece and they perceive it as a screeching car. There are people who have suffered apoplexy (brain hemorrhage) in their left hemisphere, thus developing acquired amusia and for whom all musical notes sound the same.

The people who suffer from congenital amusia, despite perceiving talking and surrounding sounds normally, can’t recognise melodies or distinguish between tones and semitones. In other words, no melody, no scale and no harmony are identified in the same way as a normal person’s hearing. Hyed and collaborators have shown that these types of subjects have the white matter area of a brain area involved in musical pitch encoding and melodic pitch memory.less developed than normal.

There are many famous characters who have this disorder. Nabokov it seems was unable to recognise any type of music. Paraphrasing his own words, music affected him simply as an arbitrary succession of sounds which were more or less irritating.

The case that we’re going to describe now is a real case of an amusic patient who we shall name Mr. X. He says he’s never heard any music but he recognised the rest of sounds and speaks without any problems (he had no aphasia). As a little boy, he couldn’t sing or recognised when other children were singing. He learnt how to play an instrument but always felt that he was making noise. For Mr. X, music is no different than the sound of pots and pans falling in the kitchen. He’s unable to tell if a musical note is higher than another. And although he’d heard songs like ‘Happy Birthday’ and the American National Anthem plenty of times, he was unable to identify them when they’re played in his presence.

Ara

Music is the culmination of art. And, sadly, there are people who are physiologically unable to enjoy it. But for any person, Venice is undoubtedly a musical city for its history and tradition. Rent apartments in Venice and live music in your brain and in your heart.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Until the 30th of October, the work of Pier Paolo Calzolari will be exposed at  the International Gallery of Modern Art in Venice, organized by the Venice Museums and the Civici Calzolari Foundations. The exhibition is part of a project of the artist, accompanied by Silvio Fuso and Daniela Ferretti and is composed of some thirty works corresponding to the period from 1968 to today.

This exhibition seeks to look perspectively  into the work of Calzolari and examine the plurality of his art, which is one of his main facets and how he has become one of the most acclaimed artists of his generation. Calzolari in his forty years in the plastic arts scene has dared to innovate over  and over, searching for new aesthetic languages ​​to express his deep sense of creation.

The presentation of the work of Calzolari at Ca ‘Pesaro is an adventure, as was the construction of the baroque marble palace facing the Canal of Venice. Just as the work of Calzolari, it summarizes its history for themuseum focuses on part on the history of Venice, but also from Italy and around the world, hence this meeting in the experiences of the artist with the city and its universality is an interesting art proposal

To visit  this exhibition is a great intellectual adventure, because through it you can see the first light installations until the current ones. The exhibition begins with the art work from 1990 Struttura that has been installed on the facade of the Museum to ensemble together the poetry of the sea along with human poetics and artistic creation. In the lobby there are five works covering the period from 1989 to 2002. On the second floor there are four large-scale works created with black burnt salt  among which we find untitled sculptures which are part of the ongoing work of the artist.

His constant reference to the ephemeral  nature of art has led him to work with materials such as fugases, simple and perishable elements in time , sometimes being  classified as a current Povera artist.

Pier Paolo Calzolari was born in Bologna, Italy in 1943. His early shows and exhibitions began in the 60′s when art fell between the Italian Povera Arte and American minismalism and conceptual art. His work of continuous and eclectic evolution has shared important contributions to contemporary art, particularly when giving poetic content tohis work that manipulates the theme of time and mutability, carefully moving away from materials that can deform time as the viewer witnesses the transformation of the artistic object.

For more information

http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it/frame.asp?pid=2046&musid=245&sezione=mostre

Nancy Guzman

If you want to see an exhibition of poetry, take a few days and come to rest in apartments in Venice and get to know the romance of the city and the works of Calzolari

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Translated by: Marc
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The Palazzo Grassi, situated on a corner of the Grand Canal in Venice, was built by a rich family from Bologna as a theater and a public museum to display the countless works of art that had been treasured throughout generations. Designed by Massari in neoclassical style in the  late eighteenth century, the building changes owners over and over after the downfall of the clan Grassi until it falls into the hands of the French businessman François-Henri Pinault, known in the world for his adventures with a few supermodels (Linda Evangelista was one of them) and after various affairs, for wedding the actress Salma Hayek.

However, Pinault’s reputation exceeds these tabloid flirtations, as he is frequently mentioned in other media channels. Without going any further, the Forbes Journal highlights Pinault as one of the hundred biggest fortunes in the world. This tycoon owns Le Monde newspaper. and in addition, owns such iconic luxury brands like Gucci, Vuitton, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and Christie’s and more popular brands such as the Redoutte. With this kind of economical wealth it has been possible to acquire, over the last few decades, a good collection of contemporary art, combined with the pieces inherited from his father, presently exceeding  2500 works by artists such as Picasso and Miro .

And it is those masterpieces that he will be exhibiting at the Palazzo Grassi, which you can visit completely ignoring the art exhibition just to admire the architecture with its succession of rooms adorned with tall columns or to attend any representation in the indoor theater with a capacity for 600 people. The Pinault Foundation also has another room in Venice, called Punta de la Dogana, a triangular rustically finished building, between the Canal Giudecca and the Grand Canal. There you always find works by emerging artists awaitings the Venetian travelers interested in the arts.

The Palazzo Grassi changes is exhibition space every six to nine months and always is decorated with a different theme. The current one is called The World Belongs To You curated by Caroline Bourgeois. It can be visited until the end of this year, when it will be replaced by a newone. In the words of his caretaker, the show aims to be a dialogue with the issues that overwhelms humanity today. It tells us that “the exhibition focuses on major issues of contemporary history: the decomposition of the symbols, the temptation of the author-withdrawal and isolation, the attraction of violence and spirituality in a turbulent and globalized world ” . The result is a sample that mostly consists of sculptures made from unconventional materials (plastic and recycled fabrics) that leaves in the viewer a terrifying taste by the disturbing questions it raises. Venice is no longer just the city of canals and Baroque art.

Candela Vizcaíno

Try, traveler,to book in time some of the apartments in Venice The city is in a high demand lately.

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Translated by: Marc
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Each year with the Venice Biennale, the city comes alive with a number of new exhibitions, festivals and artistic proposals, while creating a very interesting framework of side events. This year, “World art in Venice” will open at Ca ‘Zanardi, a major exhibition that will display a relevant part of the Italian art scene. The opening will take place on the 7^th of October 7 at 18hrs, and the finissage will be on the 30^th of October at the same time.

This is a brief sample, offers contents that surely will be very interesting for those who want to have an idea of contemporary art production in Venice. The intention of the curator Fausto Brozzi, was to bring together very different languages and expressive forms from photography to painting, through design and literature, without proposing a common topic to the works, nor fixed formal connection, or a style. This “absence” gives the character to the sample, far from wanting to present a thesis of art, is intended to be a window showing the current situation in the world of Venetian art.

In the presentation of the exhibition to the press, a reporter asked the curator if this lack of a style, or a common theme of the works will not be an excuse to put together pieces that have nothing in common but the same exhibition space in which are gathered. In response, Brozzi cited a phrase from Man Ray saying “I photograph what I can not paint and I paint what I can not photograph “, and added: in this way, we can create non-existent from what we is surrounded us. This particular form of creation is evident and is able to have many ways of expression, as many eyes are watching.

Fausto Brozzi is a multifaceted celebrity: artist, curator, designer, art director and an expert in marketing and communication strategies. He is considered an expert of the global art market and lives and works in Europe, USA and China. In his career as an artist, he focused mainly on painting and photography, and today you find most of  his works in private collections worldwide.

Interestingly, for this exhibition, Brozzi did not want to display devoted a selection of works by famous artists in the scene, but he wanted to give emerging artists the chance to show their works too. That is why he  opened a website www.worldartinvenice.it, inviting all artists who wished to show their portfolios and, among the many proposals, he selected a group of 50 works.

The beautiful location Ca ‘Zanardi is located in Cannaregio 4123, and the exhibition will be open daily from 10 till 18hrs and will remain closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Admission is free.

menschauser

If you have not visited the Venice Biennale, we recommend you to rent apartments in Venice and come to enjoy of this cultural and artistic city, do not miss the exhibition “World art in Venice”.

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Translated by: Hans
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