What to see in Venice

The exhibition will take place on September 8th until November 27th in the Palazzo Zenobio, located on Dorsoduro 2596 in Venice. During the inauguration, that will begin at midday and will last until 11pm, there will also be concerts, events and activities related with the subject of the exhibition. You\’ll find more information on the official page: www.colegioarmeno.com

The artist Ewa Bathelier, born in Warsaw (Poland), graduated in medicine but decided to go for an artist career, starting in the 90s in France. Her work, mainly paintings, was exhibited in museums and galleries from around the world, and it belongs to important international collections. She also worked as a scenographer in plays by Beckett and Pinget that took place in Krakow. She was very interested in literature and is a member of a Polish poets project (\’Kwartainik artystczny\’) which has had a lot of influence on her visual work.

Her work can be defined as minimalistic, but the strength of the colours and the texture of the paintings add a dramatic dimension to them, very communicative and brilliant. The dresses are one of the favourite subjects of the artist, who considers them a sort of self-portraits. For this reason she decided to elaborate this project with her friend and designer Denise Focil, to introduce a dimension of political thought and power from fashion and the focus on outside appearance.

Denise Focil is a designer born in Quito, Ecuador, and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her creations are very influenced by her passion for music and travelling and, for this reason, she incorporates visual codes of different cultures and a special attention to detail. She has dedicated herself, from a very young age, to clothes design for motorcyclists and found her success and international fame thanks to her passion for fashion and motorbikes. She established her company in Italy in 1963 and, from that time, her creations became very well-known, above all, among all motorbike lovers, especially her Alpinestars collection, designed entirely by her in 2009.

In this exhibition, Denise Focil puts her fashion knowledge to the service of art and creates, together with Ewa Bathelier, a series of seven dresses that try to mark the paces of the identity definition of women throughout the years. Quite a hard challenge then, and an exhibition that promises to go in depth into a subject that\’s still a current matter.

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We recommend that you come to visit this unique exhibition. You can rent apartments in Venice and enjoy a stay among the canals and the art in one of Italy\’s most beautiful cities.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Between the 31st of August and 10th of September, Venice will play host to scores of cinema lovers, directors, screenwriters, actors and actresses, with the 68th edition of the International Venice Film Festival, which this opens with the screening of The Idles of March written and directed by George Clooney.

Mark Mueller, the director of the festival, has confirmed that North American director Darren Aronofsky will be the president of the official selection jury for this year’s edition. Last year, Aronofsky led the Gold Lion competition with his movie Black Swan starring Natalie Portman.

The history of the festival dates back to 1932, when it was founded as a showcase for cinema art under the direction of Luciano de Feo the secretary general of the International Institute of Educational Cinema. At that time, the festival took place on the terrace of the Excelsior Hotel, on the Lido island, and screened high-art pieces of cinema such as It Happened One Night by Frank Capra, The Champion by King Vidor, Grand Hotel by Edmund Goulding, Freedom Alive by Rene Clair, Zemlja by Alexander Dovzenko, and Gli uomini che mascalzoni by Mario Camerini amongst many other creations.

The success which launched the festival came about with the construction of the Venice Cinema Palazzo, located on the Lido island. The opening of the festival took place on the Palazzo, with films presented in its two cinemas, the Great Hall, with a capacity of over 1000 people, and the smaller-scale Volpi Hall. Alongside this venue is the Casino Palazzo, the Palabiennale, and Palagalileo for the screening of films included in the festival.

Everyone participating is after the main draw of the festival, the Gold Lion, awarded by the jury to the best film of the festival. There is also the Silver Lion for the best director, the Volpi Cup for the best actress or actor, with the Gold Lion for an entire career, the Osella for best screenplay.

The competition for the Gold Lion started in 1936, and since then there have been many stories and drama surrounding the festival, such as the screening of Nazi propaganda film Olympia by Leni Riefenshtal during the Second World War; or the much criticised 1960 edition when Viconti lost the Gold Lion, for the film Rocco y sus hermanos, to the unknown French filmmaker André Cayatte, whose film nobody can remember the name of.

During the 1960s, a new wave of vanguard cinema arrived which made demands for social change, and the integration of art and cinema. In 1968, students halted the festival, for which a statue was finally erected in 1973.

For more information http://www.labiennale.org/it/Home.html

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Nancy Guzman

The International Venice Film Festival is and will be a huge event for directors and actors – but for those cinephiles amongst you, why not rent apartments in Venice and go along to some of the many projections taking place throughout the festival.

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Translated by: Poppy
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It’s not strange or wrong that sometimes our stomachs flip, and we feel invaded by an indignant sadness which becomes like an emblem our our eternal, apocalyptic battle against the world every time we, for example, listen to the music of Antonio Vivaldi (1668-1741) – almost always the same piece, though the movement varies. Versions of music which challenge all description and categorization, and prove once again the descriptive, expressive limits of the spoken language when attempting to confront the horrors of reality – like being stuck in a lift, or walking through shopping centers.

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This phenomenon is perhaps not a million miles away from a kind of poetic justice, confirming once again that there is such a thing as a relatively bad poetry. If we look at the swings and roundabouts, the repeated ups and downs which both reputation and popularity of Venetian music has undergone over the years, it goes to show that the luck of any artistic work to get recognition; popularity relies on a series of random whims and circumstances based mainly on movement and change.

It’s easy to dispute the claim of Francesco Fanna, director of the Italian Antonio Vivaldi Institute that Vivaldi was the most important composer in the whole of Europe during the first part of the 17th century – but nevertheless, he was undoubtedly one of the most prestigious, influential and admired. It is much easier to agree with Fanna on the fact that towards 1730, his halo slipped considerably, as a result of a change in the public’s affections towards his classical, traditionally Napolitan style. Like an illustration of the conceited things in life, the great Vivaldi, who had been nicknamed “The Red Priest” after his other profession and the colour of his hair, practically disappeared off the map. In a strangely inversely parallel way, the German composer Mendelssohn may have met the same fate, if it hadn’t been for the fact that he sent out his maid for meat, and she returned, with the pork chops and ribs wrapped in manuscripts which happened to contain “The Passion” according to St Matthew. (Though there are people who dismiss this story as inauthentic.)

In the case of Vivaldi, an enigmatic character about whom, apart from the fact that he worked for the most part of his life in the orphanage and music school in the hospital of the Piety in Venice, and ended his days forgotten and poverty-stricken in Vienna, we know next to nothing. His revival came about around in 1920, when a handful of his work appeared in a music collection which a convent in Piamonte had put on sale in order to pay off debts.

Paul Oilzum

His music, startlingly powerful and delicate, seems to come from another plane of existence – much like the city of its creation. Music best listened to in rented apartments in Venice

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Translated by: Poppy
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Venice’s Biennale is an international contemporary art exhibition celebrated every two years. The first edition was celebrated on April 30th 1895. Among the artistic subjects that it encompasses we find visual arts, contemporary music, theatre, dance, film and architecture.

But let’s concentrate on the International Venice Film Festival (Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica di Venezia). It’s a film festival that takes place every year in the Palazzo del Cinema, which is where they present the films that are entered in the contest. Although the festival is every year, it’s framed inside what’s known as the Biennale.

It will take place from the 31st of August until the 10th of September and there you’ll be able to enjoy great films by acclaimed directors and well-known actors.

Among the awards that are given there is the Golden Lion, which the jury gives to the best film. The Silver one goes to the best director and for the Great Prize of the Jury. To the best actor and actress they give the Coppa Volpi (Volpi Cup).

They also award various Golden Lions to different people of the film world as recognition for their contribution.

This festival is considered a ‘Category A’, being credited by the International Federation of the Cinematographic Producers Association (FIAPF) together with other well-known ones such as the ones from San Sebastián, Berlin and Cannes among others.

The Festival has already revealed the presidents of its juries. For the Competition section, the most important is the American director, writer and producer Darren Aronofsky. For the Orizzonti section it will be the Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. For the Luigi de Laurentiis Prize to the best prime opera it’s Carlo Mazzacurati and for the Controcampo Italiano section it will be the Italian film director Roberta Torre.

Regarding the winners of the honorific Gold Lion it’s already known that they’re going to be awarded to Marco Bellocchio because, to quote the jury, he is “one of the biggest and most influential filmmakers of the last few decades in Italy”. Some of the most famous films of this director are In the name of the Father (1971), Marcia Trionfale (1975), The Conviction (1990), The Nanny (1998), My Mother’s Smile (2002), Good Morning, Night (2003) or Vincere (2009). After the prize award, a presentiation of the new unedited version of In the Name of the Father will take place with the original film material.

The American actor Al Pacino will receive the Jäger-LeCoultre award. It will be in a gala on the 4th of September which will precede the world premiere of his third film as a director, the documentary Wilde Salome, based on the life of Oscar Wilde.

The opening of the festival will take place on the 31st of August with the presentation of the world premiere of the latest George Clooney film, The Ides of March, written and directed by himself, which will run for the Golden Lion. It’s Clooney’s fourth film as a director after Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), Good Night and Good Luck (2005) and Leatherheads (2008).

Ara

Visit the city of the canals and don’t miss out on going to the 68th edition of the International Venice Film Festival which is celebrated in the Palazzo del Cinema from the 31st of August until the 10th of September. And after enjoying the films, relax by renting apartments in Venice

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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As part of the 54th edition of the Venice Bienale, the Civic Museum Foundation of Venice is hosting at the Palazzo Mocenigo an exhibition called A Textile Experience, a passion for colour. Miniartetextil and Ruth Adler Schnee, until the 28th of August.

The exhibition was curated by Luciano Caramel, in association with the Cultural Assocation Arte&Arte. The textile show makes a return to the Mocenigo Palace for the sixth year, in order to give an insight into the use of fibers in the development of contemporary arts.

The Miniartetextil story starts back in 1991, when Nazarena Bortolaso and Totaro Mimmo launched the first edition of the show, which has since focused on works of small format (20x20x20). The first pieces were made by Italian artists predominantly, and used fibers of all kinds of materials such as silk, iron, glass and luminous fibers.

A year later, the show had already begun to incorporate international artists into the brand new project. In twenty years, this artistic gathering, which has always used fiber as its core element for creation, has become known amongst art circles round the world, including artists in Japan, in Eastern Europe and various other corners of the earth.

The exhibition gives the chance to explore seven installations of huge scale – one of them is the work by Gabriela Crisci, Praying Carpets, which is formed of nine green fabric carpets, each with three yellow figures in the center, giving the impression of some kind of code. The piece was created in 2005, and measures 550x400x2 centimeters.

Hailing all the way from Lithuania is artist Jurate Kazakeviciute, with fiber installation work Celestial Virgin of the Cowboys. The conceptual piece, with a touch of surrealism uses different fibers and fabrics on objects.

Toba Toba from Argentina, presents his extra terrestrial style with the work Llanos de Notturn. The piece depicts what resembles an alien, disturbing land, with an illuminated tree, and a small figure of an animal looking at it – it is difficult to comprehend the work, but perhaps we are not being asked to comprehend it, but simply observe it, and the naive form of its design.

Particularly evocative are the installations by the Italian artists such as Resi Girardello, who are known for their fiber glass and transparent material based sculptures, which possess a special kind of fragility and ethereal beauty.

Also included is the work of Italian artists Dario Zeruto, and bookbinding artist Hèlene Genvrin, the creators of sculture book Cascada, built of 550 paper pages, made from cooked cotton, which one by one make the sculpture. The work is a beautiful representation of today’s culture, in which the culture of the book appears to be descending into a cascade of never-ending technological events.

Artist and designer Ana Paola Cibin presents her installation based on a large scale tapestry, called The Route. The piece takes as its reference point the artists exploration of the journeys of Marco Polo.

For more information http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it/frame.asp?pid=2051&musid=246&sezione=mostre

Nancy Guzman

Threads of silk, threads of cotton, and many other fabrics all play a special part in this beautiful exhibition which you can go along to if you are renting apartments in Venice The show invites us to discover the wonderful and delicate world of textiles.

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Translated by: Poppy
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There are possible few places in the world more perfect than the unforgettable Palazzo Fortuny in Venice (http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it/frame.asp?musid=2&sezione=musei&tipo=) for giving us the true essence of the syllable “TRA” – as it appears for example in the word transfer (transfer influence, art, experience…). To “transfer” is, in effect, strictly speaking, to decant a liquid from one container to another, and so, maybe the Palazzo Fortuny is, in some way a kind of magic glass where different worlds mix together, connected by the waters and the seas which are so synonymous with the city of Venice. A mixture of the past, and the future, the Western world, and the Eastern, the commercial world and the artistic, creation, science…

“TRA” is a sound which somehow makes reference to those acts and things which go beyond something – hence it’s appearance in words such as traverse, transformation, transaction, transit… But it also appears in a series of words of Sanskrit origin, such as mantra (transformation of the mind), tantra (a practice which takes us to a conscious plane where sexual energy and the cosmic collide), and yantra (signs and drawings which help us to surpass thresholds of energy, and also alludes to a liminal quality; the passing between one state and another).

Also, TRA, read backwards gives us the English word ART. Art, along with all the things above is the reason why curator Rosa Martínez from the Palazzo Fortuny Museum, philosopher and president of the Vervoordt Foundation Francesco Poli, have chosen TRA as the name of the extraordinary new exhibition, whose subtitle is The Edge of Becoming, which is on at the Palazzo Fortuny until the 27th of November, as part of the programme of the Venice Bienale.

It is quite possibly the most important show to come to Venice this year – and not just because of the high quality of artists’ work on show – big names such as Anish Kapoor, Marina Abramovic, Tàpies, Barceló, Gerhard Richter, Kounellis, Chillida, Hugo Pratt, Cristina García Rodero, Ana Mendieta, Maaria Wirkkala, Luisa Lambri, Soo Ja Kim, Giacometti… – it is the kind of artistic itinerary which criss-crosses the building’s different spaces in a permanent play of differing resonances. The result is exceptionally evocative, and strangely, dazzlingly beautiful (in spite of a rather oblique, plain illumination which doesn’t exactly help with the identification of the pieces). The exhibition is also important however, for the way in which the art works – a small number of which come with a small card – merge, and mix in with the wonderful collected objects which had been a part of the home and workshop of Mariano Fortuny  y Madrazo (1871-1949), thus creating an environment of aestheticism, innovation, experimentation, which is utterly unique.

Paul Oilzum

Visiting the Palazzo Fortuny is always an experience. The special alchemy of this exhibition is, in the words of its curator, quite unlike anything else in the world. Let yourself be swept away when you rent apartments in Venice

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Translated by: Poppy
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Until September 25, the Piazza San Marco Gallery in Venice presents the first Italian exhibition by the Xijing Collective, formed by artists Shaoxiong Chen (China), Tsuyoshi Ozawa (Japan) and Gimhongsok (Korea). The group is representative of Asia and has an emerging art project together for five years.

The exhibition, curated by Beatrice Leanza, is part of the residency program for artists that takes place in the atelier of the BLM. In addition, Davide Quadrio, Ayas Define and Rosella Mengazzo assist in the curatorial work.

Shaoxiong Chen was born in Santo, Guangdong Province, China in 1962. Chen is one of the best-known conceptual artists from China. He studied in the printing department of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and the Normal School of Art, Guangdong.

In his work Chen plays with perception of the images reflected in photography and video. The intention of this work is to provoke the viewer to look beyond what the eye sees in front of him. Chen’s life and human existence is composed of thousands of looks that are repeated and altered at a time, so no image can be seen in the same way twice. This conceptual view is the one he develops in his videos.

Tsuyoshi Ozawa was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1965. Through his work, he goes into the political and social problems facing humanity today. His concern is placed on diversity in nature despoiled by man and in the wars; hence he uses organic materials in his works which he prepares a meal with and takes pictures with the spectators tasting some of the work.

Ozawa uses interactive spaces where he can work with the viewers of his pieces to start a debate about topics such as war, injustice etc. Among others places, his work has been exhibited at the MoMA in New York, the Biennale in Venice in 2003 and the Biennale in Istanbul in the same year.

Gimhongsok ist a Korean conceptual artist who works with installations, videos, performances, painting and sculpture. He has an interesting relationship to communication. He works with different materials, electronic devices, synthetic materials, with those he creates his interesting architectural structures. The satire in his look on things is directed at the forms of communication within a society that looks at the world through the media.

These 3 artists go on a fictional journey of their works and the limits of the Xijing cartography, a place in China, and play with the symbolic meaning and power of the conjunction of their works.

If you would like to find out more about art from Asia today you should visit this fantastic exhibition.

For more information: http://www.bevilacqualamasa.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/100

Nancy Guzman

So if you happen to go on vacation staying in apartments in Venice come to the Galería Piazza San Marco and enjoy an excellent exhibition.

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Translated by: Maria
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Frenchman Jean Henri Fabre (1823-1915) was one of the most famed, and prestigious entomologists of his time, which was a period of extensive studies in natural history, and material sciences. The development of scientific knowledge, which revolutionised the cosmo-vision of the world, especially in the wake of the work carried out by Charles Darwin, infiltrated all corners of culture and art by the end of the century. We only need refer to the preoccupation of the Art Nouveau movement with the curves and contours of nature – or how biological theory was applied, all be it in an unfortunate way, to the worlds of politics and history.

It’s not so surprising then that a few of Jean Henri Fabre’s books, in particular the one dedicated to the life of flies, were such bestsellers. Passing from one century to the next, the influence of his passion for insects would travel down to the most famous of his great-grandchildren; the Flemish artist, choreographer and theatre director, Jan Fabre, some of whose best known works (such as The Beekeeper, 1998) consist of the design of dresses, and shrouds made from thousands of shells of different types of beetles, with the colour green being a particular favourite. Fabre is an example of somebody who passionately believes there are always still exciting, alluring links to be made between art and science.

Fabre’s beetle shirts have a precedent though, from the time of his great-grandfather. The famous green dress, as worn by legendary actress Ellen Terry as she played the role of Lady Macbeth in 1888, depicted in the well-known John Singer Sargent painting which hangs in the Tate Britain was in fact made from around 1000 beetle wings. Perhaps it was the indescribable chemistry between actress and dress which prompted Oscar Wilde to declare that, after seeing her leave a taxi, the grey street where he had seen the “vision of Lady Macbeth sat in a four wheel car dressed as a queen”, would never again be just any old street.

Insects, a symbol of the metamorphosis (beetles and flies being particularly evocative of the decomposing body of Christ), take centre stage in this latest, controversial work from Jan Fabre, on until the 16th of October at the New School of Santa María de la Misericordia (http://www.janfabre.be/Pages/Invitation.php), which coincides with the Venice Bienale. It is a revision of the famous Piety by Michaelangelo, made also from Carrara marble, where Mary presents the skull of the dead, and Jesus, carrying in his right hand the brain (“the neurones which make compassion“) of Jan Fabre himself.

Paul Oilzum

A really memorable work which offers to the public the chance to “concentrate one’s attention on the body, as a point of crystallization between life, death and the resurrection.” Try it out when you rent apartments in Venice

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Translated by: Poppy
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There are probably few artists today who have the both the critics and the public unanimous in their affections as sculptor, architect, and possibly even illusionist due to such unforgettable and inspiring use of space, and its impact on our senses; Anish Kapoor (Bombay, 1954).

His artistic preoccupation is to fill the most solid and impenetrable spaces from the ceilings to the walls; indeed, many of his pieces appear almost pregnant in shape to the spectator once they have ventured inside their gigantic interiors, where they’ll usually encounter the world’s vibration, creating the illusion of the shapes and the material, and blurring the line between the interior and the exterior. Even Kapoor’s less interactive work never fails to amaze, always offering us a plethora of sensations and new experiences.

It is this strange mix of play, mystery and charm which draws in the spectator, who tends to experience, as they stand before Kapoor’s vast, rich pieces, a heightened state of conscience.

Few settings are as ideal as the hazy reality of Venice, and the miraculous basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore (Isla de San Giorgio Maggiore, 30124), work of the incomparable Palladio (1508-1580), makes a perfect backdrop for one of the sculptors installations, Ascension, which was exhibited for the first time at the San Gimignano gallery in 2003, and again this year, as part of the Venice Bienale, with San Giorgio Maggiore hosting it’s first contemporary art show, on until 27th of November.

With its dark, beautiful facade, the San Giorgio Maggiore is not only a key part of the city’s urban image, but it also represents, with it’s elaborate interior space, a true feat in the evolution of European architecture, comparable in its heyday with the Michaelangelo at the Basílica de San Pedro in Rome.

All of the architectural richness of this monumental basilica, and the optical illusion of lengthening of an already considerably long nave (to the extent that of giving the impression of being almost independent) which gives us the false sense of being in a cross-shaped building, connects up the dome cross; the central point from which the building rhythmically unfurls all of its power.

It is right there, at the crossroads of the dome, where Kapoor’s installation releases a thin spiral of smoke which takes flight, on an ascendant journey towards the outer dome.

Judging by his own words, the idea behind Kapoor’s work, which seeks to illustrate the space what is there, and what appears to be there, is the transformation of the immaterial into an object. In this case, the smoke becomes a column, a phenomenon resounding with the mythical image of Moses following the column of smoke, a column of light, in the desert.

Paul Oilzum

Not that you need any further reason to visit San Giorgio Maggiore – but Kapoor’s Ascension will add even more magic to the experience when you rent apartments in Venice

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Translated by: Poppy
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Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt was born in Venice in 1725. He was an adventurer, a traveller, a diplomat, and a writer. But of course, the profession he is most known for is that of serial seducer. His name is now synonymous with the art of seduction and, like Don Juan, he even has his own entry in the dictionary, being the definition of a promiscuous and unscrupulous lover.

As a writer, he is best known for his autobiography, Historie de ma vie, which he finished in Bohemia before his death at 73 years of age. In this book he sheds light on the customs and rules of European society in the 17^th century. He also tells of the 132 romantic trysts that he enjoyed during his lifetime.

For Casanova and his sybaritic upper class contemporaries love and sex were casual and lacking in the characteristic seriousness of the 19^th century age of Romanticism. Flings and affairs were common at that time among nobles who tended to marry for social conventions rather than love.

Casanova was a multifaceted figure with a personality that was completely dominated by sexual impulses. His typical behaviour towards a new lover could be broken down into four acts: first he would discover an attractive woman, typically in a vulnerable position or with relationship problems; he would then strive to be become a perfect companion for her, dazzling her with his cleverness and wit. In the second act, with the woman’s sense of gratitude at its height, he would seduce her into a short and passionate affair. This would cumulate, in the third act, with him taking her to bed. After making his conquest he would soon lose interest and exit the stage in the fourth and final act.

The secret of Casanova’s success with women wasn’t down to any mysterious quality. Rather, he simply offered each woman what she was looking for. In his own words, “There is no honest woman with an uncorrupted heart whom a man is not sure of conquering by dint of gratitude.” He never employed violence or alcohol as tools for seduction. Instead, he used attentiveness and small favours to find his way into a woman’s heart.

Casanova valued intelligence in a woman: “After all, a beautiful woman without a mind of her own leaves her lover with no resource after he had physically enjoyed her charms.” His attitude towards educated women, however, was typical for his time: “In a woman, learning is out of place; it compromises the essential qualities of her sex … no scientific discoveries have been made by women as this requires a vigour which the female sex cannot have. But in simple reasoning and in delicacy of feeling we must yield to women.”

Ara

If you rent apartments in Venice one of the most romantic cities in the world. Here you can come and see where Casanova began his career as a lover and serial seducer extraordinaire.

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Translated by: Ben Palmer
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