The Swiss Artist with the Very Cool Name: Not Vital in Venice - House to Watch the Sunset and snow & water & ice

House to Watch the Sunset by Not Vital (2021) - Photo: Cat Bauer

(Venice, Italy) House to Watch the Sunset by Not Vital, the Swiss artist with the very cool name, shimmers inside the 16th-century Benedictine Church of San Giorgio Maggiore designed by Andrea Palladio. The majestic contemporary aluminum tower was constructed by Italian craftspeople and is the fifth iteration of Vital's ambitious global project, which is to produce a House to Watch the Sunset on every continent on the planet, each structure built with different local materials, but each with the same very specific mathematical form and dimensions -- which are:

tower 13 X 3.40 X 3.40 m

3 outside stairs

1 with 13

1 with 26

1 with 39 steps

each 1 is 25 X 25 cm +

45 degrees

the 1st floor has 1 door

the 2nd 1 door + 1 window

the 3rd 1 door + 2 windows

the 4th 1 door + 3 windows

4 rooms 3 X 3 X 3 m

+ 1 bed + 1 table + 1 chair

no water or electricity

just enough

to make the sun set

Vital was born on February 15, 1948 in Sent, a village in the Engadin Valley in the Swiss Alps, and has lead a nomadic life, living also in the U.S., Niger, Italy, Brazil and China while maintaining his Swiss base. He is a sculptor and a painter and practices the art of SCARCH -- an acronym for sculpture-architecture -- which is also the name of the exhibition and includes seven other works displayed inside the sacristy and abbey. 

 

Tintoretto 2020, 2 silver boxes, 27 X 29 X 29 cm by Not Vital 

Photo: Nally Bellati of Contessanally

 

Four of the works are silver "portraits" in the form of two silver boxes made by silver smiths in Agadez, Niger, "the result of a strict mathematical model that converts a date of birth into abstract form."  The silver box portraits are of Andrea Palladio, who designed the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Tintoretto, whose paintings adorn the church, Pope Pius VII, who was elected Pope in the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio (in Venice, not Rome!) and crowned in the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore on March 21, 1800. The fourth 2 silver boxes portrait is of Pope Francis.

 

SCARCH is a collateral event of the Biennale International Architecture Exhibition, and runs through November 21, 2021.

Not Vital, 700 Snowballs, 2001, installation view

 

Vital had previously had an exhibition with a mathematical theme at the Abbazia of San Giorgio Maggiore in 2013 entitled 700 Snowballs, curated by Alma Zevi, which consisted of 700 glass balls individually blown by the Vetreria Pino Signoretto glass makers on the island of Murano.

 

Val Sinestra (2019) by Not Vital at ALMA ZEVI Venice - Photo: Cat Bauer

 

Now, ALMA ZEVI presents snow & water & ice, Not Vital's first solo exhibition at her Venice gallery. Part of the exhibition is Val Sinestra (2019), an installation that originally consisted of 80 transparent glass bottles blown by Finnish glass makers and was exhibited in 2018. Val Sinesta refers to a location in the mineral-rich springs of the Grisons region in Switzerland, famous for their healing  properties. Vital put water from the Val Sinesta springs into the glass bottles. During the exhibition, over time, the mineral-rich sediment split from the water and sank to the bottom of each vessel.

 

For the Venice exhibit, Vital has recreated the Finnish exhibit. However, instead of 80 bottles, there are 42, and he has substituted the water from the Grisons region with the water from the Venice lagoon to see if any changes in the water take place during the exhibition. 

Since Not Vidal is so keen on numbers and plotting exhibitions with mathematical equations, I was curious as to why there were 42 bottles in the Venice exhibit. It is a very specific number. I asked Alma Zevi's assistant. She said, "I don't think there is a particular reason." I said, "That makes no sense. Forty-two is a weird number." She paused. "He does seem to have a thing for numbers."

I then asked Alma Zevi. She paused, and then confirmed that there was no particular reason, which I again found difficult to believe. I wondered: Had the people surrounding Not Vital become so jaded that the monumental significance of the numbers lurking beneath the surface, hidden in plain sight, was commonplace to them?

Not Vital in Venice, August 27, 2021 - Photo: Cat Bauer

Then Not Vital himself arrived and bounded into Alma Zevi's gallery, which is a small space -- certainly nothing like the soaring ceilings of the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore. He was sort of like an electrical storm in human form. I lifted my iPad to take his photo, and he charged into a closeup. 

 

I asked him why there were 42 bottles. I expected to hear something like a Divine Mathematical Equation written on tablets from the heavens. He paused, then motioned to another fellow outside the gallery: "Ask him."

I went out the door and up to the guy, who turned out to be a clever fellow named Eric, an expat from Pennsylvania by way of Beijing, who was Not Vidal's assistant. I said, "Not Vital told me to ask you why there are 42 bottles in this exhibition." I waited to hear the Answer to Life.

"Because that is how many bottles could fit in the car," said Eric. "We drove to Venice from Switzerland."

 

snow & water & ice is at the Alma Zevi Venice Gallery at Salizzada Malipeiro until November 6, 2021.  

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

#VeniceBooks: "Simple Determination" - Burano Is a Neverland, Yet it Exists - Celebrating 30 Years of Martina Vidal Venezia

"Burano is a neverland, but it exists." From Semplice Determinazione by Andrea Bettini

(Venice, Italy) On Friday evening, July 30, 2021, I was whisked across the waters of the Venice lagoon to Burano -- the island of colorful houses, fisherman and lace -- in a boat taxi provided by the atelier Martina Vidal Venezia. The occasion was the launch of a book entitled Simple Determination, celebrating the 30 years that the family lacemaking company has been in business. 

"For visitors, the island of Burano became the natural backdrop for their dreams. For residents, it was the best place to live in the entire world. That's what Burano was. A happy landing. A beloved home. ...At exactly nine o'clock on the morning of July 31, 1991, the doors to Artigianato del Merletto da Martina were thrown open."

Martina Vidal and her brother, Sergio, were born into a close-knit family of lacemakers and are constantly finding ways to refresh the ancient tradition by hauling the past into the future. The siblings grew up on Burano watching their grandmothers, aunts and mother work together with needlepoint to create dainty masterpieces call "punto in aria" or "points in the air."

Sergio Vidal, Cat Bauer, Martina Vidal at Semplice Determinazione launch  

Photo: Roberto Rosa

Researchers have concluded that the ingenious inventors of needlelace or "merletto" -- working independently from a backing fabric, indispensable in embroidery -- were aristocratic women during Renaissance Venice. Surrounded by bold, refined ideas, the noble women and their intimate circles would spin their artistic urges into delicate lace while enjoying enlightened conversations.

Thanks to its exceptional quality, Venetian lace gained fame throughout all of Europe. Lace became the top fashion accessory for the ruling classes. As time went on, thousands of craftswomen were needed to keep up with the demand, providing work for the proletariat, with Burano as its center. 

Sergio Vidal, Federica Repetto, presenter, Andrea Bettini, author (on screen), Riccardo Petito, presenter, Martina Vidal at book launch for Semplice Determinazione

Next the French and Flemish got in on the act, and new technologies paved the way for mass production. Fashions changed; revolutions overthrew aristocracies, and lace was no longer in vogue. Needlelace became a domestic hobby, passed down from mother to daughter, going through periods of decline and revival.

Then, thanks to the efforts of Countess Andriana Zon Marcello and backed by Princess Margherita of Savoy, a lacemaking school opened on Burano on March 24, 1872, reviving the local economy -- which is where the Vidal's great-grandmother learned the art. Sadly, the rally was shortlived. By 1973, the school had closed and is now the Burano Lace Museum.

"Burano is a neverland, but it exists... Burano was the center of the universe for its inhabitants -- especially for its children, who left the island for Venice only when they started high school. Because Burano was their own fantastic world." 

The Vidals are at the forefront in keeping the art of merletto alive. Martina said, "The biggest problem is finding lacemakers."

The local population has dwindled to about 2400 residents, and these days the painstaking, intricate art is practiced by only a handful of older women, each excelling in one stitch, which is then put together to create the final product. Real handmade lace from Burano is precious and rare.

Atelier Martina Vidal Venezia supplements their handmade lace with contemporary, high-quality linens and luxury bespoke collections made from silk, cashmere and the finest cotton, and collaborates with top designers and fashion houses. They have a discerning clientele that includes celebrities and royalty, but the only name they were willing to reveal was that of Magic Johnson, who has publicly declared his passion for their fashion.

"

Garden of Martina Vidal Venezia, former home of artist Umberto Moggioli

Photo: Cat Bauer

Sergio said, "When the sun sets and the tourists leave, the Buranelli have the island back to themselves."

The atelier is located in the reinvented home of Umberto Moggioli, a member of the Burano School, a group of struggling artists who, in the early 1900s, found inspiration on the island, attracted by its haunting landscapes and modest way of life. Moggioli's wife Anna turned their home into a gathering place for artists like Gino Rossi, Arturo Martini and Pio Semeghini, members of the Burano School who would go on to find success, and whose work can be seen today in Ca' Pesaro, Venice's International Gallery of Modern Art.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Burano was a humble paradise where fishermen, lacemakers and artists lived side by side.

Trattpria Da Romano & Atelier Martina Vidal Venezia - Generations on Burano

Artists have to eat, and the local Barbaro family fed them at their small bottega. In return, the artists gifted the family with works of art. Around 1920, Romano Barbaro transformed the bottega into Trattoria Da Romano.

Da Romano is renowned today for over 450 paintings on its walls, and the names of celebrities like Hemingway, Charlie Chaplin, Maria Callas, Fellini, Robert De Niro and Keith Richards recorded in its 26 "Libroni." It's also a favorite haunt of designer Philippe Starck, who used a table at the trattoria as his office for more than ten years, and has maintained a home on Burano for decades. 

The book launch was held in the garden of Umberto and Anna Moggioli's former house and artist hangout, now headquarters for Martina Vidal Venezia and their friends and clients. And the food was provided by Da Romano, which is still owned by the Barbaro family. 

Inside Martina Vidal Venezia - Photo: Cat Bauer

"This book was born of a desire to rediscover ourselves, to focus on the path we have followed together, but above all from a desire to understand where we want to go from here." 

The subtitle of the book encapsulates the secret of the Vidals' success: Simple Determination. Because good people can do great things.  

Ciao from Venezia,
#VeniceBooks

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Portions of this article were originally published in a slightly different form in the Spring/Summer 2019 edition of Luxos Magazine.