A Deluge of Artists and Artisans in the Venice Lagoon & Lori Weitzner's "Ode to Color" at Palazzo Mora

Alchemy by Lori Weitzner - Photo: Cat Bauer
"So pervasive is the association of gold with beauty, warmth, worth and nobility
that it has become both a substance and a symbol in our everyday lives.
Radiant and rare, gold is a coveted object,
but also a signifier of power, achievement, divinity, adoration.
...These touches do more than beautify; they elevate and inspire,
motivating us to move beyond the mundane, and toward our loftiest goals"

(Venice, Italy) I had been invited to the inauguration of American textile designer Lori Weitzner's "Ode to Color" installation inside the European Cultural Center's Palazzo Mora back on April 21, during the preview week of Biennale Art, but I could not wade through all the openings to get there. That turned out to be a good thing because when I finally did visit the palace, I had the chance to explore Lori's whimsical room for as long as I wanted without the crush of a crowd.

The Biennale di Venezia International Art Exhibition normally runs during odd years, while the Architecture Exhibition runs during even years. But in 2020, because of the pandemic, nobody was traveling anywhere, so there was no International Architecture Exhibition. Instead, the Biennale artistic directors of all the different departments -- Art, Architecture, Cinema, Music, Dance and Theater -- dug into Biennale's Historical Archives for Contemporary Arts (ASAC) and curated The Disquieted Muses - When La Biennale di Venezia Meets History, a riveting retrospective that marked Biennale's 125th anniversary, opening with a clip from June 14, 1934 -- a pivotal moment in history when Adolf Hitler met Benito Mussolini for the first time at the airport on the Lido in Venice. 

As the Covid pandemic ebbed and surged, and the world argued about vaccinations and whether to wear a mask, it appeared that the Muses had grown even more Disquieted. But those inside Venice lived a different history in the making -- an empty, peaceful city void of tourists with clear water and fish in the canals. 

The International Architecture Exhibition was bumped to an odd year, 2021, which bumped the International Art Exhibition into the even year of April 2022. Everything seemed topsy-turvy. Fittingly, Biennale Arte 2022, curated by Cecilia Alemani, was entitled "The Milk of Dreams," inspired by the 1950s children's book by Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, about "a magical world where life is constantly re-envisioned through the prism of the imagination."

Not only had Biennale been delayed due to the pandemic -- the massive Homo Faber contemporary craftsmanship event had also been postponed from 2020 to April 2022 and set to run at the same time, overlapping the opening of Biennale Arte 2022. The Homo Faber Event mobilized top artisans and expert craftsmakers throughout Europe and Japan to gather on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore in the Venice lagoon, reachable only by boat.

At the beginning of 2022, all around the planet, the creative world swirled into action. Artists, artisans, curators and their entourages, and all their physical works prepared to emerge from a global lockdown to arrive in April in Venice -- an isolated town built on water that borders the Adriatic Sea, connected to the mainland by a single causeway -- for a month dedicated to creativity. It is challenging to transport art and people to Venice in normal times, let alone during a pandemic. But it is also difficult to squish creative people into solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time, and it was time to burst out of the cell.

Out Loud by Lori Weitzner - Photo: Cat Bauer
"Bold and uninhibited, fiercely energetic, powerful, fearless, modern.
This is the world of Out Loud colors, those bright, saturated hues
popularized during the 20th century's technological advancements.
Electric lights, moving pictures, and cartoon animation took nature's palette and amplified it
with an intensity that altered our cultural landscape. ...
the Out Loud color world has been a darling of the avant-garde,
and anyone else for that matter who is unafraid to be noticed, to be heard, to be counted."

As April got closer, and the openings of of Homo Faber and Biennale Arte approached, all the pent-up artistic energy that had been building during the pandemic started to explode throughout the museums, palaces, galleries, workshops and ateliers of Venice in a kaleidoscope of creativity. The town raced to get ready -- global pandemic be damned.

Venice has been putting on a show for over a thousand years, and she had grand plans to open the city back up with a bang. Freshly restored palaces would spew contemporary art; old boat-repair and blacksmith workshops would transform into art galleries; and deconsecrated churches would serve as the backdrops of art installations. There would be art in the streets and art on the walls. There would be art sprinkled throughout restaurants and hotel lobbies. There would be art in the libraries. There would be art everywhere.

In coordination with the international arrivals for the Biennale Art Festival, and the Homo Faber Event out on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, all the local artisans and craftsmakers throughout the calli and campi of Venice planned to throw open their doors and offer the public a chance to meet them up close and personal through a series of live workshops, demonstrations and other events through "In Città" itineraries. 

Plus there would be powerful contemporary art displayed in venerable museums filled with ancient masters like Anish Kapoor at the Accademia, and Anselm Kiefer at Palazzo Ducale. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection would have its first opening since the pandemic began with Surrealism and Magic, with an entire room of surrealistic works by Leonora Carrington, the author of "The Milk of Dreams," who had inspired the whole thing in the first place -- not to mention the opening of the Human Safety Net in the Procuratie in Piazza San Marco for the first time in 500 years. (I am omitting the many new galleries and spaces and palaces that I would later discover because there are too many to mention -- there is an even an art colony growing down deep in Castello.) It felt like Venice was gearing up to be the center of the artistic universe.

Then — shockingly — in keeping with the Surrealism theme, Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and Europe was impossibly at war. Tanks rolled. Buildings exploded. People fled. Russian airspace shut down, causing flight disruptions, making it even more difficult to reach Venice. The muses needed to go into overdrive to help the gods and mankind reach their artistic and intellectual heights.

Yet, somehow the Queen of the Adriatic pulled the whole thing off. Spring arrived, and so did the travelers coming from abroad. As the outside world descended into chaos, inside Venice, wrapped in the protective arms of the lagoon, another world overflowing with openings and inaugurations and bubbles of prosecco existed, so many events that it was impossible to reach everything even traveling on a magic carpet. Out in front of the Gallerie dell'Accademia, as we waited for the boat taxi to take us to Anish Kapoor's new headquarters at Palazzo Manfrin, I said to the artist, "It almost seems like the dark energy of war fuels the bright energy of creativity," and Kapoor called me an optimist. He is probably right...

Fragrant Woods by Lori Weitzner - Photo: Cat Bauer
"Capturing the colors of an ancient forest -- its umber bark, velvet moss, sepia soil and variegated greens --
the Fragrant Woods color world is rustic and grounding, nurturing, timeless.
It contains the sights and scents of our simplest experiences and deepest roots.
It is the blue-green smell of fresh spruce; it is the aged surface of the old oak desk in the study;
it is the weathered finish of worn leather, the noble green of the holly bush in winter
and the deep brown of the scented soil in late spring."

I finally made it to Lori Weitzner's "Ode to Color" at the beginning of May. Amazingly, I had never been in Palazzo Mora before, even though I have known the European Cultural Center for years, but in their other locations. Running simultaneously with the Venice Biennale, the ECC hosts hundreds of artists every year, and has a more commercial vibe than the Biennale. Palazzo Mora had an appealing buzz and a labyrinth of rooms stuffed with contemporary art and clever attendants to guide you.

Lori Weitzner is an American textile and product designer, with work in permanent collections of museums like the Cooper-Hewitt in New York and The Victoria Albert in London. I had met her in Venice at the end of April at a private cocktail party in her honor, and she was delightful. Her work reflects her spirit. The installation in Palazzo Mora is a manifestation of her best-selling book Ode to Color: The Ten Essential Palettes for Living and Design.

The installation was like an Alice in Wonderland of color and scents. There were 10 different transparent cubes filled with objects of 10 different colors, miniature worlds with intriguing themes. There were also 10 different perfume bottles on display with enchanting names like Night Shadows and Earthly that apparently matched the worlds inside the cubes. I spritzed myself with all the scents which was sort of like sniffing wizardry vapors and decided I liked Alchemy, Out Loud and Fragrant Woods the best. 

Then I noticed a screen that invited me to take the Ode to Color Analysis, "eighteen engaging questions that will guide you to the color world or worlds that will best suit your home and work interiors and enhance the way you live."

The questions were engaging and made me think. When I finished, the results were amazing -- the same three worlds I had chosen by their scents were the ones recommended by the Ode to Color analysis: Alchemy, Out Loud and Fragrant Woods! Try it yourself!

The Ode to Color results are in

Lori Weitzner's "Ode to Color" installation will be at the ECC's Palazzo Mora, along with hundreds of other artists, until the Venice Biennale International Art Festival ends on November 27, 2022.

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog