Google Cultural Institute and Venice Art Biennale Team Up

Google Cultural Institute at Venice Biennale

(Venice, Italy) The Google Cultural Institute and the Venice Biennale believe in sharing knowledge. Launched in 2011, the Google Cultural Institute is google-izing the world of art and culture in order "to make important cultural material available and accessible to everyone and to digitally preserve it to educate and inspired future generations."

Reps from the Google Cultural Institute were here in Venice on October 22, 2015 to open their space over by Ca' Giustinian, La Biennale Headquarters on Calle del Ridotto, and to announce that you can enjoy the 2015 Venice Art Biennale, All the World's Futures, by cyberspace. 

Those of you who have visited the Venice Art Biennale can see it again; those who are still planning to come can get an idea of what you can expect. And those of you who cannot make it to Venice will be able to digitally experience the world's oldest Biennale, which was first held in 1895 -- you can watch it even after it's over.

I am posting the press release below, slightly edited -- the text is tiny; I have tried to reformat it, but am unable. In any event, you can follow the links to wander around the exhibitions of 80 different countries -- almost as good as being in Venice!
 

A peek backstage - Google in Venice

La Biennale di Venezia and the Google Cultural Institute announced that they are making a selection of artworks and pavilions from the Biennale Arte 2015, curated by Okwui Enwezor, available online on the Google Cultural Institute. The collaboration was announced in Rome on October 21, 2015 at the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, in the presence of the Minister Dario Franceschini, by the President of La Biennale di Venezia Paolo Baratta and the Director of the Google Cultural Institute, Amit Sood.

The project, thanks to the cutting edge technology developed by the Google Cultural Institute, is a first experiment aimed at expanding the possibilities of bringing people closer to the Biennale Arte 2015. On the one hand, it will encourage those who want to explore the exhibition before setting off for Venice, while on the other, it will allow to capture highlight of the exhibition so people can experience the artworks online after the closure of the Biennale Arte on November 22, 2015.

A peek backstage - Google in Venice

Starting from October 21, in the final month of the Biennale Arte, the International Exhibition and the exhibits of 80 Countries in 70 National Pavilions will be accessible online on g.co/biennalearte2015 and www.labiennale.org/en/art/online-2015exhibition/. Viewers will be able to browse a diverse collection of more than 4,000 artworks and photos in multiple digital exhibitions. Users will also be able to see 360 degree panoramic views of the internal and external exhibitions at Giardini and the Arsenale thanks to more than 80 sites photographed with Street View technology.

The Google Cultural Institute, alongside La Biennale di Venezia, has also created an app for mobile devices which can be downloaded from the Google Play store which grants access to the digital exhibition and allows users to explore two virtual tours using Google Cardboard, a simple virtual reality viewer.

"The collaboration between La Biennale di Venezia and the Google Cultural Institute confirms just how much of a great ally technology can be in appreciating our cultural heritage," said the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, Dario Franceschini, who also underlined "the importance of technical innovation in broadening cultural communication, in creating new ways of use and overcoming distances, as well as encouraging greater dialogue."

A peek backstage - Google in Venice

“This collaboration with Google is the first and a very important experiment, which I believe can be further developed in the future in a variety of possible, if yet still unknown ways,” said Paolo Baratta, President of La Biennale di Venezia. “We’ll do our best! With more technological abilities we’ll be able to better link them with a stronger editorial ability, making better use of technology both for our documentation as well as to support the public. This bet on using modern technologies is most definitely not aimed to substitute the experience in person with virtual viewing, but, on the contrary, to compliment and enrich the direct viewing experience.
 

A peek backstage - Google in Venice

“We are proud to work with La Biennale di Venezia, a world-leading exhibition that brings many countries, cultures and their approaches to art to the center of the cultural debate" said Amit Sood, Director of the Google Cultural Institute. "The Internet is a powerful tool for the democratization of art and culture, a force that helps cultural institutions to extend their impact. It empowers cultural institutions to make their artworks and treasures accessible to a greater number of people in the world and preserve them for the future”.

A peek backstage - Google in Venice

La Biennale di Venezia, founded in 1865, stands at the forefront of research and promotion of new contemporary art trends and organizes exhibitions and researches in all its specific sectors: Art (1895), Architecture (1980), Cinema (1932), Dance (1999), Music (1930), and Theatre (1934). Its activities are documented at the Historical Archives of Contemporary Arts (ASAC) that recently has been completely renovated.

The Google Cultural Institute and its partners are putting the world’s cultural treasures at the fingertips of Internet users and are building tools that allow the cultural sector to share more of its diverse heritage online. The Google Cultural Institute has partnered with more than 800 institutions giving a platform to over 170 thousand artworks and a total of 6 million photos, videos, manuscripts and other documents of art, culture and history.

Happy exploring!

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog 

Venice and the Cruise Ships - Blocked Gianni Berengo Gardin Exhibition Opens in Piazza San Marco

Venice and the Cruise Ships by Gianni Berengo Gardin - Courtesy Fondazione Forma

(Venice, Italy) Gianni Berengo Gardin, whom The Telegraph called "Italy's Greatest Photographer," was supposed to have an exhibition opening at Palazzo Ducale on September 19, 2015 about the cruise ships in Venice entitled, Monsters in Venice. Luigi Brugnaro, the controversial new mayor of Venice, and a strong supporter of the cruise ship industry, postponed the exhibition to coincide with an exhibit about his own plans for the lagoon. Berengo Gardin would not accept those conditions, and the show was cancelled.

In addition, Brugnaro accused Berengo Gardin of "distorting" the photos to make the cruise ships appear larger by using a telephoto lens, prompting all sorts of ordinary citizens to display their own photos and professional photographers to challenge what he said. Even further, Mayor Brugnaro accused Berengo Gardin of "denigrating" Venice -- the mayor used the same word to publicly attack me, Cat Bauer, on Twitter, as well as other people who care deeply about the welfare of La Serenissima. .

Gianni Berengo Gardin courtesy of Forma Foundation

Yesterday, October 22, 2015, the Gianni Berengo Gardin VENEZIA E LE GRANDI NAVI exhibition opened 200 meters away from Palazzo Ducale in the Olivetti Showroom designed by the renowned architect, Carlo Scarpa, in Piazza San Marco. The line waiting outside the door proved that banning an exhibition is sure to draw a crowd.

The exhibition was presented by FAI - Fondo Ambiente Italiano, the Italian Environment Fund, sort of like an Italian National Trust, in collaboration with Forma per la Fotografia e Contrasto, and was curated by Alessandra Mauro.

Andrea Carandini, the President of FAI stated, "The aim of this exhibition is not alimentary improvisations and controversy, but to open a new phase for Venice, even with opponents, which is, finally, not based on gossip, closed minds and partial studies, but on as much research as possible about the miraculous, complicated and fragile natural system, and the social and cultural development of the lagoon city, viewed as a wonderful complex." FAI hopes to ignite a discussion about excessive tourism all throughout Italy. 

Venezia e le Grandi Navi by Gianni Berengo Gardin - courtesy Fondazione Forma

The 85-year-old Gianni Berengo Gardin wrote a letter to Mayor Luigi Brugnaro -- a wealthy, conservative businessman who made his money with a temp agency called "Umana Holding," or "Human Holding," who was born on the mainland and does not live in Venice, is the father of five children by two different wives -- but who yanked books about tolerance and different kinds of families from Venice's pre-schools -- and whose Beat-poet father was the leader of the factory workers in Marghera. Berengo Gardin's letter expresses how it feels to come under personal attack by the new mayor. 

I have translated the letter into American English (for example, Italians don't say "shoot yourself in the foot," it's more like, "hit yourself in the foot with a hoe"), below:

SOME THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO SAY TO THE MAYOR

by Gianni Berengo Gardin

I'm very sorry when someone shoots themselves in the foot; therefore, I'm sorry for the mayor of Venice. I'm also very grateful because blocking my exhibit at Palazzo Ducale did me a big favor: all the Italian newspapers and foreign press (Le Monde, The Guardian, El Pais, The New York Times, and many others) have written about it extensively. And probably, if it were not for all this attention from the press, the exhibition would be seen by far fewer people.

I must also be grateful to Celentano (the best-selling Italian singer Adriano Celentano, who strongly supported Berengo Gardin) and all artists, architects, intellectuals and ordinary citizens who have stood up for me. I must also thank Roberto Koch and Alessandra Mauro of the Forma Foundation, who curated the exhibition and the book; without their commitment this exhibition would not be possible. And naturally, FAI.

I am doubly happy that FAI invited me to display my photos at the Olivetti Store in Piazza San Marco: I photographed several works for the designs of the architect Carlo Scarpa, and for over 15 years worked for Olivetti. 

Mayor Brugnaro insulted me several times: he called me a "loser", an "intellectual hack" and a "Solone." He said that I denigrated Venice. He called me an "untouchable" -- I didn't know that, and I thank him for educating me -- and he attacked me for having a double last name.  

My family has been Venetian for five generations. We had a store of Venetian crafts and glass pearls in Calle Larga San Marco. The Berengo Gardin store was cited in 1905 by the writer Frederick Rolfe Baron Corvo in his book about Venice, The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole (1909, Cassell, London, 1934). My grandparents' house overlooked Piazzetta dei Leoncini; my father was practically born in Piazza San Marco; and, as for me, even if I was born in S. Margherita Ligure, I lived in Venice for 30 years. My wife is Venetian and my children were born in Venice. 

For this reason, the problem of the cruise ships passing through the Venice lagoon is particularly close to my heart: because I feel venezianissimo (Venetian to the extreme).

Maybe the mayor does not know that I also dedicated as many as 10 books to Venice, exalting in every way her beauty, starting with one of my first, Venise de Saison, published in 1965.

Next, regarding the accusation that I used some kind of "telephoto lens" to create artificial effects, I would stress the fact that I even had to use a wide-angle lens because the ships were so big they did not fit into the viewfinder of the camera. Only in some cases did I use a 90 millimeter lens, which is not telephoto. 

To conclude, Mayor Brugnaro must know that the Italian Constitution, Article 21, says: "Everyone has the right to freely express their thoughts in speech, writing or any other means of communication." 

Venezia e Le Grandi Navi by Gianni Berengo Gardin - courtesy Fondazione Forma

The photo exhibition of Gianni Berengo Gardin Venezia e Le Grandi Navi runs from October 22, 2015 until January 6, 2016.

Gianni Berengo Gardin
Venezia e le grandi navi
October 22, 2015 to January 6, 2016

Olivetti Showroom
Piazza San Marco 101
Venice
Tel. 041 5228387 
fainegoziolivetti@fondoambiente.it

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Netàr a Corte - Cleaning Day in Venice 2015

Netàr in Corte

(Venice, Italy) It's that time of year again when a group of private individuals who love Venice come together to clean up their city, all on their own initiative. Organized by the group, the Associazione Masegni & Nizioleti, a pack of volunteers blitzed through the city yesterday, cleaning graffiti off walls, wells and memorial plaques, as well as hacking off  "love locks" from Venice's bridges. 

"Netàr" means "to clean" in the Venetian language. Masegni are stones that Venetians have been using for centuries to pave the streets, which are quarried from the Euganean Hills, also known as the Venetian Hills. 

www.masegni.org

Nizioleti are the white and black street signs you see everywhere in Venice, marking the names of streets and campos. Back in March, 2014, two different Facebook groups, one dedicated to the Masegni and one to the Nizioleti, combined their efforts to create the new group, the Associazione Masegni & Nizioleti. 

The Fearless Warriors slipped into gauzy white Super Suits and attacked the walls and wells with magic Graffitti Eater, and hacked off locks with bolt cutters with names like Excalibur and Durlindana. They scraped off each letter of graffiti by hand, using wire brushes, and sliced off every lock with ease with their mighty swords. 

The Clean Up

After several hours of labor and camaraderie, covered with dust and speckled with paint, the Fearless Warriors gathered together to feast and enjoy the satisfaction of a job well-done. 

The group of volunteers has been steadily growing since it began back in 2012, which you can read about here:

Cleaning Day in Venice

To view many more photos of the event, click HERE to go to Netàr a Corte on Facebook, or HERE to visit the group's Facebook page.

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

The Beat Goes On: Poets at Aman Canal Grande in Venice - Ferruccio Brugnaro, Jack Hirschman & Agneta Falk

Agneta Falk, Ferruccio Brugnaro, Jack Hirschman, Maria Brugnaro at Aman Canal Grande

(Venice, Italy) The Italian poet, Ferruccio Brugnaro, born in Mestre on August, 18, 1936, worked for more than 30 years at the chemical plants at Porto Marghera on the mainland outside Venice, the site of a huge oil-refining and petrochemical complex. During his employment at Porto Marghera, Brugnaro became a strong union leader and compassionate poet, expressing rage at the workers' conditions with his compelling words.

Jack Hirschman

On the other side of the world, the American poet, Jack Hirschman, born in the Bronx on December 13, 1933 to working-class parents, got his PhD in comparative literature at Indiana University. While teaching at UCLA during the Viet Nam war, he heard that "A" students were excused from the draft. He announced that all his students who were draft-eligible got a grade of "A," and was terminated from the university, thus beginning his life as a poet. He now lives in San Francisco, together with his second wife, the poet, Agneta Falk (Sweden, 1947), where he was appointed Poet Laureate in 2006.

Beat Poets at Aman Canal Grande

Jack Hirschman had encountered Ferruccio Brugnaro's work in the '80s when helping to edit an international journal of poetry, but the two didn't actually meet until January, 1993, when Hirschman was on a reading tour in Italy. They read together at Lenin Hall, then spent a week traveling around the Veneto where Brugnaro and his wife, Maria, read Hirschman's poems in Italian, and he read them in the original English.

Maria Brugnaro at Aman Canal Grande

 Hirschman said:

"I decided, during that week of happy camaraderie, and 

because I see in Ferruccio's work a resonance that harks 

back to Mayakovsky, as well as forward toward the 

necessary future of mankind, to translate his poems in a 

selection that might include his rage, his righteousness, 

his tenderness and, through all, that spine of 

lyripolitical discourse so very important for the days 

ahead." 

These two impressive poets are no longer young (Brugnaro is 79; Hirschman will be 82), but their hearts and passions remain strong. Together with their wives, Maria Brugnaro, a former schoolteacher, and the poignant poet Agneta Falk, they delivered a spirited evening yesterday at the Aman Canal Grande for the Slow Words readers' club, presented by Paolo Graziano and Diana Marrone, Slow Words fanzine founders and editors.

Diana Marrone and Paolo Graziano at Aman Canal Grande

I knew before I arrived that Ferruccio Brugnaro was the father of Luigi Brugnaro, Venice's extremely wealthy, conservative and controversial new mayor. But nothing had prepared me for an evening of what appeared to be real-life communists still talking the talk in the year 2015.

I was stunned when I heard Ferruccio Brugnaro's poem Tutti Assolti al Processo per Le Morti al Petrolchimico (All Acquitted at the Trial for the Deaths at Petrolchemical) read first by Brugnaro in Italian, and then by Hirschman in English, written in reaction to the acquittal of those Brugnaro held responsible for the suffering of his fellow workers.

In March, 1998, here in Italy, 31 top managers of the chemical industry were put on trial for knowingly exposing their workers to harmful chemicals; 149 were dead, and over 500 were suffering from cancer. (Ironically, Felice Casson, the prosecutor who pursued the action against the chemical industry in the late '90s through 2004, was just defeated this past June by Luigi Brugnaro, the son of Ferrucio and Maria Brugnaro, in the election for the new mayor of Venice.)

Ferrucio Brugnaro's poem expressed the outrage he felt when the top managers were all acquitted on the grounds that when the deaths started in the 70s, they could not have known the production's deadly impact on the workers. "Non dite, non dite che non sapevate." ("Do not say, do not say you did not know.")

Cat Bauer and Ferruccio Brugnaro

The evening was an echo of the Beat Generation at its best, when poets and writers were openly critical of society and shouted its injustices with courage and comradery. Because, of course, those chemical managers knew they were killing their own people, and did nothing to stop it.

However, I still can't get my mind wrapped around how two parents like Ferruccio and Maria Brugnaro, who seem to have fought so long and hard against corporate greed and disrespect for human life, managed to produce a son like Luigi, who grew up to yank 49 books about tolerance out of Venice's school system, and wants to dredge up the deadly heavy metal waste from the petrochemical industry that lies on the bottom of the lagoon -- the same waste that killed his father's comrades -- to make way for the controversial cruise ship industry. Sometimes I wonder if Luigi Brugnaro, who made his fortune with a temp-worker company named "Umana Holding" ("Human Holding") really understands the dark forces with whom he has made friends.

Below there is a poem by Jack Hirschman about Ferruccio Brugnaro, and below that is a poem, translated into English, from Fist of Sun by Ferruccio Brugano.

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Ferruccio Brugnaro
by Jack Hirschman
(1998)

When he turned
to retrieve from his car
the coat you needed
for the chill on
our passeggiata,

Ferruccio Brugnaro
changed into a young man
hurrying along the street
with a stride that was
that of another
person altogether.

His arms dangling widely,
his steps rapid, windy,
almost adolescent.
We stood in that Chioggia street
aghast watching his form
from behind.

Front face, he is a man
of gentle strength and grace,
in his sixties, and has always
reminded me of my father's
older brother,

and there's a photo he sent
to his American publisher
for use in his poetry tour
in the States next month

that has the sharp, dark lines
of one who might be an actor
in silent movies.
The darkness under the eyes.
The chtonic touch from that time
when a house was
closer to the womb.

And one was genuinely
youth and antiquity
in the same breath.

And it was visible,
unmistakable,
dramatic, poetic and alive.

From FIST OF SUN
by Ferruccio Brugnaro
(1997)

     WORKERS' DEMO


     We've gotten hold of

            every corner of Venice today.

     Tall red banners, slogans

                against rip-offs and Death.

     Urgent songs of

               struggle and love now rise up

     from blood and soul.

     The stones and the waters have become

                     human, warm.

     Our heart

                runs madly

                      to liberation.

           Huge joy.

     Today life raises

                       the concrete future

     of men, of all mankind,

                   in its fist of sun.

#VeniceBooks: Coffee in Venice - The Good Guys Unite! Photographer STEVE McCURRY, From These Hands - A Journey Along the Coffee Trail

Afghan Refugee Girl by Steve McCurry

(Venice, Italy) You already know award-winning photojournalist Steve McCurry because he took one of the most iconic images of all time, Afghan Refugee Girl back in 1984.

And if you know anything about coffee, you already know that family-run Lavazza is "Italy's Favorite Coffee," and invented the concept of blending different types of coffee from different geographical regions to create its unique products.

Francesca Lavazza, the Corporate Image Manager, is the great-granddaughter of the founder, Luigi Lavazza, who opened Lavazza's first shop in 1895 in Turin, 120 years ago, and she was here in Venice to present the new agreement between the city and her family's company -- her grandfather was Venetian.

Piero Rosa Salva and Francesca Lavazza

VELA is the Venice Municipal Council company responsible for marketing the City of Venice, and for the commercial development of its transport. VELA is the main organizer of the traditional Venetian events in town, such as the Carnival, the Regata Storica and the Festa del Redentore. It handles the season ticket campaign for La Fenice Opera House, the Malibran Theater, the box office for the Goldoni Theater, the Venice Biennale, Venezia Unica City Pass, all the main sporting events -- even the tickets for the vaporetto. The Chairman of VELA is Piero Rosa Salva, who is Venetian to his core.

Farmers Sift Coffee Cherries at Plantation by Steve McCurry, Brazil, 2010

The Foundation of the Civic Museums of Venice (Musei Civici, or MUVE) administers the eleven city museums, one of the most important complexes in Europe. By virtue of his office, Luigi Brugnaro, the controversial new mayor of Venice, is the Vice-President of the Board of Directors of MUVE. 

Only in office since June 15th, Brugnaro immediately made headlines when he yanked 49 books about tolerance from the city's pre-schools, sparking a Twitter war with Elton John and uniting 267 Italian authors who asked him to ban their books, too, in a gesture of solidarity. Brugnaro also cancelled the contracts of 18 city library employees, and declared that he would ban any gay pride parade in Venice.

© Gianni Berengo Gardin

Gianni Berengo Gardin, the renowned Italian photographer, was supposed to have a show about the cruise ships in the Doge's Palace, part of the MUVE museum complex, opening on September 19, 2015 entitled Monsters in Venice, "a powerful exhibition intended to make one think about these monsters that threaten Venice daily...", but Brugnaro, a strong supporter of the cruise ship industry, postponed it to coincide with an exhibit about his own plans for the lagoon. When asked if he would modify his exhibit, Berengo said: "Certainly not. I know even without the Ducal Palace, the exhibit will go on. I don't know where, but it will be a success."

Next, Walter Hartsarich, the respected President of MUVE, suddenly resigned after an impressive five years at the helm.

Luigi Brugnaro was on the list of speakers at the press conference on September 22, 2015 entitled LAVAZZA IN VENICE: A PARTNERSHIP WITH VELA AND MUVE and Presenting STEVE McCURRY, From These Hands - A Journey Along the Coffee Trail, but unfortunately could not attend because of another meeting. I was disappointed because I was really looking forward to hearing what he had to say, especially in the presence of Steve McCurry, another renowned photographer whose work captures the soul. I later learned that the mayor did attend the opening that evening, so it was nice to know that he did show his support.

A Young Man Carries a Sack of Coffee by Steve McCurry, Ethiopia, 2014

Steve McCurry and Francesca Lavazza have been working together for years on Tierra, Lavazza's first independent Corporate Social Responsibility project which focuses on helping small coffee farmers improve their conditions.

Started in 2002, the Tierra project improves the living conditions and economic growth of coffee farming communities, building schools, homes, and infirmaries, and helping the farmers get the most of their their land and work. These are small farmers who actually touch every single coffee bean by hand, which are then blended together to create a special Tierra coffee, which you can buy and enjoy, and do your own bit for a sustainable future.

Francesca Lavazza is passionate about her family's coffee and glows when she talks about the Tierra project. They work with the Rainbow Alliance in a partnership that focuses on three fundamental issues: the quality of the end product, a concern for the living conditions of the people in coffee producing countries, and environmental impart. She said that Lavazza asked Steve McCurry to document the stories of their efforts because they liked his sensibility. They met eleven years ago over a cup of coffee. "That's the magical thing about coffee. It is a social drink that brings people together."

Photos from 12 different countries -- Brazil, Burma, Columbia, Ethiopia, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Peru, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam and Yemen -- have been gathered together in a book and an exhibition called, FROM THESE HANDS: A JOURNEY ALONG THE COFFEE TRAIL.

Cat Bauer and Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry said how rewarding it was to see the farmers actually learn, and that coffee is part of our everyday lives, but we don't think about where it comes from. "I was a young man when we started the project, and now I have no hair."

The exhibition of 62 of McCurry's powerful photographs was designed by the architect, Fabio Novembre, to whom McCurry gave full credit for the unique presentation. The photos are blown-up and back-lit in a winding labyrinth that immerses the viewer in the lives of the coffee farmers. The show takes place in the new space down at Aresnale Nord, TESA 113, which has been restored into a very cool exhibition venue.

Young Woman from the Suri tribe by Steve McCurry, Ethiopia, 2013

It was refreshing to meet a company like Lavazza, which cares so deeply about sustainable development, and puts such personal care into their product and the human beings who produce it. It is an honor that they have chosen to support Venice, Vela and the Civic Museums in a three-year agreement, and that the first collaboration is the prestigious Steve McCurry exhibition.

In the States, you can find the Tierra blend at Gelsons. If it's not there, just tell them you want it. In the Bay area and beyond, you can find it:

Corti Brothers

5810 Folsom St.

Sacramento 95819

Corral Market

2 Corral De Tierra Rd.

Salinas 93908

Genova Deli

1550 Trancas Rd.

Napa 94558

Deluxe Foods

783 Rio Del Mar

Aptos 95003

Lavazza is a 1.34 billion euro business, the world's seventh ranking coffee roaster and the retail market leader in Italy with a market share by value of over 47% -- which goes to show that you can care about the environment and still make a nice profit.

FROM THESE HANDS - A JOURNEY ALONG THE COFFEE TRAIL
Steve McCurry Exhibition at Arsenale Nord - TESA 113
September 23 to November 8
ACTV vaporetto lines 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2 - Bacini Arsenale Nord stop
FREE ENTRANCE, daily from 10:00AM to 6:00PM

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

White Heart in Venice - Piazza San Marco Lights Up

White Heart in Venice - Piazza San Marco by Venezia Rivelata

(Venice, Italy) Venezia Rivelata has taken the famous phrase: "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it" and thrown down the gauntlet.

Piazza San Marco was illumined by a great white heart made up of about a thousand Venetian residents holding white umbrellas and flashlights on Sunday evening, September 20, 2015, showing the deep love the people who live here have for their one-of-a-kind city that has been around since March 25, 421; that is, for 1,594 years.

Elena Tagliapietra & Alberto Toso Fei at Being Venice

Venezia Rivelata, or Venice Revealed, is a project conceived by Venetian writer Alberto Toso Fei and Venetian multi-media artist, Elena Tagliapietra, which included 12 separate events in historic locales over a period of two years to bring Venice's history alive in the present. Essere Venezia, or Being Venice -- the great white heart in Piazza San Marco -- was the Grand Finale.

The Red Rose in Piazza San Marco, the enormous human rose created on April 25 last year, Saint Mark's Day, was another one of the projects by Venezia Rivelata, which I wrote about here:

More Venetians than Tourists in Piazza San Marco and Open Arsenale 

 

On Sunday, everybody arrived at 6PM, dressed in white and armed with flashlights. Al Duca d'Aosta, the Venetian high-fashion store, provided white umbrellas to all -- I'm sure they will be the most coveted umbrellas in town once the rainy season starts. Then we all got hearts painted on our faces, or wherever we wanted them.

Cat Bauer at Being Venice - Essere Venezia

The artists who created the project chose white because it is the color of purity, justice, hope and enlightenment, and enforces the long history of the struggle for human rights in the Venetian Republic. Venice was an astonishingly advanced and tolerant society, and created laws that we still argue about globally today.

Alberto Toso Fei, who is an expert in Venetian history, spoke about VENICE AND JUSTICE later in the evening at the Rialto fish market. Venice was the first State to abolish slavery in 960AD, and the first to regulate the use of child labor at the end of the 14th century. Venice was the first to create an Intellectual Property law back in 1474, and the first to enact laws to protect the rights of women.

Dancers in Piazza San Marco

While we waited for the sun to go down, dance performers put on a show in the center of the heart featuring Sara Bonfanti and Silvia Minervino; the dance group, WorkInProgress, choreographed by Federica Del Pol and Michela Pedrocco; and the amazing young crew Palextra, coordinated by Michela Vivolo, that had some very cool moves.

Then the highlight: as night set in, the lights went on in Piazza San Marco with electric candles in all the windows in the square. We switched on our flashlights and waved them around. Then we opened our umbrellas, and waggled our flashlights around underneath the umbrellas. Then most of us rushed into the center of the heart and ran around, while the others maintained the outline of the heart, creating the of a cracked and broken heart transforming into the image of a beating heart. When it was over, we all broke out into spontaneous applause.

I really didn't grasp the enormity of the effect Elena Tagliapietra and Alberto Toso Fei had conceived until I saw the video. Here is the fast-motion clip of the result:

Essere Venezia - 20 settembre 2015 - panoramica from Venezia Rivelata on Vimeo.
(Here is the link for those who subscribe to Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog by email: https://vimeo.com/139869193)

Then many of the group headed over to Rialto, once the world's trade center, where the 12 projects created by Venezia Rivelata were projected on a screen. After Alberto's moving JUSTICE IN VENICE reading, it was free traditional food and drinks -- some tasty spaghetti in saor and spritzes -- sponsored by Osteria Vecio Posso in collaboration with Iperdrink and Flairtender.

Venezia Rivelata at the Rialto Fish Market

The founders say: "The time has come for all Venetians who love this city to fight to keep it alive and return it to the people."

Go to Venezia Rivelata on Facebook.

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

72nd Venice Film Festival Wrap Up for 2015 & List of Winners

Cat Bauer at Variety opening party - Danieli Terrace - Venice Film Festival

(Venice, Italy) It always takes awhile to return to reality after the relentless pace of the Venice International Film Festival, which started out this year on September 1 with a sublime ritual: the Variety opening party on the Hotel Danieli Terrace, the Ristorante Terrazza Danieli -- and ended on September 12 with the announcement of the winners at the Sala Grande on the Lido.

By now, if you have been following the action, you will know that the top prize of the Golden Lion surprised everyone by going to From Afar (Desde Allà), Venezuela's first-ever entry into the film festival. Written and directed by Lorenzo Vigas, it is a dark drama about the chilling relationship between a middle-aged gay dental technician and the violent young street thug he takes into his home. It would not have been my choice, but I can understand why it won with a jury headed by Alfonso Cuaron.

MOVIES I LIKED:

A War directed by Tobias Lindholm

I thought the Danish film A War was brilliant; it made me realize that the recent wars the US has initiated have had a powerful global impact on many countries. In the press notes, Tobias Lindholm said, "For the past 14 years, Denmark has been a nation at war. It has defined my generation, more than anything else, that we have sent young men to wars that haven't been about defending Denmark's borders but are based on a more abstract political choice. ... This film is my stab at processing Denmark's presence in Iraq and Afghanistan -- a process I don't think has remotely begun. It's high time that we address what we have sent our men off to in the name of democracy."

Heart of a Dog by Laurie Anderson

I've always loved how Laurie Anderson' mind works. Heart of a Dog is not just about her dog, Lolabelle, it is more like a compelling memoir in the form of video art, combining Anderson's unique storytelling with music, images and dreamy meditations on life and death. During the press conference, Anderson said that the spirit of her late husband, Lou Reed, was very present in the film.

From Indiewire:

"Haunting and celebratory at once, "Heart of a Dog" ultimately amounts to a contemplation of mortality. "The purpose of death is the release of life," Anderson asserts, in one of several moments that hint at a bigger picture." 

Rosa Tran, Tom Noonan, Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman, Jennifer Jason Lee for Anomalisa

Charlie Kaufman is another fascinating mind filled with wonderful surprises; his latest adventure Anomalisa won the Grand Jury Prize. The stop-action crowd-funded film started out as live theater, and morphed into a film starring some amazing puppets -- there is even a sex scene. All the characters -- both male and female, old and young -- are voiced by Tom Noonan except for the two leads, the motivational speaker, Michael Stone, voiced by David Thewlis, and Lisa, voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh, an anomaly in a drab world of sameness -- hence the nickname: "Anomalisa."

From Screen Crush:

"If Anomalisa was just formally brilliant, it would be worth seeing for that alone. But it's also as emotionally moving as it is intellectually stimulating. Puppets or not, Michael and Lisa are amongst the richest and most human characters in any movie in recent memory, and Kaufman remains without peer among working directors at simultaneously critiquing and empathizing with his lovably flawed characters and their bottomless neuroses."

Cat Bauer with Tanna cast - Venice Film Festival

I was thrilled that Tanna won the Venice Critics' Week award, a prize worth €5,000. The International Film Critic's Week celebrated its 30th edition this year. Its mission is "to discover, point out and promote quality films and new filmmakers, to bring to the attention of the public artistic expressions characterized by innovative mise en scenes and the use of original languages. In short, the duty of Critics' Week is that of bringing to light directors that have a promise of authorship in them."
I hope that Tanna gets a wide release. Even though the cast speaks their native language, I think this is one of the rare films that non-industry audiences will watch with subtitles.

Remote South Pacific Tribe Arrives in Venice - TANNA at the Venice Film Festival

Future rentals: I enjoyed Amy Berg's Janis documentary about Janis Joplin, and was surprisingly entertained by De Palma by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow, which was basically Brian De Palma, who received this year's Jaeger-Lecoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award, talking about all his films. Remember is worth renting if only for Christopher Plummer's performance of a 90-year-old man sent out by Martin Landau, his nursing home neighbor, to get revenge on a former Nazi who killed their families at Auschwitz. Some critics didn't like Shia LaBeouf as an Afghanistan war veteran in Man Down, but I did. The delectable food and gorgeous scenery in A Bigger Splash will make everyone wish they lived in Italy.

Jonathan Demme

As well as receiving the Persol Tribute to Visionary Talent Award 2015, Jonathan Demme was the President of this year's Orizzonti (Horizons) jury, a section of the film festival that focuses on new trends. Even though he missed his New York City premiere of Ricki and The Flash on August 3rd because he is battling cancer, I was happy to see that Jonathan was full of energy, wit and enthusiasm here in Venice. Free in Deed by Jake Mahaffy, which I did not see, won Best Film in the Orizzonti section. Here is the entire list of winners:

72 Venice International Film Festival Winners
Golden Lion: From Afar (Lorenzo Vigas) 
Silver Lion for Best Director: Pablo Trapero (The Clan) 
Grand Jury Prize: Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson) 
Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Fabrice Luchini (L’Hermine) 
Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Valeria Golino (Per Amor Vostro) 
Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor: Abraham Attah, (Beasts Of No Nation)
 Best Screenplay: Christian Vincent (L’Hermine)
 Special Jury Prize: Frenzy (Emin Alper)  

Venice Horizons
Best Film: Free In Deed (Jake Mahaffy) 
Best Director: Brady Corbet (The Childhood of a Leader) 
Special Jury Prize: Neon Bull (Gabriel Mascaro)Special Prize for Best Actor: Dominique Leborne (Tempête) 
Best Short Film: Belladonna (Dubravka Turic) 
Lion of the Future – "Luigi De Laurentiis" Venice Award for a Debut Film: The Childhood of a Leader (Brady Corbet)

Venice Classics
Best Documentary on Cinema: The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin (Yves Montmayeur)
Best Restoration: Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini)

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

If Anomalisa was just formally brilliant, it would be worth seeing for that alone. But it’s also as emotionally moving as it is intellectually stimulating. Puppets or not, Michael and Lisa are amongst the richest and most human characters in any movie in recent memory, and Kaufman remains without peer among working directors at simultaneously critiquing and empathizing with his lovably flawed characters’ and their bottomless neuroses.Read More: ‘Anomalisa’ Review: A Stop-Motion Masterpiece From Charlie Kaufman | http://screencrush.com/anomalisa-review-tiff/?trackback=tsmclip

If Anomalisa was just formally brilliant, it would be worth seeing for that alone. But it’s also as emotionally moving as it is intellectually stimulating. Puppets or not, Michael and Lisa are amongst the richest and most human characters in any movie in recent memory, and Kaufman remains without peer among working directors at simultaneously critiquing and empathizing with his lovably flawed characters’ and their bottomless neuroses.Read More: ‘Anomalisa’ Review: A Stop-Motion Masterpiece From Charlie Kaufman | http://screencrush.com/anomalisa-review-tiff/?trackback=tsmclip

If Anomalisa was just formally brilliant, it would be worth seeing for that alone. But it’s also as emotionally moving as it is intellectually stimulating. Puppets or not, Michael and Lisa are amongst the richest and most human characters in any movie in recent memory, and Kaufman remains without peer among working directors at simultaneously critiquing and empathizing with his lovably flawed characters’ and their bottomless neuroses.Read More: ‘Anomalisa’ Review: A Stop-Motion Masterpiece From Charlie Kaufman | http://screencrush.com/anomalisa-review-tiff/?trackback=tsmclip

If Anomalisa was just formally brilliant, it would be worth seeing for that alone. But it’s also as emotionally moving as it is intellectually stimulating. Puppets or not, Michael and Lisa are amongst the richest and most human characters in any movie in recent memory, and Kaufman remains without peer among working directors at simultaneously critiquing and empathizing with his lovably flawed characters’ and their bottomless neuroses.Read More: ‘Anomalisa’ Review: A Stop-Motion Masterpiece From Charlie Kaufman | http://screencrush.com/anomalisa-review-tiff/?trackback=tsmclip