Sunday, July 17, 2011

Venice - Ca Rezzonico: The Venice International Foundation – Annual Fund Raising Gala Dinner: Missione Fortuny.


Venice - Ca Rezzonico: The Venice International Foundation – Annual Fund Raising Gala Dinner: Missione Fortuny.  TheVenice International Foundation held it’s annual fund-raising gala dinner in the garden of Ca Rezzonico in order to gather funds to carry on with the Missone Fortuny project to restore works by the grand maestro, Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo stored in the Palazzo Fortuny itself.
Above: Teatro delle Feste.  In 1912, Mariano Fortuny, Gabriele D’Annunzio and Lucien Hesse designed this theatre, which was to be constructed at Esplanade des Invalides in Paris. Mariano himself built the model, based on their design, with his prodigious hands, inside the studio of the present-day Fortuny Palace Museum. As you can see, it has been beautifully restored to its former splendor with the sale of virtual seats (some seats are still available at affordable prices ranging from 10-150 Euros each through www.venicefoundation.org), a brilliant idea of micropatronage conceived by The Venice International’s president, Franca Coin.



Ca Rezzonico: The Venice International Foundation - Missione Fortuny dinner.  The director of the Fortuny Museum, Architetto Daniela Ferretti is photographed with two gigantic checks received for the completion of restored works of Mariano Fortuny housed in the museum itself, his former atelier.


Ca Rezzonico: The Venice International Foundation - Missione Fortuny dinner.  The president of the Venice International Foundation, Franca Coin proudly stands between the Fortuny Museum director, Daniela Ferretti and the new president of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Walter Hartsarich, who also received a gigantic check for the restoration of the Tiepolo door in the Ca Rezzonico Museum dedicated to Eighteenth Century Venice.



The garden at Ca Rezzonico.   The annual gala dinner of The Venice International Foundation was held in the garden of Ca Rezzonico. The gigantic checks and the coveted Cotisso Venice Foundation prize were given out during the dinner on a stage set up under the dramatically lit eighteenth century statues.






The mayor of Venice Giorgio Orsoni and his wife Agnese arrive at Ca Rezzonico.




The renowned worldwide Italian cellist and musician Mario Brunello, winner of the 2011 Cotisse Venice Foundation prize chats with Marilena Tamaro and producer of symphony and chamber music events, Yasunori Gunji.


The curator of the Barry X Ball exhibition currently on at Ca Rezzonico, until September 11, Laura Mattioli Rossi talks about the exhibition during the pre dinner cocktail party held in the “portego de mezzo” (ground floor) of Ca Rezzonico.


 photograph by manfredi bellati




A special treat for the members of The Venice International Foundation of a guided tour, before dinner in the garden, by Barry X Ball’s curator, Laura Mattioli Rossi, seen here with her portrait in lapis lazuli.


Entrepeneur Marina Deserti and photographer Manfredi Bellati.



Glass dealer Giordana Naccari whose shop, L’Angolo del Passato, on the charming Campiello degli Squellini, sells some of the most interesting antique and modern Murano glassware, chats with French artist, Marie-Laure Viebel de Villepin.




 
Haute Couture collector Cecilia Matteucci poses in the portego in her Haute Couture, Yves Saint Laurent leopard print voile dress designed by Stefano Pilati.  The rock crystal cross around Cecilia’s neck used to sit on the YSL’s bedside table in Chateau Gabriel and was bought at the auction that was dubbed as “The Sale of the Century”.



Small hors d’oeuvres where served with refreshing cold white wine before dinner in the portego of Ca Rezzonico.


Giustina and Nereo Destro



 Italian architect, Massimo Scolari and opera director Elena Barbalich.

 
The tables set up in the garden of Ca Rezzonico under the eighteenth century statues.  Note the paper swans centerpieces made with recycled magazines by Mila Evangelista


  
The paper swans. The paper swans which graced the table centerpiece were made up of thrown out magazines by Mila Evangelista who learnt the craft in Brunei from a Malaysian friend. They are made of tiny bits of folded paper into small cone shapes, which are then placed one on top of the other to create these pretty swans like containers.

   

Archistar Vittorio Gregotti and his wife Marina 


 
Piergiorgio Coin, Don Roberto Donadoni, director of the Marcianum Press, Franca Coin and the Reverend Monsignor Brian Ferme who is one of the most appreciated professors at the Marcianum Foundation.


 
The Centerpiece and the artist.  Marie-Laure Viebel de Villepin proudly shows of one of her Coco de Mer inspired sculptures, made from Murano glass. The artist has taken the sensuous form of the Seychellois Coco de Mer and turned it into a work of art interpreting the shape in various materials including gold, bronze and of course glass. “The unique shape of this nut, touches me probably because I am a woman. Behind it all, this could be the idea of a mother, the life cycle, the birth. I was also taken after touching them, and in working with these shapes today, this unique feeling comes to life,” explains Marie-Laure.

The appetizer.  The Caprese is re-invented, stacked up mozzarella and tomatoes are garnished with a mild pesto sauce and pretty edible flowers, the big trend in food this summer.

The Cotisso.  Franca Coin gives the Cotisso Venice Foundation Prize to Mario Brunello, the renowned worldwide Italian cellist and musician.

The music.  Mario Brunello played Bach for the members of The Venice Foundation from his repertoire.

  
The cello case #1.  Mario Brunello’s famous 17th century Maggini cello is housed in a glossy red Ferrari cello case custom made for the Maestro at the Italian sports car manufacturing plant in Marranello.

The Cello case # 2.   A detail of the famous Ferrari “Cavallino Rampante” or Prancing Horse together with the glossy red case cover, both synonymous with Formula One racing they are a worthy shell for the 17th century Maggini cello.

Moved to tears.   The Mayor of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni congratulates Franca Coin, president of The Venice International Foundation for the fundraising she has done to help restore works of art for the Musei Civici Veneziani and especially for the brainwave of involving small donators through micropatronage financing.
  photograph courtesy Museo Fortuny

You can help too: Missione Fortuny. The next project to be restored on the agenda is the “Theatre Drawings” Album. An extraordinary and unique collection of drawings relating to studies and the scenic and lighting applications which Fortuny designed in support of his complex and structured theatrical reform at the beginning of the twentieth century.  Worthy of note in this album are various drawings and sketches dating back to 1898 of scenographies of Wagnerian operas along with several architectural reliefs of the Bayreuth Theatre, but above all it is the first drawings of 1902, done in Paris, of the structure of the scenographic device commonly known as the “Fortuny Dome” and the system for the lighting of scenes with indirect and reflected light that are the most striking. This thick and bulky album gathers together an undefined but very consistent number of drawings, which are attached directly onto pieces of cloth. Given the poor preservative condition of the album, upon the completion of the restoration the individual insertion of each drawing into a double page with the inventory number on the outside is foreseen. For more information and on how to contribute to the restoration, contact The Venice International Foundation.
 






 

 





 






Saturday, July 16, 2011

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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Venice Biennale: Illuminations




Venice Biennale: 54th International Art Exhibition - ILLUMInations.   The 54th International Art Exhibition, titled ILLUMInations, directed by Bice Curiger and organized by la Biennale diVenezia chaired by Paolo Baratta, is open to the public until November 27th, 2011. The Exhibition, spreading over 10,000 square meters between the Central Pavilion in the Giardini and the Arsenale, comprises a single display featuring 83 artists from all over the world. Four participants have been asked to create the parapavilions, sculptural structures mounted in the Giardini and at the Arsenale to house works by other artists (see blog further down). By adopting the title ILLUMInations the Venice Biennale also aspires literally to shed light on the institution itself, drawing attention to dormant and unrecognized opportunities, as well as to conventions that need to be challenged. ILLUMInations points to light, a classical theme in art that closely relates to Venice. Equally, by accentuating its spurious suffix “nations”, its semantic scope is not only broadened to embrace the real world and socio-political dimensions, but it also highlights the distinctive character of the Venice Biennale with its national pavilions.
Note: perched on the La Biennale logo above some of the 2000 embalmed Pigeons by Maurizio Catellan’s the rest can be spotted thought-out the Central Pavilion in the Giardini.


 Photograph by Francesco galli - courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

Venice Biennale - IllUMInations. The director of IllUminations, Bice Curiger is an art historian, critic and curator of international exhibitions. Her curatorial activity at Kunsthaus Zurich parallels her important work in the publishing sector. In 1984, she co-founded the prestigious art magazine “Parkett”, of which she is editor-in-chief. She has been publishing director of London Tate Gallery’s magazine “Tate etc” since 2004.

photograph by Manfredi Bellati

Venice Biennale - IllUMInations - Golden Lion for Best Artist. Golden Lion for the best artist goes to Christian Marclay (United States, 1955; on display at the Corderie, Arsenale) The Clock, 2010.



Venice Biennale - IllUMInations - Silver Lion for a Promising Young Artist.  Silver Lion for a promising young artist goes to Haroon Mirza (United Kingdom, 1977; on display at the Corderie, Arsenale and at the Central Pavilion, Giardini).
Above:  Haroon Mirza, The National Apavilion of Then and Now, 2011.



Venice Biennale - IllUMInations. James Turrell, Ganzfeld Piece, 2011.  "I like working with light and using it so that the spectator can physically percieive how the presence of light occupies a space.  I want to use sunlight, moonlight, starlight to give more energy to a work of art." Nature and art unite in order to form a complete work of art, in harmony with nature.


Venice Biennale - IllUMInations.  James Turrell's art dealer, Gianfranco Schiavano of the Galerie Hausler Contemorary, Munich/Zurich.


Venice Biennale - IllUMInations. Monica Bonvicini, Untitled (15 Steps to Virgin), 2011.  The artist achieves physical freedom through her art, a protest against power of politics and the media.   Her strong, everyday-life objects appeared in international exhibitions and prestigious museums: chains, cages, glass cases, walls, polystyrene floors and working tools.   Her large installation at the Arsenale is made of platforms, prints and pieces of wall-furniture, partially inspired by the complex stairs represented in Tintoretto’s Presentation of the Virgin painted between 1553 and 1556. 


Venice Biennale - IllUMInations. Monica Bonvicini, Blind Protection, 2008-2009. 


Venice Biennale - IllUMInations. Urs Fisher, Untitled, 2011. Installation, which involves  three 1:1 sized wax candle sculptures.  



Venice Biennale - IllUMInations. Urs Fisher, Untitled, 2011. Installation.


Venice Biennale - IllUMInations. Urs Fisher, Untitled, 2011. Installation.




Venice Biennale - IllUMInations. Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Spazio Numero 13, 2011.  Simple geometrical shapes express the desire of shaping precisely a material that, by its very nature, tries to resist to any conceivable shape.  On the wall, the moon, projected as a light source on dark space.   Everything slowly dulls, in an interior more and more permeated by subtle reminders.





Venice Biennale - IllUMInations - a detail.  Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Spazio Numero 13, 2011.



Venice Biennale - IllUMInations. Nicholas Hlobo, Limpundulu Zonke Ziyandilandela, 2011.  This South African artist cuts, fuses, rips and recomposes heterogeneous materials and creates complex artworks.  His installations are characterized by the experimental use of various recycled materials.


Venice Biennale - IllUMInations - a detail. Nicholas Hlobo, Limpundulu Zonke Ziyandilandela, 2011.


 Venice Biennale - IllUMInations - a detail. A corner from the Cindy Sherman room in the Giardini, Untitled installation, 2010. 




 Venice Biennale - IllUMInations.  Gabriel Kuri, Communications Diagram, 2011. 


 Venice Biennale - IllUMInations. Llyn Foulkes, Mr. President, 2006.




Venice Biennale - IllUMInations - Tintoretto. Three works by Tintoretto are part of ILLUMInations: The Last Supper (from San Giorgio Maggiore Basilica), The Stealing of the Body of St. Mark and The Creation of the Animals (above, housed in the Gallerie dell’Accademia). The three canvases, granted as a loan by the the board of Venetian museums, are on display in the main room of the Central Pavilion in the Giardini.   “Tintoretto’s art," Bice Curiger highlights "is unorthodox and experimental, distinguished by dramatic lighting. The inclusion of these paintings in the Biennale is founded on the conviction that, with their visual and expressive directness, they still possess the power to engage a contemporary audience.”