Venetian Cat Bauer - The Venice Blog

Vogalonga 2013 in Venice - La Serenissima

2013-05-19T15:08:00.001+02:00

(Venice, Italy) Today is Vogalonga here in Venice, and every year it reminds us how peaceful and serene the city is without motors, an ambiance that gave Venice her name, La Serenissima Repubblica, or The Most Serene Republic. What is Vogalonga?

From Wikipedia:

"Vogalonga is a rowing "competition" in the Italian city of Venice.

On November 11, 1974 a group of Venetians, both amateur and professional rowers, had a race in the island of Burano. They came up with an idea of non-competitive "race" in which any kind of rowing boat could participate, in the spirit of historical festivities. The first Vogalonga began the next year with the message to protest against the growing use of powerboats in Venice and the swell damage they do to the historic city.

Participants gather in St Marks Basin in front of the ducal palace. They sing hymns to San Marco (Saint Mark) and begin the "race". The racecourse is scenic route 30 kilometers long along the various Venetian canals and historical buildings....

...The numbers of participants has swelled to thousands over the years from all over the world. Some locals have founded new rowing clubs and build their own boats based on real, historical watercraft. Some participants have brought their own kind of boats like the Chinese dragon boats. Some have also chosen to swim through the route instead of rowing...."

To me, Venice would be the perfect city to go "green," with hybrid boats that operated on solar/electric energy while inside the lagoon that could switch over to gas when more power is needed. And the roofs of the vaporetti, or water buses, seem like they are begging for solar panels!

This year's Vogalonga set a new record with 1,700 boats and as many as 7,000 rowers armed with oars.

Photo: la Nuova di Venezia

For more images and information, please visit the Vogalonga Official Site, which you can switch over to English by clicking on the right.

The silence is... awesome.

Ciao from La Serenissima,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Venice Renews her Vows to the Sea - Festa della Sensa 2013

2013-05-12T17:36:00.000+02:00

The Return of the Bucentaur to the Molo on Ascension Day, 1730 by Canaletto

(Venice, Italy) In one of the world's longest marriages, today Venice once again tossed her ring into the Sea, cementing a relationship that has endured for more than a thousand years. Oh, sure, there have been some quarrels, as in any intimate relationship, but Venice and the Sea have managed to endure century after century. Despite a few storms, floods and other shows of temper, Venice and the Sea always work out their differences and arrive at a state of equilibrio. It is a beautiful day here in La Serenissima, full of sunshine and good feelings -- perfect weather for a wedding.

Last year the Festa della Sensa fell on the same day as the America's Cup, and I would like to take a moment to remember the Olympic gold medalist, Oliver Simpson, who died at the age of 36 on Thursday, May 9, 2013 after being trapped under the Artemis Racing catamaran when it capsized in San Francisco Bay during a routine training exercise for this year's America's Cup. May he rest in peace. Last year I wrote a detailed post about the holiday:

Venice Marries the Sea and the America's Cup!!!

Here is a long excerpt:


Festa della Sensa

The Ancient and the Contemporary, the Sacred and the Profane merge once again in Venice. Today is Ascension Day, the day that celebrates the bodily ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven. In Venice, it is known as the Festa della Sensa; "sensa" is the word "ascension" in the Venetian language. Whenever Venetians get their hands on a special day, they like to pack as much power into that day as possible. So, in the morning there is the traditional Festa della Sensa celebration, and in the afternoon -- the America's Cup!

Festa della Sensa -- even without the America's Cup in town -- traditionally commemorates two different, important events in Venetian history. The first took place on May 9, 1000 when Doge Pietro Orseolo II rescued the Dalmatians from the Slavs.

The second event took place in 1177. Back in those days, the players involved were:

1. The Holy Roman Empire with the German Frederick I Barbarossa (aka Red Beard aka Kaiser Rotbart) as the Emperor.
a) Anti-pope Callixtus III, backed by Red Beard
2. The Republic of Venice, with Sebastiano Ziani as the Doge.
3. Pope Alexander III, backed by the Lombard League


Federico Zuccaro - Barbarossa Pays Homage to Alexander III

Frederick I Barbarossa (Red Beard) was the German Holy Roman Emperor, and he had his own anti-pope, Callixtus III. Red Beard was going around conquering everybody, as emperors have a tendency to do. He was particularly eager to conquer Italy, and was not fond of Pope Alexander III, who had excommunicated him for his bad behavior. The only force with any hope to stop Red Beard was the Lombard League, which was backed by Pope Alexander III. The Battle of Legnano was fought and the Lombard League won.

Just WHO was God's vicar on Earth? The Pope or the Emperor? That was the question. It is not easy to get an Emperor and a Pope together in the same town, but Venice managed to do just that. Pope Alexander III came to Venice. Red Beard got as far as Chioggia, but was not allowed to land in Venice herself "until he had set aside his leonine ferocity and put on the gentleness of the lamb." Barbarossa became lamb-like, and was allowed into Piazza San Marco, where he found Pope Alexander III surrounded by the Doge, the Patriarch, a host of cardinals and other luminaries. The Emperor prostrated himself in front of the Pope, and received the kiss of peace.

So, the Treaty, or Peace, of Venice in 1177 is also celebrated during the Festa della Sensa. From Old & Sold:

The astute Venetians extorted valuable privileges both from the Pope and from the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa as their reward for the part which they had played in the historic reconciliation.

During his stay in Venice Alexander III was present at the famous ceremony which was later known as the wedding of the Adriatic, a rite which had been inaugurated by the great Doge Pietro Orseolo II, the conqueror of Dalmatia. As a token of Papal approval of the ceremony the Pope handed the Doge Sebastiano Ziani a consecrated ring with the words: "Receive this as a pledge of the sovereignty which you and your successors shall have in perpetuity over the sea."

For over 600 years this magnificent ceremony was enacted annually. The Doge, surrounded by the Patriarch of Venice, the great officers of State, and the foreign ambassadors, embarked on the large gilded barge, the Bucintoro, and sailed through the Porto di Lido to the open Adriatic. Here the Patriarch blessed the ring and gave it to the Doge, who threw it into the sea, pronouncing the time-honoured formula: "Sea, we wed thee in token of our true and perpetual dominion over thee." The ceremony only came to an end with the extinction of the Republic in 1797.

Festa della Sensa by Canaletto

Venice began celebrating Festa della Sensa again in 1965. The tradition continues to this very day when Venice marries her husband, the sea, except these days it is the mayor who throws a symbolic "ring" into the sea in the waters off Lido. Then there are traditional regattas, a high mass at the Church of San Nicolò, and a market on the grounds outside the church.

Click HERE to continue reading.

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

NOT VITAL: 700 Snowballs

2013-05-06T18:08:00.000+02:00

Snowball, 2001, Murano glass, 18cm Ø. Courtesy the Artist, copyright Eric Gregory Powell

(Venice, Italy) There was some discussion about the lack of a Venetian presence at the exhibition Fragile? at Le Stanze del Vetro, which is a joint initiative of the Giorgio Cini Foundation and Pentagram Stiftung to promote 20th Century Venetian glass. This press release from Le Stanze del Vetro is so well-written that I am going to publish it in its entirety. The Not Vital 700 Snowballs exhibition is a collaboration between the Swiss artist (with a very cool name) and the glassmasters on Murano, and will be opening at the same time as the Biennale International Contemporary Art exhibition.

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

On 1^st June 2013, the exhibition Not Vital: 700 Snowballs, curated by Alma Zevi, opens to the public on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. The exhibition is sponsored and promoted by Pentagram Stiftung, a Swiss private foundation dedicated to the study of glass. In 2012, the foundation launched Le Stanze del Vetro in partnership with the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, also on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice.

The exhibition is on show in the left wing of the Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore and will be open until 29th September 2013 from 10 am to 7 pm (free admission, closed on Wednesdays).

This presentation of Not Vital: 700 Snowballs, alongside the exhibition Fragile? concurrently on view at Le Stanze del Vetro, brings the visitor through a comprehensive mapping and understanding of the use of glass in contemporary art.

700 Snowballs is an installation consisting of 700 individually blown glass balls which bear striking resemblance to snowballs suspended in air. The snowballs rest directly on the floor, evenly and randomly spread. As each snowball is hand-blown by Vetreria Pino Signoretto in Murano, no two are identical – just as natural elements are never exactly repeated.

The installation creates a place of meditation, evoking the metamorphic, transformative and cyclical processes of nature. The luminous and reflective qualities of glass simultaneously reflect both the dense and yet ephemeral nature of snow. This mirrors the tension between the organic form and the inorganic material, between the durability of the artwork and the fragility of the elements it evokes.

As stated by curator Alma Zevi: "These balls remain, suspended in a moment, creating something that is fundamentally beautiful, and disconcertingly permanent in the world. This work is about human experience, a primary and universal encounter with nature and its physical substance".

700 Snowballs becomes an environment, a tranquil place of awe and contemplation. Inspired throughout his career by a childhood spent in the Swiss Alps, Vital has explored the contradictions of the harsh climate and vast landscapes that he knows so intimately. Indeed, the iconography of snow and its context has recurred throughout Vital's oeuvre – he has for instance used plaster to mould mountains that appear to be covered in snow, and has fabricated sleds from marble.

In 700 Snowballs, Not Vital succinctly and poetically presents to us the duality of water’s form when it freezes. It also makes us think of water’s importance in Venice: both in its attractive picturesque quality, which has long been symbolic of the city’s opulent history, and its more recent role as a serious threat to the city. 700 Snowballs explores the ever-rich potential of Venice glass-blowing tradition, despite our being in an era of industrial mass-production and cultural globalization. The installation is an unprecedented technical feat, and a fine example of the fruits that can be borne of an intimate and intellectually stimulating collaboration between a highly established artist, and the most skilled of Murano craftsmen.

On the occasion of the exhibition Not Vital: 700 Snowballs, artist Not Vital, in collaboration with glass master Simone Cenedese, will design a special limited artist edition glass artwork available for purchase at the bookshop of Le Stanze del Vetro. For more information, please contact info@lestanzedelvetro-libri.it

Concurrently, Not Vital will be presenting a selection of works on paper at Giorgio Mastinu Fine Art (San Marco 3126, 30124 Venezia) from 28th May 2013. For further information please visit www.giorgiomastinufineart.it or contact +39 347 1828553.

With thanks to Abbazia di S. Giorgio Maggiore, Ruch & Partners Architects St. Moritz, and those donors who wish to remain anonymous

Biographical notes

photo: Eric Gregory Powell

Not Vital (b. 1948, Sent, Engadin, Switzerland) is at the international forefront of contemporary sculpture. A nomadic lifestyle has brought him to live and work periodically in every continent over the last 40 years. Currently he has a studio in Sent and Beijing, and ongoing relationships with craftspeople in Venice, Lucca, North Africa, Rio de Janiero and Patagonia. Not Vital took part in the 49th Venice Biennale (2001), curated by Harald Szeemann, with his work Plateau of Humanity. Since the mid 1970s, Not Vital has exhibited extensively and with international acclaim in galleries, museums and institutions.

Manet, Father of Today's Art - RETURN TO VENICE

2013-04-25T19:29:00.003+02:00

Luncheon on the Grass by Manet (1863) London, Courtauld Gallery, Samuel Couortauld Trust

(Venice, Italy) Édouard Manet shocked the French public in 1865 with Le déjeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass - painted in 1863) which featured a naked woman picnicking with two fully-clothed men, another scantily-dressed woman bathing in the background. The influence of Italian Renaissance artists on the painter who would become known as "The Father of Modern Art" is the focus of the spectacular exhibition MANET. RETURN TO VENICE that opened yesterday, April 24, 2013, in the Doge's Apartments inside the Palazzo Ducale.

Portrait of M & Mme Manet (1860)

Édouard Manet first visited The Louvre with his maternal uncle, Edouard Fournier, when he was just a boy. Born in Paris on January 23, 1832 into a wealthy family, Manet's father was a senior executive in the Ministry of Justice, and his mother was the daughter of diplomats, as well as the goddaughter of the Crown Prince of Sweden. His parents had high hopes of Manet following in their footsteps and pursuing a "respectable" career, but -- once again proving that God has a sense of humor -- their son had been born with the soul of an artist. After refusing to study law, and twice failing the entrance exam to become a naval officer, the teenager went to Paris to pursue a career in the arts. He studied with Thomas Couture, and copied works of ancient masters at the Louvre.

The Louvre is where the young Manet first met the Venetian artists Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese (and, with a whisper, Giorgione himself), who passed him their paintbrushes like batons through the ether and initiated him into the World of Art. As has been proven century after century, once those Masters get their hands on an artist's soul, there is nothing the material world can do to rip it from their grasp, although, in Manet's case, society gave it their best shot. We can imagine the young Manet wandering through the enormous museum, poised in front of some of the world's greatest masterpieces, the beckoning voices of the enlightened artists drowning out the authoritative paternal voice, encouraging him to break through the dark barrier of the past and into the light of the future.

Tintoretto self-portrait (1588) Louvre

Setting the exhibition inside the Palazzo Ducale in Venice reunites Manet with the Venetian masters who reached out to him in Paris from beyond the grave. After living amongst the ancient masters in the Louvre, the 21-year-old Manet first came to Italy in 1853 and stayed in Venice, then Florence, and perhaps, went onto Rome and experienced firsthand the environment in which they worked. He next visited Germany and Austria, and then returned to Paris, where he copied the old masters. He again visited Italy in 1857.

Manet. Return to Venice focuses, naturally, on the relationship the painter had with Italy in general and Venice in particular. The oils Manet made of the Venus du Pardo after Titian, and the Self-portrait after Tintoretto, are part of the exhibition (the originals are not; I am including them here for illustration purposes), as are drawings of works by Veronese, Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, Fra Bartolomeo, Parmigianino, Luca della Robbia, Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio and Benozzo Gozzoli. It seems remarkable that a 22-year-old could have the depth of character to produce such exceptional copies of the worldly self-portrait that Tintoretto painted as a man of 70, or the lascivious scene of Jupiter cavorting with Antiope that Titian painted when he was around 50, but when you visit the exhibition, you will witness the phenomenon with your own eyes.

Self-portrait by Edouard Manet (after Tintoretto) (1854) Musée des Beaux-Art, Dijon

True to rebellious form, Manet fell in love with an unsuitable woman, the Dutch-born pianist, Suzanne Leenhoff, who was hired in late 1849 by Auguste, Manet's father, to teach piano to Edouard and his two younger brothers. In 1850, Edouard and Suzanne became lovers, keeping the relationship secret, especially from Auguste. On January 29, 1852, six days after Edouard's 20th birthday, Suzanne gave birth to a son, which she named Lèon-Edouard Koella, "probably" Edouard's son -- all this, remember, taking place prior to Manet's visit to Venice. (He began living with Suzanne and Lèon in 1860, but it wasn't until after his upstanding father, Auguste, died of syphilis in 1862 that Manet married Suzanne on October 28, 1863.)

Pardo Venus by Titian (1540-42) Louvre

Manet. Return to Venice is divided into nine sections: MANET'S ITALYS, THE FATES OF VENUS, NORTH/SOUTH (STILL LIFE), SOLITUDE OF JESUS, A VERY HYBRID SPAIN, BETWEEN MUSIC AND THEATRE, CONTEMPORARY PARNASSUS, MANET SOCIETY PAINTER and THE BOUNDLESS SEA.

Manet arrived in Venice in September, 1853, and the exhibit opens with what was going on in Venice at that point in time. Back in France, the next year he produced the copies of Tintoretto and the Titian, obviously inspired by the painters.

Pardo Venus by Manet (after Titian) (1854) Musée Marmottan, Paris

Also in the first section is the controversial Le déjeuner sur l'herbe (see top), which was inspired by Pastoral Concert, a work attributed to the Venetian artists Titian or Giorgione, and, perhaps, by Giorgione's The Tempest. The jury at the Salon, the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, had rejected Luncheon on the Grass in 1863, so Manet exhibited it at the Salon des Refusés (Exhibition of the Refused) the exhibition that Emperor Napoleone III had decreed be established to handle the immense output of art being created and rejected by the Salon at the time. When the critics eyed the naked woman lounging with men who were fully dressed in Luncheon on the Grass, their response was savage. The painting created a huge scandal, causing Manet's good friend, the writer, Emile Zola, to jump to his defense:

Pastoral Concert by Titian or Giorgione (1509) Louvre, Paris

"The Luncheon on the Grass is the greatest work of Édouard Manet, one in which he realizes the dream of all painters: to place figures of natural grandeur in a landscape. We know the power with which he vanquished this difficulty. There are some leaves, some tree trunks, and, in the background, a river in which a chemise-wearing woman bathes; in the foreground, two young men are seated across from a second woman who has just exited the water and who dries her naked skin in the open air.

Emile Zola (1868) Musée d'Orsay

This nude woman has scandalized the public, who see only her in the canvas. My God! What indecency: a woman without the slightest covering between two clothed men! That has never been seen. And this belief is a gross error, for in the Louvre there are more than fifty paintings in which are found mixes of persons clothed and nude. But no one goes to the Louvre to be scandalized. The crowd has kept itself moreover from judging The Luncheon on the Grass like a veritable work of art should be judged; they see in it only some people who are having a picnic, finishing bathing, and they believed that the artist had placed an obscene intent in the disposition of the subject, while the artist had simply sought to obtain vibrant oppositions and a straightforward audience...."

The second section of the exhibition, THE FATES OF VENUS is sensational: Manet's controversial painting OLYMPIA (1863) which was condemned as "immoral" and "vulgar" has traveled out of France for the first time to pose dramatically next to source of her inspiration, Titian's VENUS OF URBINO (1538), which, in 1880, Mark Twain called "the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses" -- perhaps he hadn't seen OLYMPIA.

Venus of Urbino by Titan (1538) Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

An interesting choice on the part of the curators was to hang the striking 1860 portrait that Manet painted of his parents (see above) on the wall directly across the room from the two paintings. Also, the well-researched timeline provides valuable insight as to what was going on in history, as well as in art, culture and science throughout the major events in Manet's life. Thus, we are reminded that these were turbulent times in both Europe and the United States, with Italy struggling to form a Kingdom and the US abolishing slavery and starting the Civil War, just about the time that Charles Darwin published the Origin of the Species, Victor Hugo published Les Miserables, and Richard Wagner was in Paris with a new production of Tannhauser in French. Perhaps all this uproar is what inspired Cezanne to quit his bank job and become a painter in 1862.

Olympia by Edouard Manet (1863) Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Then, in May 1865, the Salon did exhibit Olympia, along with Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers which caused all sorts of renewed outrage directed at Manet. This kind of behavior continued throughout Manet's life. In 1886 he painted The Fifer which he intended to win the Salon public of 1886, but the work was not even accepted.

Let's take the time to read an excerpt from the Wikipedia article about Impressionism that sums up the situation. All three paintings I have used to illustrate the article are by Manet, all are here in Venice for the exhibition, and all are from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, but are not part of the Wikipedia article:

The Fifer (1866)

"In the middle of the 19th century—a time of change, as Emperor Napoleon III rebuilt Paris and waged war—the Académie des Beaux-Arts dominated French art. The Académie was the preserver of traditional French painting standards of content and style. Historical subjects, religious themes, and portraits were valued (landscape and still life were not), and the Académie preferred carefully finished images that looked realistic when examined closely. Colour was somber and conservative, and traces of brush strokes were suppressed, concealing the artist's personality, emotions, and working techniques.

The Académie had an annual, juried art show, the Salon de Paris, and artists whose work was displayed in the show won prizes, garnered commissions, and enhanced their prestige. The standards of the juries represented the values of the Académie, represented by the works of such artists as Jean-Léon Gérôme and Alexandre Cabanel.

The Balcony 1868-69

Some younger artists painted in a lighter and brighter manner than painters of the preceding generation, extending further the Realism of Gustave Courbet and the Barbizon school. They were more interested in painting landscape and contemporary life than in recreating historical or mythological scenes. Each year, the Salon jury rejected their works in favour of works by artists faithful to the approved style. A group of young realists, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille, who had studied under Charles Gleyre, became friends and often painted together. They gathered at the Café Guerbois, where the discussions were often led by Édouard Manet, whom the younger artists greatly admired. They were soon joined by Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, and Armand Guillaumin.^[2]

Berthe Morisot with Violets (1874)

In 1863, the jury rejected Manet's The Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l'herbe) primarily because it depicted a nude woman with two clothed men at a picnic. While the Salon jury routinely accepted nudes in historical and allegorical paintings, they condemned Manet for placing a realistic nude in a contemporary setting.^[3] The jury's severely worded rejection of Manet's painting appalled his admirers, and the unusually large number of rejected works that year perturbed many French artists.

After Emperor Napoleon III saw the rejected works of 1863, he decreed that the public be allowed to judge the work themselves, and the Salon des Refusés (Salon of the Refused) was organized. While many viewers came only to laugh, the Salon des Refusés drew attention to the existence of a new tendency in art and attracted more visitors than the regular Salon.^"

Although Manet was invited to exhibit his work at the first Impressionist show in 1874, he declined, and never did actually do a show with the younger artists he helped to inspire. In October, 1874, he traveled again to Venice with his wife, Suzanne, this time as a famous, successful artist.

My favorite room was VII. CONTEMPORARY PARNASSUS

Portrait of Stéphane Mallarmé by Manet (1876) Musée d?Orsay, Paris

Parnassus was the home of the Muses, the home of music, poetry and learning. Manet was not only friends with other artists, he put himself in contact with all the writers and poets of his time such as Baudelaire, Zola and Stéphane Mallarmé, with whom he transformed the American writer Edgar Allen Poe's poem The Raven into an illustrated masterpiece translated into French, known because Mallarmé taught English. These enlightened thinkers painted, wrote and created music inspired by each other, often using their friends and family members as the subjects of their works. Therefore, no matter how often the establishment heaped criticism upon them, or tried to destroy them, they backed each other up, and left behind a brilliant record of their accomplishments that reaches us today.

Ironically, Edouard Manet died of syphilis just like his father on April 30, 1883.

Our fathers laughed at Courbet
and now we fall into ecstasy before his paintings;

we laugh at Manet
and it will be our children who go into raptures before his pictures.

---Emile Zola

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

MANET. RETURN TO VENICE

Where: Palazzo Ducale – San Marco 1 , 30124 Venice

When: April 24th 2013 / August 18th 2013

Opening hours: from Sunday to Thursday, from 9.00 am to 7.00 pm

Friday and Saturday, from 9.00 am to 8.00 pm

(ticket office closes 1 hour before)

For more information:

http://www.mostramanet.it/

Co-produced with
24 ORE Cultura – Gruppo 24 ORE

With the special collaboration of the
Musée D’Orsay in Paris

With the patronate of the
Soprintendenza ai Beni Architettonici e Paesaggistici di Venezia e Laguna
Regione del Veneto

Commissaries Guy Cogeval and Gabriella Belli
Curated by Stéphan Guégan
Layout by Daniela Ferretti

The catalogue will be published by Skira-Milan with texts by: Roberto Calasso, Guy Cogeval, Stéphane Guégan, Gabriella Belli, Flavio Fergonzi and Cesare De Seta.

Crossroads of Civilization - Venice International Literary Festival 2013

2013-04-17T16:17:00.001+02:00

(Venice, Italy) The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje is one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read, so when I learned that Ondaatje would be a guest at this year's Incroci di Civilità literary festival here in Venice, I made an effort to attend. I have written about Crossroads of Civilization before:

Venice International Literary Festival - 2012 Crossroads of Civilization - Incroci di Civiltà

The Booker Award-winning novel, The English Patient, of course, was transformed into a film directed by Anthony Minghella that went on to win nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, with Ondaatje working closely with the filmmakers to bring it to life. It is a supreme example of a single writer's brilliant imagination lifted up by other creative spirits, transforming the original creation into an enormous, powerful energy that can touch the entire planet. Have a watch, and remember:

Michael Ondaatje was accompanied by his wife, the novelist, Linda Spalding, who received one of Canada's top literary awards, the Governor-General’s Literary Award, for her novel, The Purchase, in 2012. The discussion was conducted by Rosella Mamoli Zorzi. The couple both bill themselves as Canadian writers, even though Ondaatje was born Colombo, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), grew up in England, and then transferred to Canada, becoming a Canadian citizen, and Spalding was born in Kansas, then lived in Mexico and Hawaii before also moving to Toronto. Zorzi asked them why they considered themselves Canadian writers. Spalding said there was a strong community of international writers based in Toronto. Both she and Ondaatje are on the editorial board of the Canadian literary magazine, Brick, a publication that they took over in 1985 and transformed it from one that did book reviews into a solid, national literary magazine. So even though they are not Canadian by birth, they are Canadian in spirit.

Linda Spalding, Michael Ondaatje and Rosella Mamoli Zorzi

Ondaatje said that one of the things he enjoyed most about writing a novel is the act of discovery along the way. "How do I get out of here?" One of my favorite comments was by Spalding, who said that as a child she would watch herself from a third-person point of view: "Now she is walking across the park." As a child, I used to do exactly the same thing ("Now she is walking along the sidewalk, toward home") so I was happy hear of another writer with the same quirk.

I had a cozy feeling listening to the two of them read passages from their novels, thinking how lovely it was that two authors were sharing their lives together, gifting humanity with the benefits of their partnership.

Gilberto Sacerdoti and Stephen Greenblatt

Stephen Greenblatt was also here to talk about his Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning book, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. Here is a short bio:

Stephen Greenblatt recently won both the Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award for The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. He’s also the author of the New York Times bestseller Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, the general editor of The Norton Shakespeare, and eleven other books. He is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard and is generally considered the preeminent Shakespeare scholar in the United States today.

More than 2,000 years ago, Lucretius, a Roman poet and philosopher wrote a dangerous poem called, De Rerum Natura, or On the Nature of Things, inspired by Epicurus, who had lived a couple of centuries before. Epicurus was an atomic materialist, who said that the world was made up of atoms, there was no afterlife, that pleasure was the greatest good, and that the absence of pain was the greatest pleasure. De Rerum Natura disappeared for about 500 years until it was rediscovered by Poggio Bracciolin, a Florentine/Roman scholar, writer and early humanist who served under seven popes.

Poggio was also a manuscript hunter, searching for ancient knowledge that had disappeared. One of the manuscripts he discovered was De Rerum Natura in 1417 in a German monastery. On the Nature of Things became all the rage among enlightened thinkers, inspiring the humanist movement, until it disappeared again. About 500 years later, Greenblatt himself discovered a paperback version of the book when he was a young man. Greenblatt spoke about why texts sleep and why they awaken.

Here is an excerpt from a 2012 PBS interview between Jeffrey Brown and Greenblatt:

JEFFREY BROWN: ...In 1417, probably at the Benedictine monastery in Fulda, Germany, Poggio pulled a book from the shelf, the last surviving copy of "De Rerum Natura," "On the Nature of Things."

We don't know what happened at that moment, but, somewhere, he pulls the book off the shelf and opens it, sees the title, and knows he's got something.

STEPHEN GREENBLATT: He knows he's got something, and he does something crucial, which is he copies it and sends it to his friends. And they begin to copy it, so it begins to spread again.

JEFFREY BROWN: So that's how things get passed on.

STEPHEN GREENBLATT: Exactly.

JEFFREY BROWN: The book spread, as did its ideas, to artists -- Botticelli's "Primavera" or "Allegory of Spring" portrays a scene from the poem -- to seminal thinkers, among them, Galileo, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Thomas Jefferson, who incorporated concepts such as the pursuit of happiness from Lucretius and other philosophers into his own thinking. and to the young Stephen Greenblatt.

There's a passage late in the book. I want to read to you: "There are moments, rare and powerful, in which a writer long vanished from the face of the earth seems to stand in your presence and speak to you directly, as if he bore a message meant for you above all others."

I mean, I couldn't help but think that this is you, in a sense.

STEPHEN GREENBLATT: It is me, Jeff.

First of all, it's me in relation to Lucretius, as it happens, because I happened purely by accident to come on this text at a point in my life when I was quite young, in which it spoke very powerfully directly to me. I had the eerie experience of something speaking to me, as if the person knew me. And I think anyone who has any experience of an encounter with the ghosts of the past knows what I'm talking about, where it seems impossible. And yet it's happening.

After living for fifteen years in a town inhabited by the ghosts of the past, I know that feeling well.

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Fragile? On the Island of the Search for Truth

2013-04-10T17:18:00.001+02:00

Mona Hatoum

Drowning Sorrows (wine bottles), 2004
Collezione Pier Luigi e Natalina Remotti
Courtesy Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Le Moulin
Photo: Ela Bialkowska

(Venice, Italy) The exhibition Fragile? has opened in the Le Stanze del Vetro, or Rooms for Glass, over on the Island of the Search for Truth, otherwise known as the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Pasquale Gagliardi, the General Secretary of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini opened his statement about the exhibition with the following poem:


Broken Security Glass by Monica Bonvicini

"See, in these silences when things

let themselves go and seem almost

to reveal their final secret,

we sometimes expect

to discover a flaw in Nature,

the world's dead point, the link that doesn't hold,

the thread that, disentangled, might at last lead us

to the center of a truth."

---Eugenio Montale, The Lemon Trees

(translated by William Arrowsmith)

Mario Codognato curated the show, and I thought it was genius of him to place Marcel Duchamp's Air de Paris in the same display as Ai Weiwei's Dust to Dust. In 1919, Duchamp claimed that a glass pharmacy vial was filled with the air of Paris.

Marcel Duchamp
Air de Paris, 1919-1939
Miniature reproduction from the original for the work “Boite-en-valise”
Collection David Fleiss, Paris
© Succession Marcel Duchamp by SIAE 2013

In juxtaposition, Ai Weiwei crushed a Neolithic vase himself and put the dusty remains inside a glass jar that you could buy at Ikea. I was stunned, and surprisingly moved, when I saw the red ceramic dust from another eon inside the contemporary glass jar. Codognato explains:

"In one of his most popular readymades, Marcel Duchamp displayed a glass ampoule titled Air de Paris (1919). Purchased from a chemist, this common use item became a real work of art thanks to the artist's intervention. In this specific case, the transparency of glass highlights the void within the item itself, paradoxically underlining the immateriality within the material world of manufactured products. Almost a century later, Dust to Dust (2009) by Ai Weiwei, in a completely opposite design, exploited the same potentialities of glass by presenting a jar filled with the dusty remains of a Neolithic (5000 - 3000 BC) vase, and through that, condensing in such a small container one of the most ancient testimonies of the linguistic and historical presence of man on earth."

Dust to Dust by Ai Weiwei

From the press notes: "These two works, displayed next to each other for Fragile? underline two opposite polarities in today's art world: the emancipation from history on one side, and its recovery on the other."

There are works by 28 different artists exhibited in Fragile? at Le Stanze del Vetro, which is a joint initiative of the Giorgio Cini Foundation and Pentagram Stiftung to promote 20th Century Venetian glass. [NOTE: for a discussion on this topic, please see the comments.] The Rooms for Glass is not just the physical space that houses exhibitions, but an entire enterprise going on over there on the Island for the Search for Truth, with research, seminars, archival documentation, catalogues, and technical and artistic experimentation as part of the program.

Damien Hirst (1965, Bristol, England) has got one of his famous skulls on display in Death or Glory, "a title which carries within it the ambivalence of the artist's work in the precise desire to give rise in the public to a double reaction of attraction/repulsion, to attempt a representation of human transitoriness and at the same time to proclaim the victory of science over flesh."

Damien Hirst
Death or Glory (DHS 372),
Private collection
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates
© Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved by SIAE 2013

Two of my favorite pieces were created by artists that both live and work in Turin, Giovanni Anselmo (1934, Borgofranco d'Ivrea) and Giuseppe Penone (1947, Garessio). Direzione by Giovanni Anselmo is a simple glass jar containing a magnetic needle pointing north, surrounded by a sheet. "The glass vase polarizes the universe thanks to the magnetic needle inside it."

Giovanni Anselmo

Direzione, 1967- 68
Collection of the Artist, Turin
Courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery, New York
Courtesy Archivio Anselmo e Tucci Russo Studio per l’Arte Contemporanea
Photo: Michael Goodman

Barra d'aria by Giuseppe Penone amplifies the noise of the outside world within the exhibition space. San Giorgio is so quiet that, in this instance, what is amplified is silence. "The noises of the polis and its political dialectics are amplified within the exhibition space."

Giuseppe Penone
Barra d'Aria, 1969-1996
Photo: Danilo Donzelli
Maurizio Morra Greco Collection, Naples
© Giuseppe Penone by SIAE 2013

One of the most clever works is by the African-American artist, David Hammons (1943, Springfield, Illinois). Flies in a Jar looks like a nature project that one would make for science class as a child, but on closer inspection, the "flies" in the jar are zippers that zip up the fly on a pair of pants. "The jar that makes up David Hammons' Flies in a Jar (1994), by recalling the playful childish gesture of trapping a firefly, as indicated by the title's pun, talks about the intensely critical and political power of language as isolated within the transparent boundaries of glass."

David Hammons
Flies in a jar, 1994
Pinault Collection
© David Hammons

Pasquale Gagliardi said that after he read Mario Codognato's essay "The Truth in Glass" that introduces the catalogue for Fragile? -- an essay about the search for truth through glass -- he recalled that Vittore Banca (1913-2004), the former President of the Giorgio Cini Foundation, said the search for truth was the fundamental mission of the Fondazione Cini itself, calling San Giorgio "the island for the search for truth." Which is why I, as a searcher for the truth, love going over to the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, and strongly encourage all other truth-seekers to head over there yourselves.

Fragile? presents works by: Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys, Mario Merz,

Gerhard Richter, Giovanni Anselmo, Jannis Kounellis, Luciano Fabro,

Barry le Va, Michael Craig-Martin, Keith Sonnier, Lawrence Weiner, David

Hammons, Gilbert & George, Joseph Kosuth, Giuseppe Penone, Mona

Hatoum, David Batchelor, Ai Weiwei, Pipilotti Rist, Rachel Whiteread,

Carsten Nicolai, Damien Hirst, Monica Bonvicini, Ceal Floyer, Cyril de

Commarque, Matias Feldbakken, Walead Beshty, Claire Fontaine

Production: Fondazione Giorgio Cini onlus and Pentagram Stiftung

Title: Fragile?

Curator: Mario Codognato

Dates: 8 April – 28 July 2013

Open: 10 AM – 7 PM, closed on Wednesdays

Venue: Le Stanze del Vetro, Fondazione Giorgio Cini

Address: Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice

Ticket office: free admission

Catalogue: Skira

Info: info@lestanzedelvetro.it, info@cini.it

Web: www.lestanzedelvetro.it, www.cini.it

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

*This post was originally published on Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 4:07pm.

Island of the Gods & The Last Venice - The Photography of Gotthard Schuh

2013-03-27T18:19:00.000+01:00

(Venice, Italy) Gotthard Schuh (December 22, 1897, Berlin - December 29, 1969, Zürich) began his career as a painter, but as he approached the age of thirty, he became interested in photography, and we are fortunate that he did. Schuh had two wives and two families (not at the same time), and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 51, yet managed to capture magical images throughout Europe and the island of Bali until his death, one week after his 72nd birthday.

The seven year old daughter of the prince of Saba gives dance class, Bali, 1938

The Swiss Ambassador to Italy himself, Bernardino Regazzoni, was at the inauguration of the Gotthard Schuh photography exhibit here in Venice on March 22nd, which has been divided into two venues. Over at the Swiss Consulate, the exhibit concentrates on Schuh's 1938 photography in Bali titled L'isola degli dèi, or Island of the Gods. My paternal grandmother was of Swiss ancestry, so it was comforting to be surrounded by so many Swiss folks, who have their own special kind of energy. Amazingly, even though he was from another culture, Schuh captured the souls of the joyous island people of Bali, and offers a deep and personal view into their ceremonies and private lives.

At the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti at Palazzo Loredan, you will find L'Ultima Venezia, or The Last Venice, dedicated to Schuff's 1963 photos of Venice. I was moved by the vintage photos and how much of Venice remains eternally the same -- another group of islanders determined to preserve their way of life.

Gian Antonio Danieli, President of IVSLA, wrote in the Preface:

"...But Venice has demonstrated scores of times that it is capable of surviving the most ruinous tragedies and of transforming itself. Our vow is that in the midst of the great changes that characterize our age, Venice will once again prove able to transform itself, without, however, losing any of the extraordinary magic that has made it so greatly loved and celebrated over the centuries. Our hope is that Schuh's photos may enable us to rediscover some of that magic so that we can ensure it is not entirely lost."

The exhibitions run daily 11am to 6pm through May 5, 2013, and admittance to both venues is free. In cooperation with the Museum of Culture, the City of Lugano, Switzerland.

Gotthard Schuh Fotografie
L'sola Degli Dèi
Fotografie. Bali. 1938
Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi
Campo Sant'Agnese

L'ultima Venezia
Fotografie. Venice. 1963.
Palazzo Loredan
Campo Santo Stefano

www.mcl.lugano.ch
www.istitutoveneto.it

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Arte Laguna Art Prize Venice 2013

2013-03-24T19:21:00.001+01:00

The Last Gun (2012) by Costantine Zlatev Bulbaria 1974 - Winner - Sculpture

(Venice, Italy) The prestigious Arte Laguna Art Price is now in its seventh edition, and I can remember back in 2006 when it was a fledgling, about to take flight. Since then it has grown into a major international art prize, promoting and spreading contemporary art all over the world. The prize is open to all Artists, without any limitations of age, sex, nationality or other qualifications. Each artist can participate with one or more artworks, in one or more sections. This year the 110 finalists were selected from over 8,000 applicants ranging in ages from 19 to 68 years, from 37 countries on 5 continents. The global amount of the prizes is 180,000 euros, with the five overall winners in each category -- painting, sculpture & installation, photography, video art & performance, virtual art -- awarded a cash prize of 7,000 euros.

Boy #1 from series Boys in a City Park (2011) by Richard Ansett UK 1966 - Winner Photography

In addition, this year Arte Laguna Prize gives eight artists the opportunity to encounter different cultures thanks to the Special Prizes “Artist-in-Residence.” During the residencies, the artists will create new works that will be exhibited on the final open day. For the seventh edition, the art residencies will take place in Mumbai, Venice, Ptuj (Slovenia), Basel, Vicenza, and, for the first time, in Beijing.

Detour #21 (2012) by Ivelisse Jimenez Puerto Rico 1966 - Winner Painting

Submissions were judged by an elite panel of international jurists headed by Igor Zanti, critic and independent curator, and which included Umberto Angelini (Italy, Director of Festival Uovo), Gabriella Belli (Italy, Director of Musei Civici of Venice), Adam Budak (United States, Curator of Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden of Washington), Cecilia Freschini (China, Independent Curator; founder and director of lab-Yit | the Italian Contemporary Art Platform in China), Mario Gerosa (Italy, Senior editor of AD, Digital Art Curator), Lina Lazaar (Great Britain, Expert in International Contemporary Art for Sotheby’s), Kanchi Mehta (India, Founder and Chief Curator of Chameleon Art Projects & and India Editor for Flash Art), Sabine Schaschl (Switzerland, Director and Curator of Kunsthaus Basel), Felix Schöber (Germany, Independent Curator), and Claudia Zanfi (Italy, Art Historian and Cultural Manager).

Prodigal Son (2010) by Carlos Martiel Cuba 1989 - Winner Video Art & Performance

The main exhibition space is at Tese di San Cristoforo, part of Arsenale Nord, where the finalists are on display through March 31, 2013. There is also a Virtual Art Section over at the Telecom Italia Future Center. and an Under25 Section at the Romanian Institute in Campo Santa Fosca. If you are here in Venice until March 31st, be sure to check it out. Entrance is free.

I here project (1995) by Nirit Zer Israel 1973 - Winner Virtual Art

So, all you Artists, everywhere, all over the globe, get ready for Arte Laguna Art Prize 2014. For details about the entry fee and further information, visit the Arte Laguna Art Prize site.

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Arte Laguna Art Prize

Venice Music Project - New Venue for Ancient Music

2013-03-17T18:10:00.000+01:00

Liesl Odenweller and the Venetia Antiqua Ensemble

(Venice, Italy) One of the most pleasant ways to spend an evening in Venice is to enjoy classical music in an ancient venue, and there are several excellent groups that perform throughout town. Now, there is a new kid in the campo called Venice Music Project, with American soprano Liesl Odenweller center stage. It is a delightful blend of the some of the best ingredients that Italy and the USA have to offer, with the majestic church of San Giovanni Evangelista as the setting. The inaugural concert on March 1st featured music by Vivaldi, Marcello and Haendel, and Liesl was resplendent in a gown and jewelry created by the local contemporary designer, Gualti.

Venetia Antiqua Ensemble is made up of some of the most distinguished performers of Baroque music in the world, all of whom live or have studied in Venice. Individually, the musicians perform in top-quality venues, such as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall and Musikverein, with renowned conductors -- Sir Simon Rattle, Andrea Marcon, Marc Minkowski, Alan Curtis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner -- and record with labels like Sony, Deutsche Grammophon and Towerhill. All the music is performed on original instruments or exact copies, and the choice of repertoire reaches back into the ancient past, meticulously researched and scored.

The goal of Venice Music Project is to resurrect the performance of Early Music in Venice, a tradition that dates back centuries, while, at the same time, investing a portion of the box office into restoration projects for the Church and Scuola. The Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista was one of the Venetian Republic's seven Scuole Grandi, or "Great Schools," and is dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist, whose symbol is the eagle. These "schools" were important confraternities that performed a variety of charitable functions, as well as patronizing the arts. They provided food, clothing and even burials for their poorer members, dowries to daughters, oversaw the hospitals and sponsored festivities and processions. Unlike the strictly controlled Venetian nobility, membership was open to all citizens -- in fact, no aristocrat was permitted to have a director role in a scuola. This allowed ordinary citizens to control powerful institutions, and have some level of influence upon the government.

When Philip de Mezières, the Chancellor of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Cyprus gave San Giovanni Evangelista a piece of the True Cross in 1369, its prestige was cranked up, and it transformed into a rich and powerful organization, attracting some of Venice's wealthiest and influential citizens. They commissioned some of the Republic's most important artists to create works based on a "cross" theme, including Vittore Carpaccio's Miracle of the Relic of the Holy Cross at the Rialto Bridge (The Healing of the Madman) (1496), now in the Accademia.

Miracolo della Croce a Rialto by Carpaccio

In addition to the concerts of the resident orchestra, Venetia Antiqua Ensemble, Venice Music Project has created a season of Baroque music concerts, where international groups will perform the seventeenth and eighteenth century music that was celebrated in Venice. The schedule of performances, through July 2013, can be found HERE.

Further information can be found at the Venice Music Project site, in both English and Italian, where you can book in advance. Tickets (€30 full price, €20 reduced, €15 students and children under 12 free) are available at the venue itself, and at most hotels in Venice.

www.venicemusicproject.it
Tel: +39 345-791-1948

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Venice Celebrates Women

2013-03-10T17:33:00.001+01:00

(Venice, Italy) March 8th is International Women's Day, and Venice is going all out with a long weekend -- March 7 to March 10 - jammed with activities centered around the theme, with some of the city's most distinguished cultural institutions participating. One Billion Rising, that powerful, deeply moving short film you just watched, was screened yesterday at the round table entitled Immagini amiche - Il ruolo svolto dai mass-media nella costruzione dell'estetica femminile or "Friendly Images - The role played by the media in the construction of female aesthetics" over at the Ateneo Veneto.

Advertising and music videos have always sexed up the image of the female, but it has become increasingly more violent and dark in recent years. The image you see on the left, a dead woman on the top of a car, strangled by a tie held by a well-dressed man -- who is not wearing a tie -- is an ad for a Duncan Quinn suit. Quinn is a former leveraged-buyout lawyer who quit to go into fashion. His suits sell for $4,000 - $30,000.

Below is a clip of Rihanna and Britney Spears singing "S&M" at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Dressed in bondage bodysuits and wearing handcuffs, the crowd roars its approval as the singers crawl around and pole dance. Some of the lyrics:

I may be bad, but I'm perfectly good at it.

Sex in the air; I don't care; I love the smell of it.

Sticks and stones may break my bones,

but chains and whips excite me.

It's violence glamorized to the max, and it is a rare female -- and often male -- performer that does not have to jump through those hoops to succeed -- everyone from Beyoncé to Christina Aguilera to Lady Gaga has promoted those type of images. It is a far cry from Aretha Franklin belting out "Respect" in 1967. Compared to the reality of the strong video from One Billion Rising, it is a sad joke -- they have actually commercialized the idea that it's GREAT for a Black woman and a White woman -- wearing opposite colors, of course -- to be in chains. It is an advertising campaign to sell slavery, and nothing more:

The round table was inspired by a European Parliament report of September 3, 2008 on how marketing and advertising affect equality between women and men. The EP argued that to combat gender stereotypes in the media, it would be a good idea to educate children so they would develop a critical attitude about the ads they are bombarded with. And you know what -- it's working! The young people in the audience from schools in Venice and the Veneto were intelligent, witty and talented, and had been educated to create their own positive media in response to the dark images -- another reason why I love Europe.

UPI.com

It was heartening that the US President signed the reauthorization of VAWA, the Violence Against Women Act, just three days ago on March 7th, despite the efforts by Congress to block it, or water it down. According to Wikipedia, the word "billion" in the One Billion Rising global campaign refers to the statistic that one in three women will be raped or beaten in their lifetime, or about one billion, and I am pleased that the US government has joined Europe in addressing this serious world-wide problem.

UPDATE - March 20, 2013:

UN adopts plan to combat violence against women

"International solidarity is needed for women's empowerment and preventing this regressive mood, whether in the developing countries or developed, or in the Middle East in particular," Tallawy told two reporters afterwards. "It's a global wave of conservatism, of repression against women, and this paper is a message that if we can get together, hold power together, we can be a strong wave against this conservatism."

Tallawy, who is president of the National Council for Women-Egypt, said she has told this to Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi, who came from the Muslim Brotherhood,

"I believe in women's cause. I don't take money from the government. I work voluntarily. If they want to kick me out they can. But I will not change my belief in women," she said. "Women are the slaves of this age. This is unacceptable, and particularly in our region."

CLICK TO READ AP - THE BIG STORY.

"Star" dress by Ágatha Ruíz de la Prada

Over at the Museo Correr ballroom, the Fondazione Museo Civici di Venezia celebrates International Women's Day with the Madrid-born Ágatha Ruíz de la Prada, who has curated a vibrant exhibition, The Trades of Fashion, featuring her "Spring-Summer 2013" collection, which was first presented at the latest edition of the Mercedes Benz Fashion week in Madrid. The ballroom is alive with 31 of Agatha's whimsical creations, which reinterpret the icons she holds dear -- the "cage," "heart," "star," and "umbrella" dresses -- that have accompanied her throughout her 31-year career.

Ágatha Ruíz de la Prada first entered the fashion world in 1981 in Madrid, where she triumphed with her first women's collection, and soon thereafter opened her first shop. Her creations morphed into wholly artistic expressions, which were exhibited in leading galleries throughout Spain. In 1991, Agatha began issuing licenses for children's clothes, accessories, furniture and other products, and today the brand is distributed internationally. The collection will be at the Correr through May 5, 2013. The exhibition is included with the ticket that allows you entrance into the St. Mark's Square museums, so you can stop by and let some sunshine and smiles into your life, even if it's raining. Here's some more images from the collection, courtesy of the Museo Correr.

"Cage" by Ágatha Ruíz de la Prada

"Heart" by Ágatha Ruíz de la Prada

"Umbrella" by Ágatha Ruíz de la Prada

In a city which, in ancient times, turned a large percentage of its female population into courtesans, it is refreshing to see that in the 21st Century Venice is taking the lead in transforming the feminine image into something dynamic. On a personal level, on the Giornata della Donne, March 8 itself, a kind and generous Venetian woman gave me the gift of going to her hairdresser, transforming my droopy locks into a fabulous do. Only a confident, compassionate woman would want to lionize another woman and make her more beautiful. This type of sacred feminine energy will transform the world.

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog