12 september - 9 november 2008

The year 2008 celebrates the millennium of Genji Monogatari, namely the Story of Genji, the Bright Prince’, known as the first novel in the history of literature of all times. It is a story made of 54 chapters written in Japan iduring the Heian period (Eleventh  century) by the lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu.
The Oriental Art Museum of Venice is celebrating it by means of an exhibition. More than forty works of art are on display, coming from the rich collections of the museum, which cannot usually be seen by the public; they are all characterized by very refined decorating patterns related to the image of Genji, a romantic prince, whose novel deals with the life and the tangled love affairs of the court environment of those times. Particularly remarkable is a precious painted paper album dating back to the second half of the Seventeenth century, of which you can admire, by means of a video on purpose realized, all the pictures related to the chapters of such novel. In addition to that there are also paintings, folding screens, dresses, lacquers, toys, musical instruments, hilts and sword equipments. The iconographic meaning of the works on

14th September -23rd November 2008
Last Saturday 13th September  Light on Party opened the photo and video exhibition “ZOOM – Inside the human space”. It is the fourth stage of a displaying itinerary, which is involving St. Servolo Services in the creation of a exhibition and research  area dedicated to art, photography and the new media in Venice. It is a project which included: in 2005 the exhibition ‘Italian Camera’, dedicated to the Italian emerging photography; in 2006 ‘Flashes on the water. The Invisible Town’, an exhibition entirely dedicated to Venice between tradition and innovation; in 2007 it was, then, the turn of the international scene with the exhibition ‘Shot and Go – A vision of today’s international photography’’.
This year the attention moves back to the national scene, with an exhibition proposing the alternation between the photographic language and videos. ‘Zoom – Inside the human space’ wants to investigate, also

14th September -2nd November 2008
The 11th International Architecture Exhibition started last Sunday 14th september and this year the Biennale, rather than proposing us a series of relief models, tries to make us understand the visions of architects. Starting from the presupposition, already explained several times by the manager of such sector, Aaron Betsky, that buildings are frequently unattractive and sad, it has been decided, thus, to focus people’s attention on the meeting between imagination and the real essence of architecture. In fact it represents a field of study which not only puts up buildings, but it gives life to the environment surrounding us, namely the environment immediately near us and the one involving our social life.
The Architecture Biennale has been, thus, transformed into something looking like the Art Biennale (with lots of naked models capturing everybody’s attention!): most of the installations are frequently interactive, thus immediately drawing the visitors’ attention, and they are

15 September 2008

The young designers of Fabrica, the Benetton Group’s communication research center, have accepted a commission from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice to design a new collection of items for the prestigious museum on the Grand Canal, which this year celebrates its 60th anniversary.
Who is Peggy is a small collection of objects and accessories entirely inspired by the passionate love of art and original vision of Peggy Guggenheim, a definitive figure in the history of 20th Century art. Bags silk-screened with moments from her life documented in black and white photographs - such as the man on the gondola, a detail from a shot that portrays the collector in her beloved Venice - and a series of coloured notebooks with figures which

Casa di Carlo Goldoni
4th July / 31st October 2008
every Friday, 6pm

A series of weekly concerts performed by Ensemble Musica Venezia with the aim of promoting music by 17th and 18th-century Italian composers and other composers of this period, like Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach, associated with Venice.
Concerts in program:
4th, 11st, 25th July music by Vivaldi, Bach, Kapsberger
5th, 12th September music by Vivaldi, Mozart
19th, 26th September music by Corelli, Vivaldi, Torelli
3rd, 10th, 17th October music by Monteverdi: Scherzi, Madrigali
24th, 31st October music by Galuppi, Hasse, Canzoni

Fortuny Museum
30 August 2008 - 5 January 2009

This is the very first exhibition dedicated to George Barbier (1882-1932), artist and fashion illustrator, theatre designer and protagonist of the Art deco movement.
The exhibition is a remarkable and fitting opportunity to revive both the memory and knowledge of a considerable renown artist while alive but quickly forgotten after his death. For the first time, it makes it possible to study and understand the diverse aspects of his vast production. It is arranged according to themes. It begins with his early works, then continuing with a section dedicated to theatre and cinema with his drawings for costumes and theatre design. It then goes on with a vast, spectacular section dedicated to fashion illustration – including, amongst other things, pochoir, watercolours and drawings - followed by the priceless, limited editions of the highly refined albums, almanacs and books illustrated by Barbier. Finally,

Ca’ Pesaro - International Gallery of Modern Art
12 September - 16 November 2008
Forty years after his first major show in Venice – a room dedicated to his work at the 1968 Venice Biennale – Morandini returns to Venice with an important exhibition at Ca’ Pesaro, to be held in concomitance with the Biennale Architecture - 11th International Architecture Exhibition.
Comprising more than 60 pieces, the show will include 34 wall sculptures and ‘structures’ in white- or black-lacquered wood that were produced over the period 1978-2008. All in all, these works of art, architecture and design chart 30 years of work by a multi-faceted figure who has engaged in endless

29th August 2008

We expected to see Charlize Teron and Kim Basinger too - taking part, today, in the Film Festival with ‘The Burning Plain’ - at the sparkling soirée that last night involved two exceptional Venetian locations, namely the Theatre La Fenice and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the first one prepared for the presentation of the documentary ‘The last emperor’ and the second one for the Party in honour of Valentino, doubly celebrated: in a film and in his real life. On the contrary none of them was present, though there were actually some celebrities: Eva Herzigova, Eva Riccobono, Liz Hurley, Diane Kruger, the young Carolina Crescentini, Afef, Eliana Miglio, Gaia Bermani Amaral, the icon Elsa Martinelli, Matteo Marzotto and Lapo Elkann. After standing ovation welcoming Valentino at the Sala Grande at Lido, yesterday afternoon many more applauses at the Theatre La Fenice, where in the foyer for this occasion a retrospective exhibition with thirty creations of the maison has been organized. And after the Fenice everybody was invited to Ca’Corner dei Leoni, namely the place of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, where Vanity Fair and Vogue Italia offered the stylist a great party with one thousand candles illuminating the garden and the terrace, as well as flowery decorations and waiters in dark blue uniforms.
Charlize Teron, instead, delighted people with her presence and all her amazing beauty this morning at Lido; she wore a wonderful fuchsia dress. She presents her competing film ‘The Burning Plain’ by Gulliermo Arriaga, the scriptwriter of Inarritu, who has worked as a film director for the first time. C. Teron, besides being, with Kim Basinger, one of the protagonists, is also the producer of this intense and dramatic film developed on more temporal and spatial levels and dealing with four stories that, like the film director has explained today during a press conference, are based on the main natural elements: fire, air, earth and water. Her interpretation is perfect, showing once more that besides being very beautiful, she is very good too, and the film too has won a deep emotion and the applauses of the public of critics and journalists of this morning.

Tania Danieli