Venice Archives - Arts & Collections

Wallace Chan’s TOTEM and the Spirit of Venice

The Chinese multidisciplinary artist Wallace Chan’s sculpture exhibition, TOTEM, runs until 23rd October 2022 in Venice. TOTEM, which refers to an esteemed ancestral spirit, interconnects the philosophical aspects of Wallace Chan’s Buddhist faith, including his reverence for the natural world and the innate qualities of the materials he uses in his sculptural work. The exhibition features an installationwork composed of multiple unassembled parts of Chan’s 10 metre titanium sculpture (A Dialogue Between Materials and Time,...

Life & Culture

Venice – a Floating World of Art

Chris Jenkins

Venice – a Floating World of Art Venice remains a glittering symbol of civilization in an uncertain world. How does its art reflect its storied history? Petrarch, the fourteenth-century Tuscan poet, called Venice a mundus alter, “another world,” and the city remains unique in its appeal to the visitor in search of art, culture and history. Needless to say its physical structure, a cluster of islands connected by bridges and canals, is unusual enough –...

Hotels

San Clemente Palace Resort, An Enchanting Secret of Venetian Heritage

Arts & Collections

One of Italy’s most enchanting secrets, San Clemente Palace is a city resort located on its own island in the Venice lagoon, just 10 minutes from San Marco Square via the hotel’s complimentary boats. A tranquil sanctuary on the doorstep of Venice, San Clemente Palace Kempinski is one of Italy’s most enchanting secrets. The stately resort immerses guests in the drama, glamour, and heritage of Venice. The 900-year-old landmark property is comprised of a series...

Life & Culture

Venice Biennale Golden Lion Award Goes to Lithuania for Climate Change Opera

Chris Jenkins

The Jury of the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia has announced that the Golden Lion Award has gone to Lithuania for Sun & Sea (Marina), a performance piece about global warming in which operatic singers lie on an artificial beach. Lina Lapelyte, Vaiva Grainyte and Rugile Barzdziukaite created the piece, which debuted at Vilnius’s National Gallery of Arts in 2017 in Lithuanian and was adapted into English for the Biennale. Other...

Uncategorized

Venice Biennale Opens With Great Britain Represented by Cathy Wilkes

Chris Jenkins

The 58th Venice Biennale opens on Saturday May 11th, with Great Britain represented by Irish artist Cathy Wilkes. The biennial contemporary visual art exhibition consists of two parts, the first a huge central exhibition organised this year by invited curator Ralph Rugoff, the director of the Hayward Gallery in London. This exhibition is titled May You Live in Interesting Times – a reference to the supposed Chinese curse that entered common parlance after Sir Joseph...

Life & Culture

Giudecca Art District Opens With Flagship Exhibition Alongside Venice Biennale

Chris Jenkins

Coinciding with the opening of 58th Venice Biennale, on 9th May 2019 the Venetian island of Giudecca will see the official launch of the Giudecca Art District (GAD), founded by General Director Pier Paolo Scelsi and Artistic Director Valentina Gioia Levy. Building on the Giudecca’s significant contemporary art legacy and the island’s history as a liminal space, the newly established Giudecca Art District will be home to a permanent curatorial programme, linking new and existing...

Life & Culture

Water City Venice

Arts & Collections

The only city in the world built entirely on water, magical Venice is not simply crammed with fascinating architecture but also boasts some of Italy’s finest art collections in its museums and palaces. Venice, La Serenissima, is a unique and extraordinary city, one of the world’s great sights. Impossibly romantic, it has fascinated artists, writers and travellers for centuries and, in our traffic-clogged and fast-moving age, its ‘other world-ness’ is still an endless source of...