Real Venice
31/05/2011 - 30/09/2011
V
enice is most definitely in peril. Just look at where the water is now. In many places it is at, or above, the line where the water-resistant stone bases of the buildings join with the porous brickwork. This has never been the case in previous centuries. This is why those who say that Venice will go on surviving because it has already survived so long are tragically mistaken. The charity Venice in Peril has been working for over 40 years to protect Venice from decay, to make reliable information known about the threats to the city, whether from the water, tourism, or over-exploitation, and to lobby for its protection.
Venice in Peril, in collaboration with Ivorypress and generous backers, has launched a major art initiative to raise funds for Venice. Fourteen artists using the medium of photography have been commissioned to visit the city and with absolute freedom make a portfolio of images. They have all donated an edition of their portfolios to Venice in Peril. Choosing from these images, the Ivorypress Team, led by Elena Foster, has been the curator of the exhibition Real Venice, and has produced a publication with the same title as part of C Photo Project. After the exhibition closes on 30 September 2011, the photographs will travel to London, where they will be exhibited and then auctioned with the help of Phillips de Pury on 3 November 2011. All proceeds go to Venice in Peril.
The exhibited artists are: Lynne Cohen, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Antonio Girbés, Nan Goldin, Pierre Gonnord, Dionisio González, Candida Höfer, Tiina Itkonen, Mimmo Jodice, Tim Parchikov, Matthias Schaller, Jules Spinatsch, Hiroshi Watanabe and Robert Walker.
The exhibition will also travel the world. The tour is organised by the International Enterprises department of the Barbican Centre in London.
The aim of this exhibition has been to encourage good art about Venice to be made, but Venice in Peril will only consider the exhibition a real success if you also take away with you the message that, without good science, wise decision-making and a long term, well planned budget (the last two are conspicuously lacking), Venice has no future. Real Venice is a necessary initiative that harnesses the creativity, the vigour, the internationalism - and the financial power - of contemporary art to saving Venice, an ancient, exquisite city where art has always been of the essence.
The Real Venice exhibition was shown during the 54 Venice Bienale at San Giorgio Maggiore Abey and later in the Somerset House in London, from 31 May through 30 September and from 10 October through 11 December 2011 respectively.
For further information about the exhibition, click www.realvenice.org
