CULTURE_NATURE green ethics – habitat – environment as a collateral event of the 12th. International Architecture Exhibition - Venice Biennale.
From 27 August to 21 November 2010 Thetis, a partner in this initiative, will host more than 50 architects, artists and international universities in its exhibition venue, displaying works that highlight the relationship between MAN, ARCHITECTURE and the ENVIRONMENT, a topic that is of particular interest to Thetis.
The curators of the event are the architects Fortunato d’Amico of Turin Polytechnic University and Alessandra Coppa of Milan Polytechnic University.
This project incorporates multidisciplinary sectors (architecture, energy, design, art, film and even agriculture and landscape) that, although diverse, are linked by the connections between the manifold interpretations of the environment understood as a contemporary habitat.
For the event, the landscape architect Andreas Kipar envisioned Spazio Thetis as a single LEAF THAT DIFFUSES ITS ENERGY AND LIFE FORCE OUTWARDS. Leaves are specialized organs that photosynthesize, absorbing sunlight and transmitting this energy directly to the plant’s tissues. They carry out the processes of respiration and transpiration, and are able to store energy.
In Kipar’s design, the sap that runs through the veins and circulates throughout the leaf is symbolically centred at certain vital junctions that correspond to points where the artists’ creative energy is concentrated, ready to diffuse into the surrounding area.
Kipar’s leaf, along with its veins, extends all the way to the Arsenal's Alberatura Tower, which is envisioned as the “brain”. This building was not selected by chance. After a recent Aresenale SPA restoration project that included significant structural renovation, the tower is no longer merely a monumental example of nineteenth-century architecture standing at the entrance to the Darsena Grande (Large Basin) – it will soon assume the role of the centre, or “brain”, of the entire Arsenale Nuovissimo. In fact, this building is destined to become a location for nurturing Art and Culture, radiating energy outwards into its surroundings.
In addition to being included in the official Biennale catalogue published by Marsilio, Culture_Nature will also print its own catalogue, published by Skira. This publication will include texts by: Antonietta Grandesso, the Director of Spazio Thetis and artistic and cultural promoter for the Arsenale Novissimo; Antonio Paruzzolo, the CEO of Thetis, who, along with the architect Grandesso, has always supported the promotion of art and culture, believing it to be the company’s life blood; Andrea Bondì, the Site Engineer for a building in the Arsenale Novissimo that embodies the values of Culture_Nature, as it incorporates the principles of sustainability in its design; and Riccardo Hofmann, External Relations Manager and the facilitator for this event.
