It is time for emotions, encounters, light, and experimentation: Venezia da Vivere’s guide to December appointments before Christmas 2023
December is the month of festivities and many cultural events full of emotions and magic. Let us explore them together.
White Venice
Until March 3, 2024, the Fondazione Wilmotte presents the exhibition Venezia bianca, created in collaboration with the Circolo Fotografico La Gondola and the Archive of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia through the Luigi Ferrigno collection, on the eternal and changing beauty of Venice.
The magic of winter settles with snowflakes on squares and canals, in the opaque light of the sun, on gondolas wrapped in a blanket of snow as on the roofs of houses and palaces. 49 photographs by Marino Bastianello, Roberto Capuis, Libero Dell’Agnese, Sergio Del Pero, Luigi “Gigi” Ferrigno, Gaetano Gabbia, Giorgio Giacobbi, Manfredi Manfroi, Laura Martinelli, Sergio Moro, Gino Residori, Fulvio Roiter, Bruno Rosso, Luciano Scattola, and Toni Schena: a visual narrative of a moment suspended in time, in which the beauty of Venice merges with the delicacy of snow, creating unforgettable scenographies.
Photographic Notes. The Venice of Luigi Ferrigno
Like notes taken over a lifetime, the images of the Venetian photographer, born in 1935, recount the Venice of the second half of the twentieth century at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia from December 17, 2023, to April 1, 2024.
In 2021, Luigi (Gigi) Ferrigno entrusted his archive of over 25,000 images to the Fondazione Querini, so that it would preserve and enhance it, making it available to everyone. This exhibition curated by Lorenza Bravetta presents a small but significant part of it.
Photographic Notes. The Venice of Luigi Ferrigno
The visit is included in the admission ticket to the Foundation.
Children’s Theater at Teatrino Groggia
Sogni di Natale is the special proposal by the company La Piccionaia to await Christmas 2023 at Teatrino Groggia:
Thursday, December 7, 5 PM
A creative workshop led by Julio Escamilla for children and parents: Facciamo l’albero e merenda insieme with storytelling activities and construction of objects to decorate the Theater’s Christmas tree.
“Can you end up on a planet where every day is Christmas, shop windows have no glass, clocks are edible and taste like chocolate?”
At 6 PM, Fantastico Natale will be performed, freely inspired by the tales of Gianni Rodari.
Friday, December 8, 6 PM
The appointment (open free of charge to everyone aged 6 and up) is for Canto di Natale by Charles Dickens with the dramaturgical writing by Paola Rossi, musical accompaniment from A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten, and on stage Francesca Tres, Paola Rossi, Matteo Balbo, and Carlo Presotto.
Sunday, December 17, 4:30 PM
With direction by Simone Derai, dramaturgy by Marco Menegoni and Piero Ramella, and sound design by Mauro Martinuz, La Piccionaia brings the tales of Le Mille e una Notte to Teatrino Groggia. The theater will be transformed into a labyrinth to explore, within which children will be accompanied on a journey toward the experience of listening, taking and leaving, holding and containing oneself, sharing and tenderness, fragility and aggression in playful struggle, control, vitality, strength, autonomy.
The Genie will guide children in expressing their wishes, that hidden treasure that allows them to find within themselves the keys to constructing their own identity.
The ticket is 7 euros. One grandparent and two grandchildren enter for 14 euros. For reservations, call 041 0970154 or send an email to: apescadisogni@piccionaia.org.
Ice skating in Venice
Until February 13, 2024, you can skate in Venice! The large ice skating rink in Campo San Polo is a wonderful experience open every day from 11 AM to 8 PM and on Sundays from 11 AM to 7 PM. Information and program on the Venezia Unica website.
The Photography of David “Chim” Seymour
The World and Venice 1936-56
Until March 17, 2024, at Museo di Palazzo Grimani, the exhibition of the work of one of the protagonists of twentieth-century international photography, founder in 1947 together with Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, and William Vandivert of Magnum Photos, one of the most important photographic agencies in the world.
Photographs, documents, letters, and period magazines compose the major monographic exhibition promoted by the Direzione Regionale Musei Veneto – Museo di Palazzo Grimani in collaboration with Suazes, with the patronage of the Embassy of Poland in Rome and curated by Marco Minuz.
Beyond Molten Glass at 1200 Degrees
Saturday, December 9, OroVetro Murano inaugurates Good Vibes Murano, a space that amplifies events in Murano and brings contemporaneity to the ancient art of glassmaking. Good Vibes Murano is an engaging journey to discover the history of glass, the history and practice of modeling through the transformative power of fire that reaches 1200 degrees.
The space will also be an art residency, a venue for Venetian nightlife with tastings, cocktails, and show-cooking by international chefs, music, and multisensory experiences.
Aquagranda
Tuesday, December 12, at 6 PM at Ca’ Dolfin, in Aula Magna Silvio Trentin, the Stories of Aquagranda will be presented, that is, the accounts and memories of the night of November 12, 2019, and other high tide episodes, sent through a Call for Contributors in recent months by the Venetian community. The talk will be moderated by Marco Paladini with contributions from writers Alberto Toso Fei and Giovanni Montanaro.
The event is organized by the Distretto Veneziano della Ricerca e dell’Innovazione (DVRI) in collaboration with Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, as part of the Aquagranda project, a digital collective memory combining information and creative interventions that brings together science, art, and citizenship, organized by Università Ca’ Foscari and the Distretto veneziano di ricerca e innovazione (DVRI), within the framework of Odycceus, a European H2020 research project.
“AquaGranda is a citizen science project, an active memory of the Venetian community to keep alive the discussion on the relationship between the city, the lagoon, and the tides, looking to the future.” – recounts Professor Massimo Warglien, scientific director of the project.
Free Books Day
Wednesday, December 13 at 3:30 PM, Free Books Day returns to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, which opens its doors to the public for the customary initiative that revives the pleasure of reading, giving new life to books and voice to great authors: with a symbolic contribution of 10 euros, it will be possible to purchase a tote bag and fill it freely with the displayed books.
A Center for the Study of Immersive Arts and Virtual Reality in Venice
On the island of San Servolo, the activities of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia continue, the first innovative hub in Venice entirely dedicated to immersive arts: CSC Immersive Arts.
The educational offering, the result of an agreement from a program signed a year ago with the Veneto Region’s Department of Education, aims to explore and deepen the possible applications of Extended Reality.
In December, two intensive workshops are available:
From Thursday, December 7, to Tuesday, December 12
The Ecosystem of Immersive Production, aimed at producers in the film and cultural industry who intend to acquire the skills useful for producing Extended Reality content.
The experts: Alexander Herrmann, one of the most important game and extended reality creators in Europe, who has managed Expanding Focus (a studio dedicated to game and XR production) since 2016 and is a mentor in various educational programs such as the European Creators Lab, and Agata di Tommaso, International Sales & Festival Executive in the distribution sector of Diversion Cinema, a company that works precisely on the relationship between cinema and new technologies and has become a leader in the distribution and dissemination of immersive productions.
From Tuesday, December 14, to Sunday, December 19
Lab VR Animation. Quill a tool for creative storytelling, a practical workshop dedicated to immersive storytelling for the animation and sound design of short films in Virtual Reality, with an in-depth look at the Quill software, which allows the creation of immersive content within a virtual environment and provides immediate feedback on the work process.
Guiding participants in learning the technical-creative methodologies from conception to production, both visual and sound, will be VR artist Simone Fougnier, co-founder of Studio Syro and creator of Tales from Soda Island, an innovative animated series in virtual reality for Meta, and Sound Designer Massimiliano Borghesi.
Davide Battistin. Genesis
Genesis is the new series of paintings on Venice by Davide Battistin on display from December 15 (press preview Thursday, December 14 at 11:30 AM) to February 18, 2024, at Palazzo Loredan – Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, in collaboration with Lineadacqua.
Battistin looks at the history of Venice: the marshy waters, the islets at water level, the settings of the origins on which the Venetians wanted to “launch themselves to conquer the world,” because it is “in the extraordinariness of its genesis” that the imaginative power of this city resides.
The curator Luca Zentilini writes of the Venetian painter: – “Davide paints a virginal, timeless city, immersed in sometimes apocalyptic atmospheres, with spectral lights that accentuate its beauty. His paintings are an ode to beauty but also a warning to all of us about how much and what we are willing to do to protect the world we live in.”
Venice International Performance Art Week | DigiLabAir | Emergencies of the Contemporary
At Palazzo Mora on Strada Nova from Saturday, December 15, to Sunday, December 17, the eighth edition of the Venice International Performance Art Week returns: DigiLabAir | Emergencies of the Contemporary.
Three days with free admission featuring shows, meetings, live performances with emerging and internationally recognized artists. The program also includes an outdoor walk with body art artist Franko B.
The DigiLabAir exhibition features 24 performance-based video works, 15 of which were created during digital art residencies hosted by the non-profit European cultural associations of the five project partners and distributed on the online platform PAV Performance Art Video.
The performance art festival is an event founded by VestAndPage (Andrea Pagnes & Verena Stenke), co-curated by Anja Foerschner (ECC Performance Art), Marta Jovanovic (G12 Hub), Francesco Kiais (Mind the G.A.P.), Agustin Arguello & Gabriel Lyons (PAV), in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Mailand.
MANOS Returns to Spiazzi: Craftsmanship, Design, and Convivial Art and Cuisine
MANOS is the self-production exhibition organized by the cultural association Spiazzi in Castello (at number 3865 at the Arsenale) which on Saturday December 16 and Sunday, December 17 brings together products of fashion, ceramics, publishing, jewelry, craftsmanship, design, and art with a series of events aimed at celebrating and promoting the best of the creative and productive fabric of the territory.
MANOS is an event curated by Gaetano de Gregorio, Ornella Cardillo, Simone Carraro, and Marco Bravetti. It is a place where high-quality independent productions are born, developed, and promoted as a concrete alternative to industrial production, a moment of sharing ideas and practices to create a network between producers and the public.
The meetings are free and will be accompanied by the culinary research of Tocia Venezia.
December at the Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia
The tribute to Gaspara Stampa, the concert by the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello, musical walks among the works. Here are some of the unmissable appointments in December at the Gallerie dell’Accademia.
Sunday, December 10
A musical tribute dedicated to the sixteenth-century poet Gaspara Stampa for the centenary of her birth, with a walk through the museum among paintings with musical subjects, curated by Michele Nicolaci and Alberto Tacco, a concert curated by the Early Music department of the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello of Venice, and the publication of the volume Gaspara Stampa: poi che m’hai resa Amor la libertade edited by Vittoria Surian, in collaboration with Casa Editrice Eidos.
The guided tour requires mandatory reservation until seats are filled, to be sent to ga-ave@cultura.gov.it (meeting behind the ticket office at 4:45 PM). At 6 PM, in Room X, a concert will be held with Simona Gatto, soprano; Benito Curcio and Alvise Zanella, lutes; Marcello Alemanno and Federico Tommasi, violas da gamba. The musical program includes the performance of sixteenth-century-inspired pieces by Philippe Verdelot, Vincenzo Galilei, Perissone Cambio, Bartolomeo Ratti, and Giulio Renaldi.
Admission is free by invitation, downloadable from the website starting at 4:30 PM on the same day.
December at the Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi
Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes
Wednesday, December 13, 6:30 PM
For the exhibition CHRONORAMA, the Teatrino hosts the screening of the documentary that explores the work of American photographer George Platt Lynes. The shots taken between the 1930s and 1950s of male nudes: sensual, radically explicit, and revolutionary for the time.
Frédéric Vitoux
Friday, December 15, 6 PM
The series L’Alliance Française de Venise au Palazzo Grassi returns to the Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi for a meeting dedicated to Rossini’s relationship with the city of Venice through a conversation by Frédéric Vitoux, of the Académie française, with Bruno Racine, director of Palazzo Grassi – Punta della Dogana.
The Civic Museums During the Holidays
Christmas in Venice is an opportunity to discover museums and exhibitions open even in the evening, even on Christmas, December 26, and New Year’s Day, with extended hours on Fridays and Saturdays in the Marciana area.
Evening openings: from December 8 to January 6, every Friday and Saturday Palazzo Ducale and Museo Correr will be open until 9 PM (last admission half an hour before).
Special openings: on Monday, December 25, and January 1, the exhibitions will be open: Il ritratto veneziano dell’Ottocento and Maurizio Pellegrin. Me stesso e io (until April 1, 2024) on the second floor of Ca’ Pesaro – Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, in addition to the Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia Giancarlo Ligabue, Palazzo Mocenigo, and Museo del Merletto in Burano.
Also open on Tuesday, December 26: Ca’ Rezzonico – Museo del Settecento veneziano with the exhibition dedicated to Rosalba Carriera, miniature su avorio and Museo Fortuny with the European Month of Photography project and OFF – Oculus Foto Festival Ripensare il paesaggio vs Ripensare l’identità (until January 15).
Open every day: the Museo Correr with the exhibition East-West Calligraphy (until January 7) and the Museo del Vetro di Murano with Cento anni di vetro. Nason Moretti: storia di una famiglia muranese, and Murano: Upcycling Glass (until January 6).
Sunday, December 17: last appointment for Musei in Festa with free admission to the Civic Museums of Venice for Venetians.
La Biennale’s Christmas in Mestre
La Biennale di Venezia extends its cultural offering in the Venetian area with a series of free initiatives dedicated to citizens and young people.
The Panorama as a Work of Art at Forte Marghera
X-Tree, entering the Christmas tree. From December 15 to January 7, 2024
Opening Friday, December 15, at 6 PM. DJ set from 7 PM to 10 PM
At Forte Marghera, X-Tree will be created, a panoramic installation 25 meters high, walkable and with an internal staircase that reaches a belvedere terrace. It is an artistic reinterpretation of the Christmas tree created by the studio 1024 Architecture of Paris in collaboration with Fondazione Forte Marghera.
Until January 7 (every day from 2 PM to 4 PM), access for the climb and panoramic view will be free.
Among the proposals:
– A romantic walk Starfield with two acoustic and luminous paths that go from the entrance of Forte Marghera to the X-Tree installation and the lagoon.
– The installation Lightwave that transforms music into volumes of dynamic light, created by the studio 1024 Architecture: a reworking of the work Core presented at the Biennale Electro exhibition in 2019 at Bissuola.
La Biennale’s Circus Theater
From Wednesday, December 20, to Saturday, January 6, 2024
The circus-theater arrives at Teatro del Parco Albanese (Mestre-Bissuola) with five free shows by reservation (promozione@labiennale.org) dedicated to children, teenagers, and families.
Five contemporary circus companies will bring to the park shows of acrobatics, juggling, and music, to address with irony and lightness social and educational themes such as freedom of expression, the unconscious, and childhood, characterized by a universal comic language and strong emotional involvement of the audience.
Discover the full program of La Biennale’s Christmas
Ongoing Exhibitions in Venice
Until February 29, 2024
Murano illumina il Mondo is the project by The Venice Glass Week with the Comune di Venezia and the Musei Civici veneziani that transforms Piazza San Marco into an extraordinary exhibition location. Under the vaults of the Procuratie Vecchie, twelve unique Murano glass creations will light up the Venetian Christmas and winter, transforming the Piazza into a spectacular public art setting, with the aim of raising awareness among citizens and tourists about the future of artistic glass.
Until January 15, 2024
In the renovated spaces of the Procuratie Vecchie in Piazza San Marco, the exhibition VISION is on display, the latest project by the great French photographer Francis Giacobetti, curated by Thomas Sorrentino.
Over 100 images of black and white portraits and colored irises of 20th-century visionaries: artists, scientists, leaders, peacemakers or, as Giacobetti defines them: contemporary Universal Treasures, that is, the women and men who have most inspired our era with their ideas, discoveries, ideals, and values: Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, Stephen Hawking, Mikhail Gorbachev, Barack Obama, Rita Levi Montalcini.
Until December 11, 2023
Art for Good is an extraordinary union of creativity and philanthropy: a digital collective exhibition curated by AKKA Project, which offers an opportunity to actively contribute and leave a positive mark on the society in which we live, allocating 40% of proceeds to support the charitable foundation Noor Dubai, which has long been committed to the prevention and treatment of vision in the most disadvantaged communities around the world.
The objective is to foster understanding and sharing of the strong connection between art and social impact. The exhibition is not merely a show, but a true celebration of the transformative power of beauty and art, as well as the spirit of giving.
Until March 2, 2024
L’esprit de l’escalier is the solo exhibition by Michele Spanghero at Galleria Alberta Pane. The exhibition dialogues with Tracks, the sound artist’s retrospective currently on display at the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa in Venice and offers a deep immersion into the artist’s latest projects.
Article by Lucia Pecoraro.
Cover image: Snow in Venice, Bruno Rosso, 1951, from the exhibition Venezia Bianca at Fondazione Wilmotte.
Photos by Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Dave Krugman, David Seymour/Magnum Photos, Davide Battistin by Claudia Rossini, Good Vibes Murano by Jessica Allegretti and San Servolo by Gaspar Matheron.
