(modern, as only venice can be...please click for more & resources)venice is numinous. it surely has something to do with the water. and this quality seems to cast a veil or maybe even a lens that somehow transforms or refines all the architectural structures -whether historic or contemporary- into something worthy of reverence.
in my own fairy tale realm, you know, the one where i spend the spring and early fall of each and every year in the 5th floor of a looming palazzo- that fantasy- i get to live out one of my deepest creative affections; embracing the modern within an historic setting or vice versa. give me a relic furnished with saarinen and eames or tadao ando with a smattering of a few choice antiques - and that's my idea of paradise.
i must not be the only one that loves that contrast. perhaps it's a key factor for the continuous appeal of the 1895 fortuny-inspired venice biennale? for more than a century the biennale has drawn the most avant-garde from the edges of the modern world into the venerable parameters of venice. it continues to be one of the most anticipated art events in the world.
and venice's architectural biennale is equally as prestigious. today, in this first of two posts from bella figura communications, joann locktov, an exploration of how the modern architecture of venice via 20th century masters such as Carlo Scarpa, Santiago Calatrava, Tadao Ando, and Aldo Rossi continues to check the pulse of modern architecture in a setting of historic dna. joann shares a "must" tour on your next journey to the city of water.
peggy guggenheim collection (photos courtesty andrea sarti www.cast1466.com)
(please click photos to tour contemporary venice with joann and mike welton of architects+artisans)
and be sure to return to tile envy tomorrow for part IV of april in venice...