Sowers

courtyard of the Ca' Foscari University (Venice)

VENINI presents Sowers, the large-scale work bearing the signatures of artist Maria Rebecca Ballestra and architects Lino and Elia Barone, realized by the historical glassworks’ master craftsmen. Mounted in the courtyard of Ca’ Foscari University , the installation bears witness to VENINI ‘s sensitivity to environmental.

Cross pollination between art, technology and nature is the subtitle of the large-scale architectural installation which will remain on display from December 2, 2018 to April 7, 2019.

Made of some 800 glass tiles arranged in an extraordinary chromatic composition, this installation speaks of VENINI’s unique ability to offer such a vast range of colours: from green to taupe, passing through amber and straw-yellow; from red to sapphire rippling through rose, burgundy, and aquamarine shades. These elements are joined together thanks to a free-standing metal framework, made with the contribution of DITH (Duferco International Trading Holding) and the Jotun Group, as well as Carpenteria Sartori’s skilled craftsmen; the structure simulates a section of Dna and will entice visitors to experience it fully, exploring its kaleidoscopic corridors and winding paths.

The concept is by Maria Rebecca Ballestra, the artist who has always used multidisciplinary expression and the theme of the journey to study issues around environmental, political, and social sustainability.

The structural organism, instead, is a project by father-and-son architects Lino and Elia Barone, who can boast a long experience in interpreting the theme of cultural contaminations. In fact, the Sheikh Zayed mosque in Abu Dhabi and some of the King of Morocco Hassan II’s residences, the Eastern Orthodox cathedral of Nice, a series of towers in the Emirates, and many private homes in Europe, Asia, and North Africa all bear the Barone signature.

Conceptually, Sowers represents an ideal Silk Road that holds in its curving structure the seeds of forty different varieties of plants or flowers, selected by the Padua Botanical Gardens, and introduced in Europe thanks to the commercial activities of Middle Eastern countries and Asia, also mentioned by Marco Polo.

The public can fully appreciate this installation by means of an enhanced reality device created by CardMap that makes it possible to visualize the plant that corresponds to each seed.

The theme of the journey that often stimulates the artist’s creative thinking resurfaces once again in this exciting cultural archive of biodiversity: it is a timelessly apt symbol of the meeting of East and West.

By making available to the artist Maria Rebecca Ballestra its technical know-how and the ability of its master glassblowers to transform the raw material into artistic masterpieces, VENINI continues to contribute to the Lagoon’s cultural renewal and economic sustainability, revealing to the entire world the precious heritage of this territory.Indeed, already in the mid-Fifties, VENINI was engaged to carry out the sweeping lighting plan for the Ca’ Foscari University’s Aula Magna, part of architect Carlo Scarpa’s major renovation project.