Canova/Charrière: dialogue in Venice.

7:15 p.m.

In a Venetian palace, an ingenious curatorial approach brings two artists from different centuries into dialogue, creating a remarkably harmonious complement.

Antonio Canova (Treviso, 1757; Venice, 1822) honed his genius with the support of his Venetian patrons. He worked with Carrara marble to craft idealized natural forms, a material that, as a vessel of beauty and a witness to the passage of time, gives rise to figures inspired by Greek canons: sculptural bodies that hover between perfection and myth.

In contrast, the Franco-Swiss artist Julian Charrière (b. 1987), whose work include photography, film, and installation, is known by his focus on the damage inflicted upon natural ecosystems by both climate change and human activity.

In the Museo Correr’s curatorial concept, presented within the Sale Canoviane (Canova Rooms), the work of both artists intertwines: a video by Charrière is projected behind a Canova sculpture. The video features no human figures, showing instead flashes of light that evoke the implosion or birth of a planet or star.

Spiral Economy, the title of this artistic dialogue, invites a reflection on the passage of time: the enduring nature of Canova’s sculpture, sustained by the permanence of marble, stands in contrast to the destructive processes affecting the stars in the universe, something beyond human control.