International Competitions in Architecture
AN ART PAVILION FOR GIOVANNI BELLINI
500 years ago the great Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini died.
500 years ago, on November 26th.
What is a painter?... What is his / her role in society?...
Do we need them?...
WE DO.
WE DO because life, without them, would be even harder.
They give us “illusions,” but of a very different kind than the ones given to us by Hallmark and Hollywood, the two deadly “Hs”.
The “illusions” of the great painters are not really “illusions,” because they are sustained by what is the most intense, and the highest, FORM OF REALITY.
What we usually call “reality” is at the most, only HALF of the “real reality,” and this Dostoevsky knew quite well and together with him all the great artists, writers, thinkers, prophets, etc.
But they are in minority. And most of the time, we ignore them.
So why should we design an ART PAVILION FOR GIOVANNI BELLINI in the Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice?...
Because we believe life and death are intertwined, they are correlative.
Giovanni Bellini is buried inside the great Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo.
And we feel that a "dialogue" between the best painters of today in Venice, who would exhibit in the pavilion, and the famous resident beyond the entrance door of the church, would be fruitful, indeed, albeit, perhaps, only "meta-physical."
What could happen if we refuse to consider the dead, dead?...
What if, indeed, the dead are watching us?
Wouldn’t, in such a case, Giovanni Bellini be quite pleased to see that the freshness of the present, in terms of painting, would be displayed right in front of the basilica where his tomb is?...
We feel he most certainly would.
Not only that, the painters of today would feel challenged to exhibit their works just meters / feet away from the Master, yes, the great Master of Venetian painting.
So we invite you, on this anniversary year, to design a small art pavilion to be built right in front of the basilica. So Bellini would see it.
Please make it as innovative and creative and even idiosyncratic as you can. This pavilion should testify about the present and the future.
It should bring THE NEW to Venice that would make even a Marinetti happy.
Yes, let’s honor the great Giovanni Bellini with an equally great small art pavilion, where the present day great Venetian painters can show their work, itself, somehow, and maybe, an homage to the great predecessor.
How else could we pay our homage to past greatness, if not through present greatness?
We plan to send a portfolio with all the works received to the mayor of Venice, with the suggestion to build the best proposal, so next year, on November 26th, the best painters of Venice, now, would show their works there, meters / feet away from the master.
Please design a building that can be built, because we want it built.
The deadline to submit your work is November 26th, 2016. Please register freely in order to receive a registration number with which to anonymously identify your work.
To receive more details and to ask questions, please contact us at: info@icarch.us
Thank you,
ICARCH Gallery
Please click here to download the CAD site plan.
The proposed possible sites within the square are shown in red, below. But we accept and invite any other spatial configuration that you might find appropriate, according to your visions and design intentions.
Paintings by Canaletto and Guardi, of Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo.
An old photograph of the square
Recent photographs of the square, taken just a few weeks ago.
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