The lagoon / has the moon / between its legs / playing ball
Venice as a Model for the Future?
May 6 – October 13, 2023

Photo: Barbara Casavecchia
Past
TBA21–Academy
Programming

After three years under the sun, in 2023 the cycle of walks Venice as a model for the future?, curated by Barbara Casavecchia and Pietro Consolandi, moves into the twilight and the silence of the night. With the title "The lagoon / has the moon / between its legs / playing ball" (after a poem by Etel Adnan, from her book From A to Z, Post-Apollo Press, 1982), this series intends to explore how humans and more than humans co-exist in Venice and its lagoon after dark, when the wave of daily visitors leaves the city, nocturnal birds start to sing, beacons are switched on some boats to catch mullet and cuttlefish, and the moon dictates the movement of tides.

Venice as a model for the future is a cycle of itinerant conversations, curated by Barbara Casavecchia and Pietro Consolandi and guided by activists, scientists, and guardians of this body of water and its inhabitants. The project is part of the three-year research cycle The Current III—“Mediterraneans: ‘Thus waves come in pairs’ (after Etel Adnan)," led by Barbara Casavecchia.
PROGRAM
Saturday, May 6 (full moon)
Matteo Stocco & Alice Ongaro Sartori
Metagoon. Investigations into urban fishing at sunset
Ocean Space

Friday, May 26 (half moon)
The Tidal Garden
The name for world is tide
Cavallino Treporti

Friday, June 9 (half moon)
Emanuele Stival
The rhythm of the night
Ocean Space

Friday, June 23 (new moon)
Rahel Kraft
Wading Breath
Isola della Certosa

Friday, June 30 (full moon)
Confluenze
Repeating eutrophia
Lido S.M.E.

Friday, September 8 (half moon)
Zeyn Joukhadar & Matteo Rubbi
The secret sea
Ocean Space

Friday, September 22 (half moon)
Silvia Franco
Abecedarium
Ocean Space

Friday, October 13 (half moon)
Giacomo-Maria Salerno
Towards a critique of the tourism economy
Ocean Space

 
CURATORS
Barbara Casavecchia is a writer, independent curator, and educator based in Milan, where she teaches at the Department of Visual Cultures and Curatorial Practices of the Brera Academy since 2011. She currently holds a course in Critical Writing at NABA, Milan. Contributing editor of Frieze magazine, her articles and essays have been published in art-agenda, ArtReview, D/La Repubblica, Flash Art, Mousse, Nero, South, and Spike, amongst others, as well as in artist books and catalogues. In 2018, she curated the solo exhibition “Susan Hiller, Social Facts” at OGR, Turin. In 2020, she acted as Mentor of the Ocean Fellowship Program offered by TBA21–Academy at Ocean Space in Venice. In 2021–2023, Barbara is going to lead The Current III.  

Pietro Consolandi is a former fellow of TBA21–Academy’s inaugural Ocean Fellowship. He is an artist, writer and curator with education in political theory (MSc at the University of Edinburgh) and visual arts (MA at the IUAV University of Venice). His practice strives to blur the boundaries between these two disciplines. His recent works approach issues connected with the Anthropocene and the great climate acceleration, analyzing how late-stage capitalism critically strikes the world through chaotic action and irresponsible development. Primarily as part of the collective Barena Bianca, his practice uses art as a resistance tactic in Venice, highlighting how global networks of research and activism are essential to understand and tackle issues that are simultaneously ecological and sociological in nature.

 
Ocean Space’s 2023 public program is kindly supported by Select Aperitivo and Venezia FC. For more information about Ocean Spaces' ongoing public program click here.