Download “Venice billboard plan seen as bad sign,” from Marketplace, American Public Media, December 8, 2008. Be patient…it’s near the end.
Monthly Archives: December 2008
Finish this sentence…
Prior to our opening, take a few moments here on our class blog to finish this sentence (from my post here on December 3):
“Researching for an online exhibit on Venice in this seminar allowed me to…” Here, consider addressing how you “thought across the class.” In other words…how were you influenced by your colleagues and co-curators, how did your research develop in response to the work of your co-curators, what did you learn from working on this class project, how have your ideas about Venice developed from this project?
This will prepare you for your presentations at the opening Thursday. You may certainly respond to comments made by your peers…in fact, this is encouraged.
Remember how to comment? Click on “Comments.”
More on the recent flooding in Venice
A link to an article from the Times Online (UK) from a student outside our seminar to the floods in Venice. More images and a short video are in the article.
Also from the Times Online (UK), an article with a interesting discussion of how Canaletto’s paintings allow us to understand, and perhaps depict, the flooding of Venice.
And another from The New York Times.
And this article from the BBC with photos and video.
At our opening…
please be prepared to present an overview (5 minutes) of your research and a brief tour of your part of the exhibit (your wall labels).
Also, take another few minutes to complete this sentence: “Researching for an online exhibit on Venice in this seminar allowed me to…” Here, consider addressing how you “thought across the class.” In other words…how were you influenced by your colleagues and co-curators, how did your research develop in response to the work of your co-curators, what did you learn from working on this class project, how have your ideas about Venice developed from this project?
Ads on buildings
Katherine A. has also forwarded three photos she took last week in Venice. I need some time to allow this to settle before writing. I hope you’re as outraged as I am…
Above you see the church of San Simeone Piccolo, begun in 1718 by Giovanni Scalfarotto. It is located on the Grand Canal just opposite the railroad station — therefore it greets you upon your arrival in the city, it is one of the first things you see in Venice, and is probably the first building to register in your mind upon exiting the station and entering the city. You may recall the following image that I showed in class when we discussed 18th- and 19th-c. architecture in Venice. Clearly, the church is in dire need of repair, but the new ads erase the structure and replace it with an icon to commercial greed. Save Venice?
Here (above and below) you’re looking at the Bridge of Sighs…generally considered one of the most romantic and mournful sites in the city. The bridge connects the Palazzo Ducale to the old prisons…both of which are obliterated under the ad showing sky and clouds. You can walk through this bridge (as did prisoners of the Republic on their way to trial…or execution) on a tour of the Palazzo Ducale, and can also see it from the Molo or the Ponte della Puglia at the lagoon-side of the Palazzo Ducale. I have no idea what this ad “sells.” Is that good business?
And the waters rose…
Katherine A. just sent this article to me from today’s edition of the International Herald Tribune…unbelievable! Be sure to look at the Slide Show.
Our exhibit…
…is opening next week! We have some interesting work ahead and, I think, a wonderful exhibit to look forward to…and one that won’t disappear!
This post will be edited periodically, so please come back to it to check for additional information, updates, and news. Please refer to this post as you develop your wall labels.
1) The timeline… All of you have several dates in your projects. Please add these dates to our timeline in our class blog. There’s an easy link there now. When you link to the first page, go to the top of the first timeline page and click on “register.” This will take you immediately to the excell sheet on which you will add your dates, etc. Make your additions at the bottom of the spreadsheet — regardless of chronology. Please do not erase anything on the spreadsheet that is there. Dates will not appear in chronological order on the spreadsheet…but will on our timeline!
2) Our map… Some of you have projects that can be located on the map…please do this!
3) Group photo… Is anyone good with Photoshop? Do we have a volunteer to locate us in front of some great Venetian building? I’ll bring my camera tomorrow.
4) Our exhibit has a site… venice.umwblogs.org. I worked on this over the break, and Jim taught me a few neat things this morning. It’s going to work so smoothly! Jim will send you some specific instructions and I’ll review the ins and outs with you during our meetings. For now, please visit the site to get an idea of how it looks. You are all writers/authors/editors of our exhibit blog.
5) Your wall labels… The exhibit page will be populated by individual pages each of us will write. I’ll write an introduction to the exhibit that links our visitors to each of your pages/wall labels. Each of you will have the following pages within our “Exhibit” page: a) overview (100-200 word summary of your project with a list of of additional wall lables with links to these); b) bibliography (this should be identified clearly so we don’t have 14 pages called “Bibliography”); c) the full text of your paper; and d) through…. These will be defined sections of your final paper, for example, Nicole might have a section on the making of masks, on Commedia dell’arte, on Pietro Longhi, on types of masks (Nicole and I met today and these were sections she mentioned). We’ll talk about these further…
6) Your pages are posted as “children” of the Exhibit page…I’ll show you what I mean in class and iin our meeting. it’s not as strange as it sounds!
7) Please forward to me an image I can use in my introduction that best reflects the nature of your work.
8) Your papers are due to me this Friday, December 5 (as per the syllabus). Please have a first draft of your wall labels posted on our exhibit blog no later than Monday, December 7, 5 p.m. so I can review these and get back to you on Tuesday.
Stay tuned…
Art and Love in Renaissance Italy
Here is a review of an important exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC) that will be of interest to all of us, especially to Katherine D. for the references to clothing and Avian S. for the references to courtesans.
“Courtesan and Blind Cupid (a flap print with liftable skirt), ca. 1588 by Pietro Bertelli”
Be sure to look at the Slide Show. Unfortunately, not all images from the printed paper are illustrated online. I’ll bring the article to class tomorrow.
The review is by Roberta Smith and was published in the New York Times, Friday, November 21, 2008.
