Sposalizio del Mare, Venice
(January–March, 2022)

Venice represents paradigmatic unity between urbanism and nature, which once possessed an intact symbiosis with the sea’s tides. Like the landscape city of the future, Venice thinks in highly urban terms. In spatial terms, however, it gives itself up to nature. According to Robert Pogue Harrison, we do not dwell in nature itself, but rather within the relation we have with nature.

With Venice’s history and present in mind, this relation between ourselves and nature allows us to derive questions about today’s city and its concept of art, recognizing the ‘subtle use of the useless’ (Kakuzo Okakura) as a mode of inhabiting the city, beyond museumization and mass tourism.
The discourse with artists from other disciplines and with scholars and scientists took place as part of the launch of new works by Andreas Chwatal, created during his stay at the German Center for Venetian Studies. His production in Venice culminated in this exhibition, which sought to revive the Venetian topos of the ‘Sposalizio del Mare’.

The Dr. Christiane Hackerodt Arts and Culture Foundation provided generous funding for research, the exhibition itself, and the publication of the catalogue.