Blachernitisse contemporanee, Villa Pisani, Stra

Formal gardens are easily overlooked in autumn: the seducing idea of a perpetual spring turns into unnatural immobility when, elsewhere, every leaf reveals its more intimate shades. But, inside the geometric order of alleys guarded by ancient statues, the sun warms trees lined up behind trimmed evergreen hedges, and vibrant red and yellow leaves create unusual ribbons between the blue sky and the glossy lawn. 

This is autumn at Villa Pisani at Stra near Padua, one of the most famous villas built along the Brenta River by the Venetian aristocracy between the sixteenth and eighteenth century.

In 1911, the Hydrographic Institute of the University of Padua built a long and very deep pool between the villa and the stables to conduct scientific experiments. Some statues and a trilobate basin were added later to soften the impact. 

Blachernitissa outside St. Mark's Basilica

Today, the elegant pool is a perfect background for the exhibition of contemporary art entitled: Blachernitisse contemporanee, Contemporary Blachernitisse. The Blachernitisse are marble bas-reliefs representing the Virgin in prayer, with her hands upraised. Of Byzantine origins, they were placed near sacred sources, as a promise of life, purification and salvation. They were, in fact, Virgin-fountains, as a hydraulic system allowed water to flow from the holes in their palms and from different parts of their body. Introduced in the thirteenth century, the seven Blachernitisse in Venice are almost forgotten among marbles and decorations of the St Mark's Basilica and two other churches. The holes in their hands are closed and they may have lost their spiritual and practical function, but not their inspiring and quiet beauty.  

Seven artists were asked to interpret their history: the Mediterranean sea, Byzantium and Venice, culture and faith, travel, immigration and survival, fresh water and salt water, female body, life. They have worked with different materials, from hay and polycarbonate to wood and glass, creating essential shapes and colours to restore the communication between past and present.  

In the autumnal light, the quiet surface of the pool at Villa Pisani does not reflect just the changing colours of the trees and the sky but 'images from the Mediterranean'.

Lorella Salvagni
“Solcare il Mediterraneo” 

Candida Ferrari
“Acqua di Bizanzio” 

Heidi Bedenknecht
“Incontro tra Oriente e Occidente” 

Maria Grazia Rosin Carla Milesi
“Sources” 

Livio Seguso

“Contemplazione”

Giulia Alberti
“I movimenti dell’acqua uniscono il cielo e la terra”

Julia Artico
“Mothers”

Photos:
TravelinaGarden, Villa Pisani, September 2017


Link:
‘Blachernitisse contemporanee’
Bisanzio – Venezia Immagini dal Mediterraneo
(Byzantium - Venice Images from the Mediterranean)
21 September 2017 – 26 November 2017 Villa Pisani – Stra
Curator: Simonetta Gorreri – ARTLIFE for the World
http://www.artlifefortheworld.it



Villa Pisani National Museum
Via Doge Pisani 7 - 30039 Stra (Venezia)
http://www.villapisani.beniculturali.it