with the contribution of

INTO the LABYRINTH Venetian architectures photographies by Riccardo De Cal exhibition project by Melissa Siben curated by Cabiria June 17 – august 21 - 2016 Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venezia Exhibition opening: June 16 - 2016, h 18.00

CONCEPT

As J.L. Borges suggests, a labyrinth is "a building created to confuse people", in the

sense that its own architecture is functional for this purpose: to generate confusion and stupor in humans. Its tortuous paths refer symbolically to the inadequacy of a purely rational view of the reality, whose ontological consistency conceals, under an apparent regularity, more complex and deeper meanings: who enters in a labyrinth knows that there is a path leading out, but it’s not possible being aware of which of the many paths will lead to exit. Hesitating is the norm. When reaching a cul de sac, the only possibility is to get back and try another way. Sometimes, just when it seems to be closer to the exit, it is farther away, and just a false step can bring to the starting point.

Such is the city of Venice, inextricably linked to the image of "water labyrinth", represented in the alchemical book "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili", preserved at the Marciana Library, the book that firstly introduces to the Eastern sciences, then acquired and studied in the Western civilization. City-architecture whole and more than any other, artificial, as strongly willed and built by man over an hostile environment, it is here decoded like an “exploded” tridimensional labyrinth, where the images represent stages of a seemingly open path, but on which "hangs" a maze of possible alternatives.

INFO

Riccardo De Cal presents his exhibit “Into the Labyrinth” from June 17-

August 21, 2016 at Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, Italy. The exhibit will include

20 photographs, the majority selected from De Cal's new publication, Dream of Venice

Architecture. Inspired by novelist Jorge Luis Borges's statement that the maze, "is a building built to confuse people," De Cal has created an interior environment of metal armatures, audio recordings and photography. Designed by Melissa Siben, the exhibit is a modern 3-dimensional representation of the labyrinthic structure of the city of Venice. De Cal took the series of photographs over a three month period, from October-December 2015. For him the experience was, "like listening to a melody coming from the calles, and trying to find its origin within the labyrinth. I felt like a dowser in search of water. Photographing Venice was not an intellectual approach, but rather instinctive and subliminal, instead." The audio recordings quote architects Tadao Ando, Mario Botta, Randy Bosch, Louise

Braverman, Vincenzo Casali, Massimiliano Fuksas, Micheal Johnson, Shun Kanda,

Richard Murphy, Valeriano Pastor, Guido Pietropoli, Thomas Woltz and Rocco Yim;

designer Enrico Baleri; and architecture critic William Menking.

EXHIBITION INFOS

Title “Into the Labyrinth” – Venetian Architectures Photographies Riccardo De Cal Exhibition project Melissa Siben Curated by Cabiria Promotors BFP Publications Cabiria With the contribution of Estel Group Laboratorio Morseletto Casamanu Where Fondazione Querini Stampalia Campo Santa Maria Formosa Castello 5252 – Venezia When June 17 – august 21 - 2016 Opening day June 16 - 2016 h.18.00 Hours from Tuesday to Sunday: from 10.00 to 18.00 Press office Cabiria produzione@cabiriafilm.com www.cabiriafilm.com LINK DOWNLOAD PHOTOS: http://bit.ly/intothelabyrinth

AUTHORS

RICCARDO DE CAL www.riccardodecal.com Born 1973 in Asolo, Italy – from 2001 his interest is focused on photography, film and documentary. In 2005 shoots a short film that is screened at Cannes Film Festival “Short Film Corner”. In the same year starts collaborating with Benetton Foundation, directing two documentary films produced by them in 2005 and 2007. The films obtain several international prizes and have been presented throughout Italy and in Switzerland, United Kingdom, France, Japan, and China. In 2008 a short film about Italian architect Carlo Scarpa is screened at 11°Architecture Biennale in Venice. In 2010 presents the film “Raccolto d’inverno” in a special event at 67° Venice International Film Festival and recently at Maxxi Museum in Rome and at Palazzo Grassi – Pinault Foundation in Venice. In 2015 a short film about Fluxus Art movement is shown at Venice Art Biennale on Venice Pavillion. His research is focused on the themes of suspension and expansion of time, and abstraction of spaces.

MELISSA SIBEN After her sculpture degree at Art Academy In Venice, her interest is focused on contemporary theater history and scenography. During her academic period she founds a modern art laboratory focused on artistic and theatrical projects, and begins her collaboration with Cabiria, an independent film production company. Now her activity relates documentary and art video production, other than collaborating with museums and organizations for educational and cultural projects, particularly related to art fruition by the younger public.

PROMOTORS CABIRIA www.cabiriafilm.com Cabiria is an independent production company based in Asolo (Italy). Cabiria realizes films and creative documentaries, video art installations for exhibitions, events and theatrical productions, art videos, commercials and corporate films with an author’s approach, open and ever unrelated to fashion and time, and for that, eternally contemporary. Art and author’s cinema worship, extreme care of image quality and audio-visual impact, are the fundamental bases of our creative process. Our productions have been presented to several contexts like: Art Biennale – Venice, Architecture Biennale – Venice, Cinema Biennale – Venice, several national and international film festival, important national and international museums like Grand Hornu Images Museum - Belgium, Palazzo Grassi – Pinault Fondation in Venezia, Maxxi Museum in Rome, Musée des Arts Decoratifs of Bordeaux (France) and Soane Museum along with Royal Institute of British Architects of London, other than Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Salone del Mobile and Triennale in Milan. The name Cabiria “born from fire” is taken from the first italian colossal film, screenplayed by Gabriele D’Annunzio and directed by Giovanni Pastrone in 1914. BFP PUBLICATIONS www.bellafigurapublications.com How does one demonstrate love for a city? For us, it is by celebrating the design, art, architecture, culture, and artisans of Venice. Bella Figura Publications was created to present Venice as a contemporary living city. Through her 1,500 years of existence Venice has challenged the notion of what a city can be and yet there is no ambiguity about the fierce emotional connection she inspires. Bella Figura Publications works with extraordinary photographers and writers to create a captivating alchemy of words and images: the writers who contribute their thoughts, the people we profile, the photographers who capture her essence all look beyond an obvious Venice. In a city overrun with 30 million tourists a year, cliché is difficult to avoid. Our goal is to share a Venice that would be challenging for the casual visitor to find. To love a city is to strengthen a city, and each Dream of Venice book will donate a portion of the proceeds to a not-for-profit that is contributing the vitality of Venice.

Estel – Company profile Estel is an historical furniture company of the Italian Design. Established in 1937 by Alfredo Stella, it has been developed and managed by the present Chairman Alberto Stella for more than 30 years together with his brother Pierluigi, now helped by the sons Massimo and Matteo. Until the end of the ‘70s, the reference sector was the House furniture in the domestic market. In 1980 the Office Division was established: the Executive Offices, the Operational Offices, the Seating and the Partitions. In less than ten years, Estel has become Leader on the Italian market in the

OFFICE field, by keeping the same position up to today. The success was gained thanks to strong production, technological, information technology and organizational investments, together with a wide and complete product range. The offer has always been characterized by flexibility and adjustment, that is by the “Custom-made”. Towards the end of the’70s, Estel has begun its internalization process: the first market was Belgium in 1978, then France in 1979, the USA in 1982, UK in 1984 and then other markets such as: Spain, Greece, Taiwan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Israel, Central and South America, Russia, Easters Europe, Honk Kong, Chile, Cyprus, Panama, North Africa, Miami, Palestine. Thanks to the research and development, to the organizational, technical and logistic Know-how, Estel has been ready to meet the new needs of all markets: the CONTRACT and, above all, the CUSTOM. Estel created, at the end of the ‘90ties, a Custom Division named Estel 5 Senses of Habitat. Thanks to the Know-How Home and Office, Estel established itself also in the world of the Hotellerie, of the Bank branches, in the Telecommunication stores and at the car dealers. Between 2000 and 2007, Estel acquired Artisan Workshops for luxury furniture, important brands among which Frighetto, a top grade brand in the upholstery field and Deko, a brand working in the public spaces, in auditorium and conference halls. Estel ‘s customers include: Una Hotel Rome, W Hotel-Vela Barcelona, Atlas Hospitality Morocco, AccorHotels in the world of the Hotelier, the town of L’Aquila in the Social Housing, then Intesa SanPaolo, Bnl, BNP Paribas, Santander, Allianz, Telecom Italia, Fiat Automobili … as well as worldwide known prestigious customers. All these projects continuously prove the flexibility, the capacity of dialogue and adjustment that Estel show with the most important customers. Estel does not give up its core business by proposing high-performing products signed by famous Designersamong whom: the master Oscar Niemeyer with his table designed for Estel in 1985, Jorge Pensi with the collection Embrace, Karim Rashid with the Bloob table and stools, Ross Lovergrove with the Landscape table and chairs, Patrick Norguet with the Tori table, Alessandro Scandurra with the Terra table and others, Ora Ito with the upholstered Dune, Stefano Gallizioli with the new upholstered Dolly and many other designers. Estel products are manufactured in compliance with rigorous eco-sustainable criteria, both for the materials and for the processes that are at the base of Estel environmental policy.

www.estel.com Press estel@estel.com

Laboratorio Morseletto – Company profile Morseletto’s tradition sinks its roots at the dawn of 1900, since the passion for the sculptural sector has reached an operative potential able to anticipate the most diverse application, enlarging the competence of its own work, not only to the Vicenza’s stone or local marbles, but also to rare and prestigious marbles originating from all around the world. Laboratorio Morseletto’s nature, is today, characterized by the determined hard work of its two owners and sisters, Barbara and Deborah Morseletto whom, from the survey to the executive design, to the production to the laying in situ,

assist the designers managing and supervising the entire manufacturing process with competence and taste of whose were born and raised in the “workshop”. The process of opening the workshop to the use of the latest technologies did not overshadow the characteristic of artisan sensitivity, a paramount requirement to understand the specific secrets of each material, and to bring to light the intensity and unicity of its element of natural origin. This rare and precious art, together with remarkable entrepreneurial abilities, allows the Laboratorio cooperation of the highest prestige with the leading contemporary architecture and design figures. The interventions of large great works such as the Mart of Rovereto (designed by Mario Botta), but also the Vicenza stone cladding for the DG Bank in Berlin (designed by Architect Frank O. Gehry) that highlights the extraordinary ability to second the design intents of the most demanding Masters. The list of the most recent Morseletto’s performance could continue for long, without resulting exhaustive. From the experience of working with Matteo Thun for the new Merano Spa, to the cooperation with Antonio Citterio, Pierluigi Cerri and David Chipperfield in the field of clothing retail shops for retail brands renowned all around the world. In short, the Laboratorio, despite of counting on a curriculum that verifies historical restorations of large masterpieces of the past, such as the Basilica Palladiana and the Loggia of Capitaniato based in Vicenza. It does not leave a “traditionalist” image of itself; in contrary, it underlines in force of several cooperation with the most important architects and designers of ‘900, amongst which Carlo Scarpa, Tobia Scarpa, Vittorio Gregotti and Alvaro Siza. The constant research activity has also involved the rediscovery, and hence the revitalization, of parallel sectors to the one of traditional stonework. Such as those of parietal finishes (marmorino, shaved lime and plaster) and of the Terrazzo flooring, brought back to a new splendor thanks to the cure in the execution and to the choice of materials, always in respect of traditional techniques. Restorations, new architectural interventions, shops & showrooms and innovative interiors: these themes managed with the necessary technological knowledge, also in relation to the diverse materials that can flank the stone, such as glass, wood and metals. A ductility and a 360° competence able to face demanding and delicate challenges, in comparison with the most notorious artists and architects of our time. The Laboratorio Morseletto of Barbara and Deborah is: curiosity towards new horizons, interest for the most demanding challenges, considered as a natural way to grow. www.morseletto.eu Press morseletto@morseletto.com

Manuela Cavallo Food stylist Profile Manuela Cavallo is a food stylist, mind and arms of Casamanu catering & food design, King of Catering prize in 2014 for Food Design and 2015 King of Design prize. She worked for fashion in Italy and Canada, worked on floral design in Amsterdam and Restaurant services in Spain. She address to catering her different experiences: fashion, culinary talent and good taste. www.casamanu.it

Brief description of the activity

Casamanu is a catering & food design company, King of Catering prize in 2014 and 2015 King of Design prize. Has been founded by food stylist Manuela Cavallo, who from 2008 work for offering several services other than food, realizing events going beyond the traditional idea of catering. Casamanu is based in Bologna (Italy) but is able to reach any location with a creative cuisine and art, fashion and design arrangements. Hystory Casamanu, through the founder experience Manuela Cavallo in several european cities, reached a refined cross competence for realizing culinary experiences. Food approach was born from an authentic passion for taste and aesthetics, refining a sophisticated yet essential style, recognizable either on design objects used for waiter service, either for packaging used to wrap edible products. Casamanu realizes also design objects, taking care of graphics, comunication and gadget realization, for informal and private events too. With the estabilished partnership with valuable brands Casamanu is able to offer advice service for commercial activities, creating formats thought as being the right “dress code” for the specific purpose and client requirements. Casamanu works with partners producing special products, realizes events going beyond traditional idea of catering, and creating interesting, elegant and contemporary solutions, very specific and dynamic. The ever immaginative food proposal, is based on italian taste traditions, but often opens to international contaminations to satisfy the requests of very big events with high number of guests, ever mantaining an impeccable quality standard with a fresh creative brand, remembering us one time again “we are what we eat”. Press info@casamanu.it press@casamanu.it