Michelangelo's Moses

This past summer I read "The Agony and the Ecstasy" (I remember this book sitting on my Dad's shelf in the living room when I was a kid), which is the fictionalized autobiography of Michelangelo.  It's the kind of book my Dad would want me to read but only now, 41 and living in Italy, did I read it, and I couldn't put it down.

One of the major works (and disappointments of Michelangelo's life) was the pared down commission to create and carve the tomb of Pope Julius II.  I have a tangential connection to Pope Julius the II because he was born Giuliano Della Rovere and here in Rome, I live on Piazza Della Rovere. The story goes that just after Michelangelo shows the world his David in Florence, Pope Julius II brings Michelangelo to Rome and commissions him to carve his massive three story tomb, on which there would be some 40 statues and placed in St. Peter's.  The money stopped flowing, Pope Julius II died in 1513, and in 1545, the tomb was finished simply as a facade and placed in San Pietro in Vincoli church, where Della Rovere was once a cardinal.  The tomb contains Michelangelo's sculpture of Moses.

November 1st, is All Saints Day in Italy (maybe all over Catholic countries?) and a national holiday.  Being in Rome, I can just hop over on the bus and go see a Michelangelo in the city.  Part of life here....

The not so impressive facade of the church San Pietro in Vincoli

The name of the church comes from the legend that these were these chains housed here were the ones that bound Saint Peter when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem.

The tomb of Pope Julius II, commissioned in 1505, this here is the final product finished in 1545.

The brilliance of Michelangelo is his ability to bring out inner feelings of the piece.  We can "see" into the soul through the eyes.

Marmore Falls

Stolen from WIKIPEDIA

"In ancient times, it fed a wetland that was thought to bring illness (probably malaria). To remove that threat to the city of Rieti, in 271 BC, the Roman consul Manlius Curius Dentatus ordered the construction of a canal (the Curiano Trench) to divert the stagnant waters into the natural cliff at Marmore. From there, the water fell into the Nera river below. However, that solution created a different problem: when the Velino river was in flood stage, its water flowed through the Nera toward the city of Terni, threatening its population. The issue was so contentious between the two cities that the Roman Senate was forced to address it in 54 BC. Cicero represented Terni, and Aulus Pompeius represented Rieti. The Senate did nothing about the problem, and things remained the same for centuries."

The Marmore Falls were a stop on a weekend trip through Umbria.  The falls are turned on twice a day.  My friends and I watched the falls from OUTSIDE the pay area. Still pretty spectacular....and to think, they have been around for 2,200 years.  Another point in the"THE ROMANS WERE AWESOME" column.

 

Venice Biennale Part III

Day 2 of the Biennale took us to the second exhibition sight, the Arsenale, which is the old (I think still functioning) naval shipyard in Venice.

The country pavilions were contained in these "warehouses"

These colored pipes in the Turkish pavilion I thought were derivative of the Pompidou Center in Paris.

But, the cool thing about them is that it is a working desalinization system!

Saudi Arabia Pavilion

There was a pavilion dedicated to the connection between Latin America and Italy.  Each Latin American country (even if they had their own pavilion) exhibited at the group pavilion.  One of the most interesting films (mostly I found videos to be not interesting but this one from Colombia caught my attention) talked about the circle of war and had an Obama lookalike dancing around with the filmmaker.  You had to be there to see it.

An example of the need to read the text accompanying the exhibit.  These just look like piles of dirt, but upon closer inspection, they are revolutionary texts from Chile that were buried and more recently uncovered when a new house was being built.  Perhaps a statement on the way we lose history over time?

This artist, had gold filling put in his/her mouth in Latin America and then went to Berlin to have a doctor remove them.  It's an metaphor for the Europeans/colonial countries removing natural resources from countries.  WOW!

The Italian Pavilion, which used to be at the Giardini is now here at the Arsenale.  It was large, and I found it to be just so jumbled, it felt like being at an artistic department stores.  Just too much and too many different artists in the space...and the space was enormous.

There was one large exhibition on the mafia in Italy.  I thought this was an fascinating way to represent Italy.

The last pavilion we entered before heading home was the Chinese Pavilion, which was located in an old tanker storage warehouse.  The installation was the white tube which you walked through....

...and saw Western text (as apposed to Chinese characters) fall like snow.  I thought it was a cool effect, if not an unoriginal concept.

Venice Biennale Part II

The Germany Pavilion, of which the most interesting part was it being called "Egomania."

Tucked in the corner of the Giardini is the Canadian pavilion, which was covered by this big "poster".  To me...a big who cares.  The exhibition inside didn't improve in my opinion.

Oops, I missed the British Pavilion (the exhibition inside was again, meh) because I was intrigued by what I saw through the door of the French Pavilion. 

 

There was also this "film slot machine" where if the same three parts of a face all came up to form a real face, the person who pressed the button won something.  Regardless, this huge film machine was awesome, and the sound it made was mesmerizing.

A remnant of political history, the pavilion of Czechoslovakia.

The only thing of interest I saw in this pavilion.  I'll use it as an example of similarity in my Geometry classes.

The Uruguay Pavilion was a former maintenance facility.

Skipping over Australia, we cross the canal to see the Facist era set of pavilions, such as Egypt.

The Greece Pavilion, its classical facade was covered up by this wood slat front.

And the Greek exhibition was an experiential one....walk in, silence, water, take a right turn and back outside.

Hmmmmm.....

The Romania Pavilion

The snark.......

....found on the walls of the Romania pavilion didn't come through with the exhibition.

More politics, the Yugoslavia pavilion is now the pavilion of Serbia.  The exhibition about the drab life in Belgrade was a bit depressing.

Simulated water in the Venetian Pavilion

DD, having lived in Brazil when younger was excited to see the exhibition in the Brazilian pavilion.  The disappointment of what we saw became the running joke.  "Does putting fish heads in a box of sand constitute art?

The exhibition in the pavilion was a piece about an artist trying to build a salt bridge (not sure if it was a metaphor or for real as I was getting tired) but outside, I thought this was more powerful.

Right in the middle of the action, with the prime real estate, Gli Stati Uniti d'America!

Not sure what most of the exhibition was trying to convey, but this working ATM that played organ music when being used was great.

Outside the US Pavilion.  Too bad there wasn't an actual runner on it so we could see the piece in action.

My favorite pavilion, from an architectural point of view was the Hungarian Pavilion!

Walk in and you see two people in a video singing about, what in context is a car crash.  Not sure why until.....

You walk to the other half of the exhibition and see this.  I liked how there was kind of a mystery involved.

Three Western European pavilions line the walk towards the former Italian exhibition space, which has moved to the other location.  Holland here, turned it's pavilion into a theater space.

Spain's exhibition was supposed to be an ongoing performance piece, but nothing was going on while we were there.

The last pavilion of the first afternoon, Belgium

Huh?

So, it turns out the artist puts glass over media, and paints as the picture moves.....and then once the glass is removed it's just a mess.  Kind of like the way our news is when removed from any context.  Another DD interpretation.

After the Bienannle, we decided to walk to Fondamente Nove from where we would take a boat to Burano for dinner at a restaurant a friend had suggested.  We walked by the hospital of Venice and here's a water ambulance.

I love finding stuff like this where you can find out how cities function.

 

This is just the appetizer!