A Flirty Jesus Meets the 'Samaritan Woman at the Well" by Luca Giordano - Palazzo Grimani Welcomes a New Masterpiece to Venice

Samaritan Woman at the Well by Luca Giordano (c. 1697) 
Photo: Matteo De Fina

(Venice, Italy) I didn't know the story of the encounter between Jesus Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well when I first saw Luca Giordano's masterpiece at Palazzo Grimani. In fact, I wasn't really sure, exactly, what a Samaritan was. All I knew was that somewhere in the Bible a "good Samaritan" had helped a stranger in a time of need.

The look on Jesus's face captivated me. He seemed laid-back, yet intense. Was he flirting with the woman? Looking deep into her soul? And who were those two men in the upper left-hand corner? They seemed to be dishing the dirt about the scene taking place in front of them at the well.

The only gospel that mentions the encounter between Christ and the Samaritan woman is the Gospel of John, Chapter 4. 

To understand the complex scene, we must travel back to the Holy Land during the time of Jesus Christ. It would take a coffee table textbook to delve into the complex cultural dynamics—the geopolitics seem to be as complicated then as they are now. And there are many interpretations of Biblical stories, with all sorts of scholars from different religious backgrounds weighing in. 

 

Here's one greatly simplified version after doing a bit of research. 

Why was Samaria Taboo?

 

Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her husband, Joseph, lived in Nazareth, a town in the northern region of Galilee. Supposedly, there was a census that required Joseph to travel to the hometown of his ancestors, the House of David, located in Jerusalem. 

 

Joseph and a very pregnant Mary traveled south to Bethlehem, a town in the ancient Kingdom of Judea, about 80-90 miles (140-150 kilometers) away, and about 10 miles south of Jerusalem, the capital city of Judea. 

 

In the most popular version of events, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem in the south, but that was not his hometown. He grew up in Nazareth in the north in Galilee. 

In between Galilee and Judea was Samaria, a region that Jews considered unclean and full of heretics. 

In 722 BC, the Assyrians had conquered the land and forcibly deported thousands of Israelites. To fill the void, they resettled the territory with various other conquered people from their empire. Thus, the Jews from Judea and Galilee viewed the Samaritans as mixed-bloods who had intermarried with Mesopotamian settlers. Even casual contact was taboo. 

For centuries, Jews despised the Samaritans so much that they would not take the direct route from Galilee to Jerusalem through Samaria, instead making a longer trip east of the Jordan River. 

Samaria was bordered by Galilee to the north, Judea to the south, the Jordan River to the east, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Today, Samaria is primarily located in the northern part of the West Bank. 

 

The Samaritans worshiped on Mount Gerizim, which they believed predated Jerusalem, and considered it their holiest site. Abraham, the original patriarch of the Old Testament, built the first altar at the base of Mount Gerizim. Samaritans believed it was God's chosen mountain. 

The Jews worshiped on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, just 50 kilometers (31 miles) away, where the sacred Second Temple was then located, and which the Romans would destroy in 70 AD. For Jews, Jerusalem was the religious epicenter. 

 

Jesus Christ took a direct route across taboo Samaria (white) instead of going around (red)
Map: Bible Study Fellowship

Even though Samaria divided the territory, both Judeans and Galileans came from the same Jewish ethnic stock. Galileans were Jews who had migrated north from Judea and had developed a strong regional identity. 

At the time that Giordano's painting takes place, Jesus Christ, a Jew from the northern region of Galilee, was heading back home after spending Passover in Jerusalem in Judea. While in Jerusalem, he got caught up in an unintentional baptism competition with John the Baptist. 

To get back to Galilee, Jesus broke the rules and took the straight route through Samaria. About noon, he became tired and sat down by a well while his disciples were in town buying food.

The conversation depicted by Giordano between Jesus and the Samaritan woman took place at Jacob's Well, in the ancient town of Sychar near the base of Mount Gerizim, a location of great significance that stretched back to the very origins of Judaism itself. 

Who was Jacob?

Now we must travel even further back in history, to about 2,000 years before Christ. 

Long before he tricked his way into becoming one of the three Old Testament patriarchs, Jacob was a calculating strategist who entered the world clutching the heel of his twin, Esau. The twins' parents were Isaac, son of Abraham, and Rebehak. 

The twins came from divine stock. Their VIP grandfather, Abraham, was the original patriarch who carried the Covenant, God's hallowed promise that he would be the father of a great nation. Abraham's descendants would receive the promised land of Canaan. Isaac inherited the sacred Covenant from Abraham before Esau and Jacob were born. 

Isaac favored Esau, a manly, hairy hunter, who, as the firstborn, was destined to inherit the divine Covenant. 

Rebekah favored Jacob, whose name meant "the deceiver" or "the supplanter." Rebekah and Jacob had their eye on the divine Covenant and schemed how they could hijack Esau's inheritance.

 

First, Jacob exploited Esau's impulsiveness to snatch his material birthright. As Esau stumbled home after a hunt, famished and exhausted, Jacob refused him a simple meal until Esau signed over his birthright as head of the family for a single bowl of red lentil stew. Rashly, Esau agreed.

Even so, Esau was still the destined heir to the spiritual claim of the divine Covenant, whose descendants would receive the promised land. That claim needed Isaac's blessing—the spiritual activation of the Covenant that only a father preparing for death could bestow. 

Decades later, Rebekah overheard Isaac—by this time old, blind, and nearing death—tell Esau to hunt venison for the sacred ritual to pass on the Covenant. While Esau was gone, Rebekah cooked a substitute of goat meat and draped Jacob in hairy goat skins to mimic his brother's touch and scent. In disguise, Jacob fed his father fake venison and whispered lies to intercept the hallowed words meant for his brother, Esau, the firstborn. 

The fallout was explosive. Esau vowed to murder his brother the moment their father died. To save Jacob, Rebekah sent him into exile. She would die before her favorite son ever returned. 

The climax of Jacob's life occurred some 20 years later at the Jabbok River, a dark and lonely crossing where Jacob learned that Esau was coming to greet him with 400 armed men. Fearing the worst, he was alone and terrified.

Suddenly, what seemed to be a "man" attacked Jacob in the darkness. For hours, they fought to the death. The stranger struck Jacob's hip, dislocating it. Jacob refused to let go of what seemed to be a mysterious divine manifestation. "I will not let you go unless you bless me!"

The stranger demanded, "What is your name?"

Jacob said, "Jacob." By stating his name, which meant "the deceiver," Jacob was confessing his true nature and past actions, a necessary step before he could be transformed and receive the blessing. 

The stranger declared, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with humans, and have prevailed." 

Jacob emerged from the battle with the mysterious entity—whom many scholars interpret as God—with a permanent limp and a new identity: Israel. Transformed, when Esau arrived, the twins reconciled their differences. Later, Jacob purchased a plot of ground in Shechem for 100 pieces of silver. It was there that he created the well, the physical anchor for his 12 sons, which would forever be known as Jacob's Well.

Today, Jacob's Well is a Christian holy site in a suburb of the Palestianian city of Nablus in the West Bank. Over the centuries, different churches have been built over the same site where the well is located. Currently, it is inside an Eastern Orthodox church and monastery. 

So, Jacob pilfered the blessing, but he earned the name Israel, "he who struggles with God," and is considered the father of the Israelites. The descendants of his 12 sons became the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Samaritan Woman at the Well by Luca Giordana (detail)
Photo: Cat Bauer

Jesus Meets the Samaritan Woman at the Well

Around two thousand years later, Jesus was sitting by Jacob's Well at noon. His disciples were in town buying food. A solitary Samaritan woman approached. She was not with the rest of the women of the village, who would have drawn water earlier in the morning. Jesus asked, "Will you give me a drink?"

The woman was startled. Not only should a Jew not be in Samaria, but he should definitely not be speaking to a single female Samaritan. The woman questioned him. "You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?"

Jesus answered, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

The woman challenged him. "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?" 

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

The woman said to Jesus, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

Jesus told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."

She replied: "I have no husband."

Jesus acknowledged her honesty. "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

The woman was astonished. "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

"Woman, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know: we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."

The woman said, "I know that Messiah, called Christ, is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

Then Jesus declared: "I, the one speaking to you—I am he."

Disciples return (detail)

Just then, his disciples returned and were surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman, as depicted by the men in the upper left-hand corner of the painting. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman dashed back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him...

Samaritan woman (detail)

Call her by Her Name: Saint Photina

I was raised Roman Catholic (which, I have learned over the decades, is a bit different than Venetian Catholic) with a biblical knowledge limited to Bedtime Bible Stories and a Catechism taught by frightening nuns. But I am surprised that I have never heard the story of the Samaritan Woman at the Well before—I've included the entire Gospel of John, Chapter 4 at the end of this post. It seems that she was the first person to whom Jesus openly revealed himself to be the Messiah. 

 

The Eastern Orthodox faith definitely knows who the Samaritan woman is. She is Saint Photina, venerated as the first person to spread the Gospel of Jesus to her people, leading to many conversions. She is recognized as the first Christian evangelist. 

In fact, the current Eastern Orthodox church that houses Jacob's Well is named the Church of Saint Photina. It is considered by some to be the most authentic site in the Holy Land, depending on which religion is telling the story, "since no one can move a well that was originally more than 40 metres deep."

So, not only did ground-breaking Jesus Christ take the direct route through off-limits Samaria, he stopped to rest at the very well created by Jacob, aka Israel, the redeemed father of the Israelites. Then he upped the ante by having an intimate conversation with a Samaritan woman, to whom he revealed that he was the Messiah. 

The Modern Journey of Giordano's Masterpiece: From Bankruptcy to Palazzo Grimani

In recent years, Giordano's painting had been part of a Venetian collection that fell into bankruptcy. Its future was uncertain. Then the Italian police stepped in. 

 

One of the most fascinating units of the Carabinieri, Italy's military police, is the Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage. Italy has an abundance of priceless art, and all sorts of shenanigans go on from those who would like to get their hands on it.

 

The Carabinieri discovered Girodano's painting at a Venetian bankruptcy auction in 2018. Its origins were unknown. It was purchased by the Italian Ministry of Culture in 2021.

Because of the connection between Cardinal Vicenzo Grimani (c.1652-1710), who was the Viceroy of Naples during the Habsburg realm, and the Neapolitan Baroque artist Luca Giordano (1634-1705), it was decided that Palazzo Grimani, Cardinal Grimani's ancestral palace in Venice, would become the permanent home of the Samaritan Woman at the Well. Grimani was an important patron and collector of Giordano's work. The masterpiece has been carefully restored by Claudia Vittori, and is now in the dining room of Palazzo Grimani.

Samaritan Woman at the Well by Luca Giordano
in the dining room of Palazzo Grimani
Photo: Cat Bauer

Slowly but surely, the ancient Palazzo Grimani is returning to its former glory when it was a paramount cultural center in Venice. It is a brilliant example of how even the serpentine bureaucracy of the Italian Ministry of Culture enables Italy to regain its priceless heritage.

And that’s not all. In July 2025, the vibrant Dr. Marianna Bressan was confirmed as the director of a new Italian State institute in Venice, which was created in May 2024: the National Archaeological Museums of Venice and the Lagoon. 

The Palazzo Grimani Museum is a crucial element of the new institution, which also includes the National Archaeological Museum of Venice, the Altino Archaeological Museum, and the future Museo Archeologico Nazionale della Laguna di Venezia, which will be out in the lagoon on the Island of Lazzaretto Vecchio, also home to the Venice Immersive section of the Venice Film Festival. The institute will explore the evolution and transformations of the city of Venice from antiquity to the present day.

In its new home in Palazzo Grimani, Luca Giordano's Samaritan Woman at the Well is a welcome masterpiece and a vital cornerstone for the future of Venice's new National Archeological Museums.

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Gospel of John, Chapter 4

Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman

4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— ² although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³ So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

⁴ Now he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.^[a])

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” ³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

³¹ Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

³³ Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

³⁴ “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. ³⁵ Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. ³⁶ Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷ Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Many Samaritans Believe

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers.

⁴² They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

The Magic of The Venice Glass Week - "A Woman Is an Island" by Katia Margolis at Vert de Venise Art

Katia Margolis & Robin Saikia, founders of Vert de Venise Contemporary Art 
Photo: Cat Bauer

(Venice, Italy)  The artist Katia Margolis captures the bluish green colors of Venice in every medium she touches, from canvas and paper to hand-painted silk dresses and scarves. So, it was only natural that she turned her talents to the magic of hand-blown Murano glass, an art Venetians have practiced for over a thousand years.  

The Venice Glass Week is an international festival that supports and promotes the art of glass. Now in its ninth edition, the festival takes place in different venues around the historic center of Venice, the island of Murano, and Mestre on the mainland. There is a broad range of settings, from glass furnaces and galleries to museums and institutions, and over 200 events to visit. 

This year, the festival is entitled #TheMagicOfGlass and runs from September 13 to September 21, 2025, though many of the installations will be open much longer. 

You see people out on an adventure, wandering through the calli and campi of Venice, clutching colorful paper maps as they embark on a good old-fashioned treasure hunt for Murano glass marvels. For the digital among us, the map and program are also available online. 

The Rebirth of Venice. Homage to Carlo Scarpa. Designed by Katia Margolis
Glass maestro: Oscar Zanetti
Photo: Cat Bauer

VERT DE VENISE CONTEMPORARY ART 

Vert de Venise Contemporary Art is an art gallery and open studio founded by Robin Saikia, Katia Margolis, and Leo Belo in 2024 that celebrates the beauty and traditions of Venice, and her role as a muse to her inhabitants and visitors. 

Here is Katia Margolis in her own words about her project, A Woman is an Island:

My project for The Venice Glass Week 2025 explores glass as both material and metaphor -- fragile yet resilient, light and heavy, polished surfaces so easily broken into sharp edges -- qualities that reflect the contradictions of any human being. Women especially.   

Working with Murano masters, I created female sculptures, glass "islands," and objects from discarded shards, transforming what was broken or abandoned into something new. For me, this act of reimagining is not only artistic but ethical: in a world fractured by war, violence, and injustice, vision itself becomes a battlefield.  

The exhibition, A Woman is an Island, reclaims John Donne's famous phrase in reverse. Each of us is an island -- not isolated, but uniquely outlined and open on all sides to the shared ocean. Freedom lies in choosing, despite vulnerability, to remain oneself, and to take responsibility. Through fragments, I seek a path to wholeness -- and to the future beauty. 

The aim of Vert de Venise is to build a bridge between traditional Venetian arts and crafts and contemporary art, a goal it achieves with A Woman is an Island. Katia Margolis lassoos the very soul of Venice herself from the surrounding sky and waters and hoists us up to the heavens. 

Vert de Venise Contemporary Art is located at Fondamenta San Basegio 1645 in Dorsoduro, just down the fondamenta from the San Basilio vaporetto stop on the Zattare, before the Church of San Sebastiano. There is always something clever going on, so stop by when you're in the zone.

Go to The Venice Glass Week for more information about #TheMagicOfGlass.

Go to Vert de Venise Contemporary Art for more information about its projects. 

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

A Glass Is Born in Venice

Murano glass flutes by Andrea Castione & Simone Cenedese - Photo: Cat Bauer

(Venice, Italy) Venetians have practiced the art of glassmaking for more than a thousand years, a talent that has always fascinated me. To celebrate the ninth edition of The Venice Glass Week, I am republishing an article I wrote 24 years ago, way back in 2001, for Italy Daily, the Italian supplement of the International Herald Tribune. 

It's interesting to see how much times have changed. Italy switched from using the lira to the euro by 2002. The Cold War ended around 1990, but it wouldn't be until 2007 that Romania became part of the European Union. Mercadanti has long been out of business. The Damiani Group became the owner of Venini in 2020.

But some crucial things have remained the same. In 2001, at age 27, Simone Cenedese was already one of the youngest glass maestros on Murano. Today, at age 52, Simone continues to work his magic on Venice's glass island. 

Here is the original article, slightly edited:

A Glass is Born in Venice
Italy Daily 

Wednesday, February 21, 2001

By Cat Bauer

Special to Italy Daily

©Cat Bauer

Andrea Castione was so excited when he saw the prototype of his drinking glass brought to life by Murano master glassmaker Simone Cenedese that he ran to a nearby osteria at lunchtime to show a shopkeeper the results. 

"Careful," the shopkeeper warned, tucking the work of art back in the box. "There's nothing but glassblowers in here."

Murano has always been a secretive island, about a ten-minute vaporetto ride from Venice, yet mysterious enough even to Venetians. Glassmaking traditions pass from father to son. Competition and copying are rampant. Feuds rage between different branches of the same family. The industry is of such importance that, in the past, a traitorous glassbower who revealed his secrets would be punished by exile or even death.

Mr. Castione's design -- the flute of the glass is separate from the base -- was unique on the island and had never been blown before. 

Ferruccio Gheradi, owner of Mercadanti, a shop that sells original works at the foot of the Rialto Bridge, said, "I am Venetian. I was born here, grew up here, live here, work here. As soon as I saw this glass, I said, 'Finally. Something new.'"

In 1291, fear of fire moved Venetian glassmaking to the secluded island, where many of the factories remain today. During the Republic, the Doge of Venice granted special privileges to the Muranesi. They had their own "Golden Book," which listed the most important families, creating a local hierarchy that still exists informally today. Keeping the glassmakers cloistered on an island, swearing them to secrecy, and showering them with riches and titles of nobility practically guaranteed the Venetians control of the marketplace.

With all this in mind, Mr. Castione was hesitant to approach the island. Although his own Venetian roots date back to the 1600s, even a native like him has little cause to set foot on Murano. 

"It's not like Burano or Torcello, where you go to have some fish, or maybe a stroll," he said. "You go to Murano for business."

But he loved the glass. As a child, he was taken by his father, an artist, to visit a factory where he saw a blower creating a vase. It was an image he never forgot. "There's something magical and pure about glass. It occurs naturally in volcanoes, on the beach -- when lightning strikes the sand, it creates long, thin tubes called 'petrified lightning.' But Murano is not the only place where they make glass. There are Venetians blowing glass on the mainland, too."

Simone Cenedese, left, and Andrea Castione
discuss the design of a new prototype. 
Photo: Italy Daily

The art of glassmaking is nearly as old as the Pyramids of Egypt. The tradition dates back about 3,500 years. The art of blowing the glass is a new concept -- about 2,000 years old -- and Venice one of its most respected centers. Over the centuries, the secret of what ingredients to mix together and in what quantities has been lost and rediscovered.

At the Venice Glass Museum on Murano, visitors can take a trip through the evolution of local glass. It is created by mixing a hodgepodge of ingredients, similar to the way a cook makes hard candy. The main element is silica, which the ancient Venetians dredged out of the Ticino River in the form of pebbles, then crushed. This was mixed with soda ash derived from plants, powdery marble, arsenic, and potassium carbonate. 

The whole batch was heated until it melted and turned into a syrupy mass. When it cooled, it became glass. Today, the process remains much the same except that the furnaces are heated by natural gas, not wood, and the ingredients come from different localities. The tools themselves have been unchanged for centuries, dating back to the Middle Ages. 

According to Mr. Gherardi, these days the island of Murano harbors another secret: A large percentage of the glass that is sold in the shops in Venice comes from Eastern European countries. In fact, it is not unusual for tourists to be pressured into taking a "free" tour of the island, complete with glass-blowing demonstration, only to find themselves corralled by high-pressure salespeople at the end. 

"When I first started in this business, I had another little shop that sold the glass you see everywhere," said Mr. Gherardi. "I was surprised to find out that the representative I bought the glass from also sold glass to Murano! Many of those factories you visit where they give the demonstrations, surrounded by glass objects, well, that glass is coming from Eastern Europe, not here."

It all started when the Cold War ended, he explained, and Western Europe was suddenly open to its much poorer Eastern neighbors. "What does 20,000 lire buy in Venice? Not much. In Romania, you can feed your family with that." 

Many major glass factory owners on Murano went to the East, opened factories there, and trained the Eastern Europeans in the art of making Venetian glass. "Except for Bohemia," Mr. Gherardi said. They have always had their own style, their own glass. But you can tell if a glass is blown or not. There will be little imperfections because it is touched by a human hand."

To English speakers, the word "factory-" conjures images of General Motors assembly lines, but an Italian fabbrica is often very small, with only a handful of employees, not capable of producing mass quantities of goods. Government controls are strict and expensive, and the price of materials and taxes is staggering. 

"It's just not possible for most factories on Murano to produce the inexpensive glass you see on the street. Their costs are too high," Mr. Gherardi said. 

Now that even the world-famous Venini glass factory is owned by Denmark's Carlsberg Breweries, are there any small, family-owned glass-blowing factories left on Murano? 

Simone Cenedese, 27, is one of the youngest maestri, or master glassblowers, on Murano. In his case, it helped to be born with the last name "Cenedese," a family with a long-standing reputation. According to his father, Giovanni, a well-respected glass master himself, Simone was blowing simple objects such as apples and pears at 10 years old.

"He loved coming to the furnaces more than going to school," Giovanni said. "In fact, when he was about 15, he started working full-time with me in the factory."

Simone corrected his father: "I made a 'sort' of pear when I was 10. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I could make a good one."

But pedigree alone doesn't a master make. "You must have a passion for the glass," said Simone. "I started at the bottom and worked my way up, gradually making more complicated pieces. I'm still learning every day."

Simone continued, "Being born into the Cenedese family gave me the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them. Many people don't get that chance."

Simone disagrees that most glass in Venice comes from the East. "Yes, it's true that some factories do this and use high-pressure sales techniques. But those are the places that give Muarano a bad name. I know several small factories, some with only one furnace, that make little inexpensive objects."

"Because our focus is on quality pieces, we don't do it, but not all glass made in Murano is a work of art," he said. "Often times it's just a very nice piece of glass."

Simone does concur that competition is fierce. "Customers recently came to Murano to find my father. Another factory intercepted them and said, 'Oh, it's so sad. Giovanni is dead. But if you like, you can come to my factory and see what we have.' For the record, Giovanni Cenedese is alive and well!"

Ultimately, Andrea Castione decided to have his drinking glass blown two different ways: a limited collector's line from the Simone Cenedese factory, Linea Vetro Murano, signed by both the maestro and the designer; and another series from Renata Gardini, a small Venetian-owned factory that's been blowing glass for more than 25 years. 

"They have different techniques. The glass each factory uses has unique qualities, creating two distinct expressions of the same design," said Mr. Castione. "They are like my children, and I love them both."

The Venice Glass Week 2025 runs from September 13 to September 21. Go to #The Magic Of Glass to discover the program. 

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Can "The Voice of Hind Rajab" Change the Course of History? Venice Film Festival 2025

Palestinian girl Hind Rajab poses for a photograph in undated handout picture obtained by Reuters on February 10, 2024
[Palestine Red Crescent Society/Family Handout via Reuters]

(Venice, Italy) Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Gaza girl, was murdered by Israeli forces moments after the ambulance sent to save her arrived. For hours, she had been trapped in a car at a gas station surrounded by the corpses of her aunt, uncle, and four cousins, who had already been killed by Israeli fire while fleeing Gaza City. When they arrived at the scene, the two ambulance workers were also murdered in cold blood. 

We know this because Hind's terrified voice of a child pleading for help was recorded by the Red Crescent Society on January 29, 2024. The film, "The Voice of Hind Rajab," an entry to La Biennale di Venezia 82 international cinema competition, recreates the anguished conversation with actors playing the Red Crescent workers, reacting to the actual voice of Hind Rajab. 

First, we hear Hind's desperate 15-year-old cousin, Layan Hamadeh, cry, "They are shooting at us. The tank is right next to me. We're in the car. The tank is right next to us." Layan screams as gunfire kills her as we listen. The Red Crescent calls back, and five-year-old Hind answers the phone.

For over three hours, the Red Crescent tried to coordinate a safe route with the Israeli military for the ambulance to travel as they tried to comfort Hind on the phone. The ambulance was located eight minutes away.

Three hours, when the rescuers were only eight minutes away. 

There seems to be confusion as to how old Hind was when she was killed. Some articles have reported her as six years old, and sometimes seven. Hind Rajab was born on May 3, 2018, and was murdered on January 29, 2024, making her five years old when she died. 

Director Kaouther Ben Hania and cast at "The Voice of Hind Rajab" press conference
Photo: Cat Bauer

The audience of journalists wept through the 90-minute screening of "The Voice of Hind Rajab" at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday. During the press conference, we rose to our feet and applauded when Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania and the members of her cast entered the room. 

At the public premiere later in the afternoon, the standing ovation went on for 23 minutes. 

We applauded the courage it took to make the film and the bravery to present it to the world. We applauded the terrific performances. Personally, I've felt so helpless and frustrated about the genocide going on in Gaza that I applauded because somebody has finally done something to shock the world awake.

You feel sheer horror when you realize that Israel granted two Palestinian paramedics safe passage to travel by ambulance to rescue a five-year-old girl trapped for hours surrounded by army tanks and the corpses of her family, and then deliberately killed all three of them. Evil smacks you right in the soul. 

A later investigation found that an Israeli tank had likely fired 335 rounds on the car that Hind and her family had been in. The ambulance appeared to have been run over by a tank.

Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania said she made a conscious decision not to let her actors hear the voice of Hind Rajab until they were actually filming. "It was a strong desire and the feeling of anger and helplessness that gave birth to this movie." The actors who played the real people in the Red Crescent Society said that hearing Hind's voice was more like a lived experience, not acting.

I hope "The Voice of Hind Rajab" changes the course of history. I hope the film wins the Golden Lion and is zapped with enough golden movie magic to penetrate the inertia that has paralyzed the planet as a genocide goes on while we try to live our everyday lives. 

I hope "The Voice of Hind Rajab" is the impetus needed for humanity to join our voices with Hind's and scream, "Enough!"

Ciao from the Venice Film Festival,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Not an Architect? 9 Personal Picks of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 for Curious Minds

Intelligens Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 curated by Carlo Gatti 
Photo: Cat Bauer

(Venice, Italy) On May 8, 2025, I walked out of the Venice Architecture Biennale pre-opening press conference and into the spring sunshine. I judged that the line stretching down Ramo de la Tana to enter the exhibition at Arsenale to be about a half-hour wait. I frowned. What to do?

One of those pretty girl-art-groupies scooted over to me, waving a flyer. "Go visit Iceland's pavilion! It's right outside the entrance!" The flyer had the word "LAVAFORMING" scrawled across the top of a volcanic eruption.

I liked her style. 

The Iceland Pavilion - Outside Arsenale

So, I found the Icelandic Pavilion, which I didn't even know existed (national pavilions that aren't permanent constructions in Giardini pop up in all sorts of places around Venice). 

Inside, a film was already playing. I sat down just to kill some time, but the clever animation and compelling narration pulled me in:

"...According to local folklore, Iceland was inhabited with two populations -- humans (mannfòlk) and the hidden people (huldufòlk). The hidden people lived in rocks and cliffs, and only a few humans could see them or their prosperous and magically bright abodes and shiny halls.

After we mastered Lavaforming, people began wondering if this folklore had been a branch of the future that wandered off. A past memory of a distant future.

Iceland lies on top of one of Earth's great mantle plumes, channeled by the movements of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Icelandic volcanoes frequently erupt and some are notorious -- such as Mt. Hekla, considered the gate to Hell in medieval times.

During a series of eruptions in 2021, known as the Reykjanes Fires, we had to monitor and understand the flow of lava, and eventually learn how to divert the magma away from critical infrastructures..." 

Lavaforming - Icelandic Pavilion

The film went on to explain how molten lava can be harnessed as a valuable resource and used as a sustainable construction material to build everything from homes to entire cities. 

I was confused. Was this fact or fiction? I knew Iceland had real volcanoes. I remembered when the Eyjafjalljòkull volcano shut down air traffic all over Europe back in 2010.

Perhaps....It slowly dawned on me that maybe the film had been written by a novelist. That would explain the compelling narrative voice. If so, what a clever idea! 

Architecture is such a difficult concept to convey to the average person -- all sorts of diagrams and mathematical equations and models that make your eyes glaze over. By using the storytelling skills of a novelist, the technical information was transformed into language a child could understand.

I wanted to know if my theory was correct. I dashed around the pavilion trying to find someone who knew the answer until I stumbled on a woman with a microphone. 

Sure enough, the author's name is Andrew Snær Magnason, one of Iceland's most prominent contemporary authors. He’s not only a novelist, he also writes plays, short stories, essays, and poetry. He's received the Icelandic Literary Prize in all categories: fiction, non-fiction, and children's literature. 

Magnason also wrote an obituary for the first glacier Iceland lost to climate change.

Geldingadalir, 2021 © Thrainn Kolbeinsson

I wish more architects would use novelists to write their descriptions. One of the main complaints in the reviews I've read about this year's Architecture Biennale is how complicated and time-consuming the project descriptions are. There were QR codes, which I (and others) found annoying that utilized AI to condense the descriptions. I prefer the human touch.

The film Lavaforming takes place 100 years in the future, but the experiments to harness lava as a sustainable construction material are taking place in Iceland today. Created by Arnhildur Pálmadóttir and her team, I thought Lavaforming was one of the most exciting concepts at Architecture Biennale, so don't miss it. 

First, Some Basics

Necto, 3D knitted natural fibers by SO - IL, Mariana Popescu, and The Green Eyl - Photo: Cat Bauer

The Biennale Architecture Exhibition is divided across two venues, Giardini and Arsenale. The Giardini was a public garden created by Napoleon in the early 1800s. The Arsenale was Venice's main naval shipyard where the Republic could crank out a ship a day. 

You can walk from the exit of one venue to the entrance of the other in about 10-15 minutes. But once inside, both the Arsenale and Giardini are vast spaces that can be overwhelming. 

 
Each venue is made up of two sections. 

 

One section is dedicated to the International Exhibition curated by Carlo Ratti titled Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. These projects are chosen by Ratti and follow his theme. This year there are more than 750 participants. 

Normally the curator's projects are located in the Corderie in Arsenale, and in the Central Pavilion at Giardini. But this year, the Central Pavilion is under reconstruction, so they're all jammed into Corderie, and other venues around town. 

The other section is dedicated to National Participations. These are installations presented by different nations across the globe. This year there are 66 National Participations -- 26 permanent pavilions at Giardini (Israel, Russia, and Venezuela are closed); 25 at the Arsenale, and 15 in the city center of Venice. 

The National Participants can follow the theme of the curator if they want to, or they can do whatever they like. This year Ratti's theme seemed like it had a solid impact that influenced the projects of many nations.

I started my visit to La Biennale 19th International Architecture Exhibition at Arsenale. I got an extended pass in the press room, since there were a bunch of different openings around Venice scheduled at the same time (as usual). The next day, I went to Giardini. Then I returned to both the Giardini and the Arsenale a couple days later, which explains the quirky order of my personal picks. 

My favorite installation turned out to be the last one, Sonic Investigations, at the Luxembourg Pavilion.

 

ENTERING THE ARSENALE

 

The Third Paradise Perspective - Corderie

The Third Paradise Perspective - Photo: Cat Bauer

The 19th edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale -- the world's largest and most important event for architecture -- is summed up by these opening words of the curator, Carlo Ratti, at the entrance to the Corderie, a vast structure -- more than 1,200 feet long -- where the Republic of Venice used to make rope for its ships:

Architecture has always been a response to climate -- an act of shelter, survival, and optimism. From the first primitive huts to the submerged foundations of Venice, human design has evolved in dialogue with nature.

Today, that evolution is no longer a choice but a necessity: climate change is not a future scenario, but a present reality.

We must adapt. Adaptation demands every form of intelligence -- natural, artificial, collective. Not individual genius, but collaborative insight. Nor rigid solutions, but flexible ecosystems.

In the face of an altered world, architecture must adapt itself -- venturing into uncharted terrain.

When you step into the first room, that uncharted terrain smacks you right in the face. The room is dark. First, you are hit by the heat and humidity. Your eyes adjust. You realize you are surrounded by thigh-high pools of inky, black water. Stagnant air conditioning units and static fans dangle overhead. The path forward is not straight. You must walk around the edge of a circle.

I was completely disoriented and almost fell into the black water.

Now, after doing some research at Cittadellarte, it starts to make some sense -- the actual level of the thigh-high water in "The Third Paradise Perspective" installation is 70cm, the projected sea level in Venice by 2100. 

In fact, once you understand some of the thought behind the opening room, then Carlo Ratti’s title for the entire architecture exhibition -- Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. -- becomes clearer.

Third Paradise

Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, a founder of the Arte Povera movement and creator of the non-profit Cittadellarte organization, turned 92-years-old in June. In 2003, he created the Third Paradise based on a reconfigured infinity sign.

What is the Third Paradise? Pistoletto explains:

It is the fusion between the first and second paradise.

The first is the paradise in which humans were fully integrated into nature.

The second is the artificial paradise developed by human intelligence to globalizing proportions through science and technology. This paradise is made of artificial needs, artificial products, artificial comforts, artificial pleasures, and every other form of artifice....

The Third Paradise is the third phase of humanity, realized as a balanced connection between artifice and nature. The Third Paradise is the passage to a new level of planetary civilization, essential to ensure the survival of the human race. To this purpose we first of all need to re-form the principles and the ethical behaviors guiding our common life.

The Third Paradise is the great myth that leads everyone to take personal responsibility in the global vision.

The term "paradise" comes from the Ancient Persian and means "protected garden." We are the gardeners who must protect this planet and heal the human society inhabiting it.

As I've said, to me, Biennale Architecture always has difficulty in manifesting the architect's concept into something tangible that the average person with no background in architecture (like me) can understand. 

I wish I had had some knowledge of the "Third Paradise" before I visited the exhibition. Now, in retrospect, I think it was an intriguing idea to open the exhibition with "The Third Paradise Perspective" -- if only the typical visitor knew what Pistoletto's symbol meant. 

Sadly, only after the date had passed did I realize that I had been invited to the official presentation of "Scanno, Terzo Paradiso" on May 10th at Querini Stampalia, and would have had the opportunity to actually meet Maestro Michelangelo Pistoletto, as well as the crew from the Cittadellarte Pistoletto Foundation. 

If you are planning to visit Biennale Architettura 2025, my advice would be to first brush up on Michelangelo Pistoletto's “Third Paradise." It holds the key to understanding Carlo Ratti’s Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. Many other pavilions and projects (like Iceland) have variations on that theme as the foundation for their installations. 

Am I a Strange Loop? - Corderie
    

ALTER3 - Photo: Cat Bauer

There was so much chaos going on inside the Corderie with 760 contributors(!) that the only project that stood out to my non-professional eyes was a creepy humanoid robot named ALTER3 that had no sense of humor. In the Am I a Strange Loop? installation you could have a conversation with it as it soaked up information about how humans behave when talking to a robot at an architecture festival. 

I would like to witness the robot's behavior near the end of Biennale Architecture to see if it has become more humanized. 

MORE NATIONAL PAVILIONS

The Holy See Pavilion - Venice Historic Center in Castello

Opera Aperta at The Holy See Pavilion - Photo: Cat Bauer

The next day, before heading to Giardini where the permanent national pavilions are located, I went to have breakfast at the pavilion of the Holy See, which is based in the Ex Casa di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, a complex that dates back to around the year 1171. Back then, it was a hospice that accommodated pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land. 

The complex has undergone many transformations over the centuries. In 2001, it was sold to the Comune of Venice, which has some sort of agreement with the Holy See that allows the building to be restored and turned into a community center. All kinds of organizations are participating in the project curated by Marina Otero Verzier and Giovanna Zabotti. 

During the six months of Biennale Architecture, Opera Aperta at the Holy See Pavilion will be repaired, reinvented, and revitalized with a special focus on young musicians. Feel free to stop by and see what they're up to.

The Qatar Pavilion - Giardini & Venice Historic Center at Accademia

Qatar temporary pavilion, Community Center, designed by Yasmin Lari - Photo: Cat Bauer

In February of 2025, a few months before Qatar gave President Donald Trump a luxury jet to use as Air Force One, it was announced that Qatar would build a permanent national pavilion in Giardini. It was a bold stride onto the global cultural stage.

There have only been two permanent pavilions constructed in Giardini during the last 50 years -- Australia and the Republic of Korea. All together, there are 29 other permanent national pavilions in Giardini. The Qatar pavilion will bring the number up to 30.

Until the dust settles, right now there is a temporary Qatar pavilion on the site where the permanent one will go. I was curious to see what was going on so I stopped there first. I loved the energy from the moment I stepped inside. 

I said, "This has female energy!" 

The man in charge said, "You are exactly right. In fact, the woman who created the pavilion has just arrived. Come. I'll introduce you to her."

Yasmeen Lari, Pakistan's first female architect - Photo: Cat Bauer

At age 84, Yasmin Lari is dynamic and inspiring. There's a phrase in Arabic, "Bayti Baytak," which translates to "My Home is Your Home," and that is what the pavilion feels like. The temporary installation is a bamboo structure, created with bamboo that was sourced in Italy. 

Yasmin Lari is not from Qatar. She is Pakistan's first female architect, best known for using architecture for social justice. In 2023, she won the Royal Gold Medal for architecture awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2023.

For the design of her Community Center, Lari used techniques that she deployed as part of relief efforts prompted by the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan, an organization she co-founded in 1980.

Events inside the Community Centre throughout the duration of the Biennale Architettura 2025 focus on traditional Qatari forms of welcome, including the serving of coffee and dates. 

I had the most delicious dates I've ever tasted, washed down with a refreshing cup of coffee. In fact, I had two helpings. The fellow in charge of preparing the treat said he had tried to get dates from Italy, but couldn't, so he ordered them from Iran. 

Remember, this was in May, before the 12 DAY WAR between Iran and Israel. I hope we can still get them!

The pavilion was commissioned by the 42-year-old Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who is the Chairperson of Qatar Museums, and the sister of ruling Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. 

The two-part exhibition explores how forms of hospitality are embodied in the architecture and urban landscapes of the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (MENASA).

The other and more formal part of Beyti Beytak is over at Palazzo Franchetti at the foot of the Accademia Bridge.

The permanent Qatar pavilion will be designed by Lina Ghotmeh, a Lebanese-born architect and founder of Lina Ghotmeh Architecture in Paris.

If the goal is to advance cultural diplomacy, Qatar is off to a good start. 

The US Pavilion - Giardini

Folks having fun on The Porch at the US Pavilion during Biennale Architecture pre-opening
Photo: Cat Bauer

The first permanent pavilion at the Venice Biennale was, naturally, Italian, opened in 1895 in the presence of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita di Savoia. The next national pavilion was Belgium in 1907. Then came Hungary (1909), Germany (1909), Great Britain (1909), France (1912), and Russia (1914). 

The countries built and owned the buildings. And then came World War I, and the Biennale was cancelled between 1916 and 1918.  

The US Pavilion was built in 1930. It was privately owned, unlike other pavilions that were built by governments. According to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection:

In 1986, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, purchased the US Pavilion from the Museum of Modern Art, New York, with funds provided by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Advisory Board. Since 1986, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection has worked with the United States Information Agency (USIA), the Fund for Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, and currently with the Bureau for Education and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State in the organization of the visual arts and architecture exhibitions at the US Pavilion. Prior to 2002 the architecture exhibitions were organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

The USIA was a US government agency devoted to propaganda. Although it was dismantled in 1999, it has an interesting history and has since morphed into other agencies. Throughout my years in Venice, the US Pavilion has remained active in trying to influence the global narrative. 

This year, PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity was delightfully propaganda-free, unless the message was that Americans like to live life outdoors on their porches and watch the world go by. I grew up with a fantastic porch on our summer property in Upstate New York, so I loved the message, which was very Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.

During the pre-opening festivities, there was dancing and banjo playing and folk singing and kids swinging on porch chairs -- a welcoming atmosphere, full of good old-fashioned American charm.

The Austrian Pavilion - Giardini

The Austrian Pavilion - Agency for Better Living - Photo: Cat Bauer

I was fascinated by the Austrian Pavilion. Did you know that most people in Vienna live in rented homes? 

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Vienna has been growing rapidly. Yet life is affordable. Viennese social housing is a success story. 

While the housing market in other cities has been handed over to the private sector, Vienna has chosen a different path. The city deliberately combats land speculation and produces affordable homes. Vienna still has enough land reserves for inexpensive social housing. 

Today, the city faces new challenges like an aging population and increasing poverty. Here's a 2024 article from the Guardian that discusses both the good and the bad: The social housing secret: how Vienna became the world’s most livable city. 

The second story examined by the pavilion is that of informal housing in Rome, which has produced unique forms of housing and living by reusing rundown buildings and other elements. 

Agency for a Better Living imagines a future of better living for all with alternatives to speculative house building. I wish Venice would follow Austria's lead, and make more social housing available to its residents. 

The Bahrain Pavilion - Arsenale

The Bahrain Pavilion - Heatwave - Photo: Cat Bauer

Since I had an extended pass, I went back to both the Giardini and Arsenale after the Biennale Architecture Exhibition opened to the public. The atmosphere was much less hectic and intense. I was glad that I could spend more time at the installations, but I also missed the festivities and excitement that are part of the pre-opening crowds.

By then, the Kingdom of Bahrain's Heatwave had won the Golden Lion, the top prize for best national participation. I had just dashed through the installation before, so I went back to see what it was all about. 

The "pavilions" inside Arsenale are not separate structures like they are in Giardini. You can drift from one space to another, not really knowing which pavilion you're in unless you make an effort to focus, which is sometimes difficult during the crowded pre-opening days. 

The Bahrain Heatwave installation was designed to provide cooling in public spaces for people who work outdoors in places like construction sites. It's a modular unit with seating made of sandbags. There are detailed descriptions of how the system functions, which I'm sure is fascinating if you're an engineer, which I am not. 

But I did enjoy lying on the sandbags and sharing the space with a community of other visitors, feeling the cool air on my face. 

The Luxembourg Pavilion - Arsenale

Luxembourg Pavilion - Sonic Investigations - Photo: Cat Bauer

My favorite pavilion turned out to be the last one. I almost didn't visit the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Pavilion because it's located in Arsenale, up an escalator in a separate structure apart from the Corderie.

The above image would be completely black if I hadn't cranked up the photo with every filter on my iPad.

Outside the entrance of the Luxembourg Pavilion, Sonic Investigations describes itself as "an immersive, joyful and radical invitation to shift focus from the visual to the sonic." 

You enter a dark room. You can't see, and your eyes don't really adjust. After trying to figure out where you are and what you are supposed to do, you grasp that there is a large bed-like structure in the center of the room with people lying on it.

You fumble over. You lie down. Close your eyes. Slowly, you realize that you not only hear sounds, but you also feel vibrations.

"At the centre of the pavilion is a sound piece by field recordist Ludwig Berger. Entitled Ecotonalities: No Other Home Than the In-Between, the composition weaves together recordings from distinctive locations across Luxembourg."

Instead of visiting the landscape of Luxembourg with your eyes, you visit it as a soundscape. It is an immersive space. A sonic experience. You hear whispers and sounds of nature and sounds of man and machines while feeling matching vibrations. Your imagination lights up and provides the visual images.

Sonic Investigations fulfills its goal and is: "an immersive, joyful and radical invitation to shift focus from the visual to the sonic." I could have stayed in there for hours.

Inside Arsenale - Photo: Cat Bauer

Practical Information

We are only about halfway through La Biennale di Venezia 19th International Architecture Exhibition, which will close on Sunday, November 23, so you have plenty of time to see it, or revisit it. 

Pay attention to the opening hours:

The Venice Architecture Exhibition is always closed on Mondays in both venues, Giardini and Arsenale, EXCEPT on September 1, October 20, and November 17.

Biennale Architecture 2025 is open on Tuesdays through Sundays from 11 am to 7 pm through September 28, EXCEPT at ARSENALE ONLY, which is open until 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

From September 30 to November 23, opening and closing hours are an hour earlier. Both venues are open on Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 am to 6 pm. 

Go to La Biennale for more information.

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog