Exhibition//Fratelli d’Italia by Matthias Schaller

As part of the initiatives accompanying the 11th Biennale International Architecture Exhibition, the Giorgio Cini Foundation has organised the exhibition Fratelli d’Italia (“Brothers of Italy” – the title of the Italian national anthem). This show is the outcome of a project by the German artist Matthias Schaller, conceptually based on the analogy between political ideology and architecture. The project involved photographing 150 opera houses throughout the Italian regions from 2005 to 2008. The result is a series of works (87 x 91 cm), made using C-PRINT, DIASEC technique.

Inspired by the stages in Goethe’s Italian Journey from Trento to Agrigento and with the aim of calling into question German stereotypes of Italy by producing photographic documentation of the country, Schaller chose for a theme the architectural style of Italian opera houses. In fact the opera houses were mainly built at a time when the unity of Italy was being highlighted in various ways, including styles of architecture. The artist sees the opera houses as a kind of official icon concealing umpteen cultural and human differences and symbolising the spread of architectural uniformity driven by political-cultural intentions. In this serial show, Schaller thus introduces parallels between the political project to unify Italy and the intensive spate of opera house building throughout the country.

Venice, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore
13 September – 12 October 2008

Open every day except Mondays
10.00 – 18.00
Free entrance

Information: marketing@cini.it – 041 2710402