Fornasetti’s ‘Rule of Dreams’ Takes Over the Fondaco Dei Tedeschi Store in Venice

05/14/19

Fornasetti’s dreamlike world comes to Venice and pays homage to the city and its artistic heritage with a site-specific installation at the T Fondaco dei Tedeschi.

Image © designboom
Image © designboom

Featuring silhouettes of female faces, irreverent monkeys and hands slicing through the air, the art installation develops along the different areas of the building, once the trading place for German merchants working in Venice and now converted into a department store.

The large-scale artwork showcases iconic motifs from the fornasetti archive, which are creatively arranged to interact with the historical setting. Visitors are invited to become immersed in the countless silhouettes of hands and the many expressions of lina cavalieri – the 19th century opera singer whose beautifully enchanting face became fornasetti’s main inspiration and can be seen hanging in the building’s porticos and peeking over balconies inside.

Fornasetti’s universe dialogues with the historical signs through a game of references and continued reversals between different codes and eras, paying tribute to the frescoes of the great Venetian Masters Giorgione and Tiziano who, in the sixteenth century were on the facade of the building, just like today the large disks depicting the Fornasetti’s muse Lina Cavalieri.   

THE RULE OF DREAMS
An installation by Barnaba Fornasetti and Valeria Manzi
From 8 May to 24 November 2019
T Fondaco dei Tedeschi,
Calle del Fontego dei Tedeschi, Rialto Bridge,
Venice

https://www.designboom.com/art/fornasetti-rule-of-dreams-installation-fondaco-dei-tedeschi-venice-04-25-2019/