Imago Mundi at Biennale

Filmmakers, video artists, photographers, illustrators, musicians, painters: a new platform of established and emerging talent confronts an ecological crisis that appears to outweigh any relevance of art or culture in our society. A collective declaration signed by 270 artists - in the name of diversity and freedom of expression - to try to discover how to deconstruct our powerful, individual identities for the sake of the larger community.

The extraordinary pictorial culture of a people hidden for too long, who use art to proudly assert the dynamism, vitality and beauty of a mystical, dreamlike tradition. The 216 works collected in this volume provide unprecedented testimony to a unique figurative poetry, a visionary journey amidst the colours of the desert landscape through the eyes of affirmed artists such as Tommy Watson or Mrs. Bennett, alongside many others who are less well known. A new abstractionism that to some extent has been overlooked in the West.

Elegance, refinement and emotion in a mosaic that reflects a country where the harmonious wellbeing of the whole is more highly valued than individual affirmation. The small format of the works created for this collection by 207 established and emerging artists reflects a peculiarity of Japanese culture: the recognition of beauty in small things - in bonsai and haiku, just as in hi-tech - and the ability to extract the essence of things, compacting their form.

The more than 200 canvases in this volume, collected not only in India but also in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, offer a current and lively synthesis of the contemporary figurative poetics of the subcontinent, of its eclecticism and ability to assimilate and take ownership of these influences, cultures and schools, in a clear refusal to conform to a single, specific style.

A creative wave of expressive connections: landscapes, cartoons, ideograms of ancient Asian cultures alongside the new symbols of the most advanced technology. A vital force, announcing the art of tomorrow. The works of more than 200 South Korean artists in this volume not only express the spirit of the time of one of the countries with the fastest growth rates (cultural, social, economic), they also explore new and original figurative paths.

There are over 200 works from each country, grouped according to nationality in order to present the project - in addition to the intrinsic significance of the works themselves - as a story of the world and a journey through art, which favours no particular schools, trends or fashions, but instead fosters openness to new horizons and the coexistence of expressive languages.

The Imago Mundi exhibition was designed by the architect Tobia Scarpa as a welcoming space that aids comprehension of the richness of the exhibit.

In the heart of Venice, a stone’s throw from Piazza San Marco, is one of the most interesting cultural complexes in the city of the lagoon: Palazzo Querini Stampalia, the home of the Foundation of the same name created in 1868 by Count Giovanni, who died the following year without direct heirs.
The Palazzo is home to a Library, a Museum and an area for temporary exhibitions are housed there.