SATURNIA ROUNDTABLE
The first BEYOND THE SKIN roundtable
by The Thinking Ahead Forum for art and science,
at Saturnia, Venice, on April 25th, 2024,
during The Venice Biennale
The official opening event of the project was held on April 25, 2024, at the Saturnia Art Hotel in Venice. It included a roundtable discussion ("Tisch" ) – which was attended by artists from Israel and Europe. About a week after the official opening of the Biennale, there was special significance to the holding of the meeting itself in the city, as part of the hundreds of performances and official openings of the Biennale events.
On the day of arrival, the project curators were received by Marianna Serandrei - the Saturnia manager and the production team.
On the walls of the carefully designed conference room, from ceiling to floor, hung banners, art prints and accompanying explanatory texts. Several artist's books were displayed on a long corner table and on the central table.
Two projection screens were installed at the front of the room. The first was devoted to loop screenings of the project's art videos, presentations sent by the artists, usually no more than four minutes long. The second large screen served for on-site presentations and the "Zoom" meeting, participated by several artists and scholars from around the world.
The overall appearance of the room was awe-inspiring. The session lasted about two and a half hours. On the long central table was an impressive selection of refreshments prepared by the hotel's chef, some were "leather-inspired". Soft drinks and wine were also served.
During the Tisch hybrid event itself, moderated by the curators, many artists presented their works and their work process. One talk, on behalf of Prof. Hayek, demonstrated various modalities of skin transplants. The meeting was attended by 50 artists, curators and scholars. Artists in person arrived from Italy, Austria, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Greece, Israel and Australia. By Zoom we were joined by artists and curators from Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, Paris and Tel Aviv.
Additionally, some poems were read by the Venetian poet John Jian. Sigal de Mayo presided over a lovely fashion show of landscape prints on leather clothes, and Jada de Buffon swept the audience with Frank Sinatra's "I've got you under my skin".
Towards the next phase of the project, the curators and some artists went to the Academy's space on Giudecca as part of the preparations and design of the physical layout. We got together again with the curator of the adjoining CREA gallery and met some art students to explore possible participation.
On the last day, some of the Tisch participants took part in a brief public participatory performance created with sheets of newspapers, aluminum foils and golden threads, held near Garibaldi's monument at the Biennale's Giardini.
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Beyond the Skin – summary of the first exhibition at TAU (March 2024)
Earlier this year we held the first exhibition of the project took place in the central library of TAU during March 2024. Sixty art prints were displayed with alongside brief curatorial texts, as well as some artist's books. During the "Tisch" (roundtable discussion) at the opening, each attending artist spoke about his/her/their work. Comments were made by the university's vice president Prof. Milette Shamir, and there was a musical interlude.
Beyond the skin poster, designed by Amir Cohen