Wednesday, July 30
Lazy day. Lunch at da Silvio (gnocchi al ragu and gnocchi with salmon sauce).
We went for a walk. We stopped at the church of San Moise. This is a very old (8th century) church which serves as the parish church for San Marco. The tourists tend to make everyday worship at San Marco difficult.
We were surprised to find Moses a saint. Apparently, the Venetians, like the Byzantines that had such impact on their history, canonize Old Testament prophets. Moses does not appear on the Catholic saint site, but he is on the Greek Orthodox list. The altarpiece:
We also found this unusual Renaissance staircase:
We were guided here by the 2013 Rick Steves Venice guide, which our apartment "host" loaned to us. He tells us that it is, unexpectedly, the best guidebook available on Venice for identifying sites.
This year is the Biennale of Architecture. It is curated Rem Koolhaas, who was assisted by students at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. The Biennale is titled "Fundamentals".
The main exhibit is "Elements of Architecture". Elements are ceilings, windows, facades, floors, etc. The theme of the exhibit is the history of modernization from 1914 to 2014. A film (small snippets of old movies) was shown showing the role of architectural elements in films- walking down a corridor, scaling a facade, gazing from a balcony, and many more. We recognized few of the clips, but it was entertaining. Cool elements include a floor that keeps track of where you are and if you fall; LED façade; and walls of light-transmitting concrete.
We have a few images to share:
Ceiling
This also demonstrates the fun of using a preexisting building.
Window
Roof
There are also some 66 country pavilions.
The Russian pavilion featured some ideas for emergency construction, including these cemented rubble panels:
:
"The Polish Pavilion installation introduces an architecturally and mentally impossible object."
Other items on the grounds
Cement sculpture near entrance to grounds:
LeCorbusier’s Maison Dom-Ino:
This was conceived by Corbusier in 1914 as a prototype for European housing.
Dinner at Trattoria Dona Onesta. Bruce had pork chop, salad, and chocolate cake. Leslie had veal in Marsala sauce and panna cotta with caramel.
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