Florence Biennale 2019: the 12th edition will be dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci

The year 2019 will mark 500 years since the death of Leonardo da Vinci, the great genius of the Italian Renaissance, and Leonardo himself will be the protagonist of the 2019 edition of the Florence Biennale. Scheduled from Oct. 18 to 27, 2019, the 12th edition of the Florence Biennale focuses on Leonardo’s multanime nature, as the curator, Melanie Zeffirino, explains, “”looking at Leonardo as an exemplum for contemporary creativity is meant to draw attention to how, by combining artistic practice with scientific research not without experimentation in each sphere, he pulverized the ancient distinction between artes mechanicae and artes liberales. In doing so he first of all ennobled painting, ’a science and legitimate daughter of nature’ in that it ’considers all the continuous qualities and qualities of the proportions of shadows and lights and distances in its perspective’ therefore, just like music and geometry, it is founded on harmonic proportions. [...]. Especially in ’dark times’ like the present, which sees the art world facing that same difficulty but also recurring instances and new challenges on a global level - from coining a definition of the notion of art to the search for aesthetic valences passing perhaps through a possible enfranchisement from the presumed supremacy of conceptual art, and to the downsizing of the de-skills phenomenon - Leonardo’s method appears as a ’light’ projected on a path of knowledge and perfection. A path that would seem to require the adoption of a holistic approach in order to look at the individual in his physical, psychic and spiritual unity, but also to fully grasp the value of an artist and his creative making, which can always be revisited and reinterpreted, thus revived."

Looking to Leonardo as an exemplum for contemporary creativity, we want to draw attention to how, by combining artistic practice with scientific research and experimentation in each sphere, he pulverized the ancient distinction between artes mechanicae and artes liberales. An inexhaustible source of inspiration for five centuries now, Leonardo da Vinci’s legacy, the curator further explains, “will be interpreted through the most disparate languages of art by authors from different backgrounds, cultures, training and careers, who are preparing to participate in the 12th Florence Biennale in 2019. To them is addressed the invitation, expressed in the words of Paul Valéry, to imagine Leonardo at work and follow him ’as he moves in the opaque and dense unity of the world where nature will become so familiar to him that he will imitate it in order to reach it, and will end up encountering the difficulty of conceiving an object that it does not contain.’”

The awarding of the 2019 “Lorenzo il Magnifico alla Carriera” Prize to prominent personalities (whose names will soon be announced) will also follow ... Leonardo’s suggestions. As in previous editions, in 2019 the Biennale will be sponsored by the Italian National Commission forUNESCO, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Region of Tuscany, the City of Florence, and the Italian National Committee ICOMOS. For all information you can call +39.055.3249173, visit www.florencebiennale.org or send an email to info@florencebiennale.org.

Pictured is a moment from the 2013 edition of Florence Biennale.

Florence Biennale 2019: the 12th edition will be dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci

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