From Johnny Depp to Harrison Ford, in Venice the 300 Polaroids featuring the stars of the Film Festival from 1996 to 2004

On the occasion of the 76th. Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica, la Biennale di Venezia will set up for the second year on the Lido at the Hotel Des Bains (thanks to the availability of Società Coima Sgr, the fund managing the spaces) and in Venice at T Fondaco dei Tedeschi, sponsor of the exhibition, with technical sponsor Imex, an exhibition entitled Portraits (Unique Works). 300 Polaroids tell the story of the protagonists of the Biennale Cinema from 1996 to 2004. The exhibition, which will be open from Aug. 26 to Sept. 15, 2019 in conjunction with the 76. Mostra del Cinema (Aug. 28-Sept. 7, 2019), is curated by the director of the Cinema Sector of the Biennale, Alberto Barbera.

“Our country has in its territory a strategic cultural, social and economic resource,” says Manfredi Catella, Founder and CEO of COIMA Sgr. “The Biennale’s commitment with the results achieved in Venice is an exemplary case of how culture can animate and enhance cities. It is an honor for us to consolidate our collaboration with the Biennale and the City of Venice in helping to redevelop an extraordinary place like the Venice Lido and in particular the Hotel Des Bains.”

The exhibition at the Hotel Des Bains collects 300 giant Polaroids cheraffiguring the protagonists of the Venice Film Festival ’s editions from 1996 to 2004: the winners of the Golden Lions and other awards, members of juries, film masters and international stars who walked the Lido’s red carpet. Ordered chronologically over the nine years of reference, and enriched by backstage videos of the various photographic sets, the giant Polaroids trace the presence in Venice of great personalities who made the history of world cinema at the turn of the millennium, from Bernardo Bertolucci to Zhang Yimou, from Johnny Depp to Julianne Moore.

The exhibition is made in collaboration with the Photomovie agency, which from 1996 to 2004 officially documented the filmmakers and stars of the Venice Film Festival through the Giant Camera produced by Polaroid in very few copies, which made photographs that developed in 80 seconds, after which the negative died, leaving only “unique,” non-reproducible positives, exhibited in those years at the Palazzo del Cinema.

In the nine years of Giant Polaroid’s Venetian history, several Italian portrait photographers took turns behind the camera: Fabrizio Marchesi, Stefano C. Montesi, Jacek P. Soltan, Fabio Lovino, Chico De Luigi, Maurizio Galimberti, made the exhibition possible. Alongside the Giant Polaroids taken by Maurizio Galimberti, some of the artist’s most beautiful “photographic mosaics” made in the 2003 and 2004 editions of the exhibition will also be on display.

The exhibition continues at T Fondaco dei Tedeschi. “We are particularly pleased to collaborate with the Biennale on this photographic project,” says Patrizia Moro, CEO of DFS Italia. “T Fondaco dei Tedeschi is a department store that has art and culture in its DNA and since its opening it has been hosting installations by contemporary artists and offers a rich calendar of cultural events. Being a sponsor of Portraits (Unique Works) and hosting some of the photos inside, creating an ideal path from Hotel Des Bains to Fondaco is, therefore, a unique opportunity for us, consistent with our personality.”

The building that houses T Fondaco dei Tedeschi, erected in 1228 to house merchants from beyond the Alps, was rebuilt in its current form in 1508. The subject of radical structural work in the early 20th century, the Post Office officially became its owner in 1925. In 2008, Edizione Property purchased the building and entrusted the restoration to Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas of OMA Studio. In 2016, DFS Group opened in this space T Fondaco dei Tedeschi, its first lifestyle department store in Europe, and commissioned Englishman Jamie Fobert to design the interior spaces and furnishings.

The exhibition Portraits (Unique Works) is also realized with the technical collaboration of Imex, a company specializing in the production of wooden frame rods and derivatives based in the province of Bergamo. Imex espoused this project as a unique opportunity to bring the industrial and artistic sectors closer together, and to demonstrate how a frame is an extremely important element in conveying the message of the work of art to the public eye.

Pictured: Harrison Ford, Venice, 2002. Ph credit: Chicco Ronchetti / Photomovie

Source: press release

From Johnny Depp to Harrison Ford, in Venice the 300 Polaroids featuring the stars of the Film Festival from 1996 to 2004

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