Homo Faber, a major exhibition on creativity and artistic craftsmanship, opens in Venice

The Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship, a Swiss-based institution dedicated to promoting craftsmanship internationally, is organizing Homo Faber. Crafting a more human future, the first major cultural event dedicated to art crafts in Europe, which takes place in Venice from Sept. 14-30, 2018. Established to boost ’high craftsmanship and encourage a cultural movement that enhances the principles inherent in artistic crafts, the Michelangelo Foundation actively collaborates in the dissemination, protection and transmission of excellent craftsmanship. As the name suggests, the Michelangelo Foundation focuses its efforts on bringing together the worlds of planning and fine craftsmanship, design and art crafts to ensure their future survival.

The never-before-seen exhibition Homo Faber, created by the Michelangelo Foundation to celebrate European craftsmanship, unfolds along a path within the Giorgio Cini Foundation, a renowned international cultural hub based in San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice. Homo Faber unfolds through the Giorgio Cini Foundation’s complex of exhibition spaces, which include a series of buildings of particular historical and architectural significance. The exhibition occupies galleries, libraries, cloisters and the former swimming pool, alternating between fine objects and craftsmen intent on making their creations live. Covering an impressive 4,000 square meters, Homo Faber stands as the largest exhibition ever held at the Giorgio Cini Foundation and offers visitors the opportunity to access spaces that are not normally open to the public.

Conceived by a hand-picked team of world-renowned designers, curators and architects, Homo Faber aims to put under the spotlight, the best of European craft production, offering visitors a unique and memorable experience.The exhibition benefits from the collaboration of an exceptional team, which includes leading figures in the world of creativity and art craft (and beyond), such as Michele De Lucchi, Stefano Boeri, India Mahdavi, Judith Clark, Jean Blanchaert and Stefano Micelli, who have infused the exhibition with great energy. Collaborating in the organization are the Michelangelo Foundation’s partners who share its vision: the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller, the Triennale Design Museum, and the Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte.

The exhibition presents a wide selection of materials and disciplines, from jewelry to bespoke bicycles, from disappearing craft skills to some of the most representative examples of art crafts at the European level. Passionate belief in the power and value of the purest human endeavor fuels Homo Faber: in fact, the exhibition is designed as an immersive experience, since the public will be able to talk to the artisans, virtually enter the workshops of the masters, and watch the restorers at work, thus immersing themselves in the world of craftsmanship excellence. A world that is based on the connection between hand, head and heart, to create authentic works whose value is perpetuated over time.

“For this event we have chosen Venice, a bastion of culture, art and artisan excellence, as well as a place of unparalleled beauty,” explains Franco Cologni, co-founder of the Michelangelo Foundation. “Venice continues to be, today as throughout its history, a nerve center of exchanges and connections.” The event will be held in conjunction with the Venice Architecture Biennale, offering international influencers and tastemakers an original and stimulating perspective on art crafts and creativity.

“The expression Homo Faber, originally coined in the Renaissance, captures and exalts the immeasurable creativity of man,” says Johann Rupert, co-founder of the Michelangelo Foundation. “The exhibition will provide an overview of the best of European art crafts, while at the same time emphasizing a less obvious aspect: what humans can do better than machines.”
To access the event, you must register at: www.homofaberevent.com.

Homo Faber, a major exhibition on creativity and artistic craftsmanship, opens in Venice

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