Ancient Presence, Modern Projection: Torcello - Venice, Italy 1  

Exhibitions Statement, 2014

by Deborah A. Garwood

Timed to coincide with the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, Milestone Architecture’s exhibition, "Ancient Presence, Modern Projection: Torcello Island - Venice, Italy" immerses the visitor in a contemporary experience of Venetian-Byzantine structures. The exhibition  is participatory, with live feeds connecting Torcello with installations in New York and Venice. The ancient structures’ fundamental relationship to architecture is explained through these installations, with physical objects, projections of light, and interactive software meant to engage the viewer. Digital media – both as a transparent construction material and a live-streaming medium – invokes across time and space themes of modernist architecture while offering a contemporary experience of Torcello, which was founded in the 5th century. Notably, the exhibition and its website adapt cutting-edge techniques of Human-Centered Design. Visual, haptic and aural tools permit points of entry to the exhibition for persons with differing abilities, so that any visitor may gain access to the Basilica and partake of its spirit.

1  The project has been undertaken as one of the case studies for the development of the international and multidisciplinary research of Paola Barcarolo, XXVIIIth cycle of Doctorate of Research in "Civil and Environmental Engineering, Architecture", University of Udine, Italy, entitled: "DfA Communications for the Strategic and Sustainable Enrichment of Cultural and Natural Heritage: Definition and Validation of Perceptual - Synaesthetic and Emotive Operational Principles for the Use of the Touristic UNESCO Sites." She has served Milestone Architecture PLLC for free as: Project Manager; Exhibition Designer; Catalogue Curator; Web Designer and Developer; Scientific Consultant and Supervisor in DfA and HCD; Supervisor of Graphic Communication; Graphic Designer.

Background Image: "Torcello complex of sacred structures, showing Basilica (at left), Santa Maria Assunta (center), and Campanile (at right), on July 2, 2013" Photograph © Deborah A. Garwood, provided by Deborah A. Garwood, New York, NY

The Survey

Executed by Milestone Architecture PLLC in 2013

The subject of this survey, a joint venture sponsored by Sansovino Restauri and Milestone Architecture PLLC, is the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, the Martyrion of Santa Fosca on Torcello, and their context.

This survey used many different combinations of digital software to produce measured drawings that probe the scope of needed restoration work, and to produce experimental images that document the site, the structures, and their meaning and history.

Exhibitions

Exhibitions, 2014 in NYC and in Venice  

There will be an opening reception for the exhibition on June 5th, 2014 both in NYC (The Cooper Union) and in Venice (Church of San Lio).

- The exhibit will formally open in NYC on June 16th, 2014 and in Venice on June the 5th, 2014.

- The date of the end of the exhibit in USA is the 29th of June and in Italy is the 14th of July.

• Torcello Island, Venice Lagoon - Italy

Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta 

Piazza of Torcello

30012, Torcello

Venice

• The Cooper Union, New York - USA

The Cooper Union

The New Academic Building 

Room 504, 5th Floor 

41 Cooper Square

New York, NY 10003

• Church of San Lio, Venice - Italy

Sestiere of Castello

Campo of San Lio, near Rialto

30122, Venice

The exhibit will occur across multiple spaces: along with the Church of San Lio in Venice, there will be a site at The Cooper Union in New York City. Designed as a participatory exhibition, live feeds will connect the installations at all sites; video from New York City will be shown live in Venice, and live video from Torcello will be shown in New York City, directly engaging the source of the exhibition material. Thanks to these live feeds, people across the ocean will be able to interact virtually, congregating together, despite being many kilometers apart. Physical reproductions of architectural elements from Torcello, projections of light, point-cloud data and photographic imagery, and interactive software will engage the viewers, facilitating a contemporary experience of Torcello across time and space.

The Cooper Union

NEW YORK CITY

Visitors in New York will have the opportunity to access a site of valuable cultural heritage, located halfway across the world.

Church of San Lio

VENICE

In Italy, the exhibition will take place in the Church of San Lio, located near the Ponte Rialto.