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