Luciano Benetton Collection: Imago Mundi
28 August–27 October 2013
Collateral Event of the 55th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia
Vernissage: 27 August 2013, 7pm
Querini Stampalia Foundation
Santa Maria Formosa
Castello 5252, Venice
Vaporetto stop: Rialto or San Zaccaria
Admission free
T +39 041 2711411
Presenting over 1,000 paintings from contemporary artists in Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, and the United States
In association with the 55th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, the Querini Stampalia Foundation presents Imago Mundi, an exhibition of works from the Luciano Benetton Collection. The exhibition and Collection is comprised of over 1,000 works of art commissioned and collected by Luciano Benetton on his travels around the world since 2008: Established and emerging artists from various countries over five continents have been engaged to create artwork for the Collection, whose only limitation is the 10 x 12 cm format on which all of the works appear.
A traveling exhibition, Imago Mundi‘s first presentation will be as an official collateral event of the Venice Biennale. From 28 August to 27 October 2013, collections from Australia (Aboriginal art), India, Japan, South Korea and the United States will be presented to the public. More than 200 artworks from each country, grouped according to nationality, regions and continents, will be included in the exhibition.
The Luciano Benetton Collection, hosted by the Fondazione Benetton, intends to unite the diversities of our world in the name of a common artistic experience, catalogued very differently from the approach usually seen in museums or galleries and other conventional art market platforms.
“Imago Mundi is a cultural, democratic and global project that looks to the new frontiers of art—personalities, countries, emerging languages and different cultures—to foster openness towards the world and new horizons, and the coexistence of expressive diversity,” explains Luciano Benetton. “Our aim is to take the collection on a journey, in order to show it—through exhibitions, catalogues and a new portal on the web dedicated to art—to the widest possible audience around the world, often in collaboration with private institutions and public museums.”
Imago Mundi is curated by Luciano Benetton with collaboration from Laura Pollini. The exhibition design in Venice was executed by the architect Tobia Scarpa as a welcoming space that aids in the comprehension of the richness of the collection. Special display stands that close like the leaves of a book will present each small-scale painting, providing clear visibility and easy transportation and installation, facilitating the itinerant aims of the Collection, destined to travel without frontiers.
In addition to the five countries presented for the first time in Venice, Imago Mundi includes collections from Latin America, Eastern Europe, Russia, China and Mongolia. Future plans for the Collection include recounting the creative, artistic and social ferment of many countries on the African continent.
Accompanying the exhibition is a set of catalogues published by Terra Ferma Edizioni, featuring full-color illustrations of every work of art (front and back) for each country/region represented in the Collection. The catalogues will be on sale at the Biennale and at other points of sale throughout Italy, internationally and online.
About Luciano Benetton
Born in Treviso in 1935, Luciano Benetton created Benetton Group in 1965, alongside his sister Giuliana and brothers Gilberto and Carlo; today the Group is present in 120 countries across the world with over 5,000 stores. Luciano Benetton is a board member of Edizione Srl, the family holding company. He was a Senator of the Italian Republic from 1992 to 1994 and has five children. Luciano Benetton is Chairman of the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, created in 1987 upon the wishes of the Benetton family, as testimony to their link with the territory—the Veneto region and the area of Treviso, in particular—contributing to the civil and cultural growth of the community.
Among the many projects dedicated to natural, artistic and historic heritage (the Foundation’s study and research of landscape, in particular, is internationally recognized as an area of excellence) is the current restoration of the church of San Theonistus in Treviso, strongly supported by Luciano Benetton. The ancient building, whose origins date back to the eleventh century, will be fully restored, becoming a cultural centre and fascinating exhibition space in the city.
A great traveller and lover of art, Luciano Benetton has firmly united these two passions in the Imago Mundi project, a collection of over two thousand artworks with a 10 x 12 cm format, created by established and emerging artists from different countries around the world (the United States, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia (with Aboriginal art), countries of Latin America and Eastern Europe, China, Mongolia).
Hosted by the Fondazione Benetton, the project will continue to grow—next stop, the art of numerous African countries—with the goal of uniting the diversities of the world and passing on to future generations the widest possible mapping of human cultures at the start of the third millennium.
Press contacts
Elizabeth Reina-Longoria or Deirdre Maher, Blue Medium
T +1 212 675 1800 / elizabeth [at] bluemedium.com / deirdre [at] bluemedium.com
Martina Fornasaro, Press Office
Imago Mundi – Luciano Benetton Collection
T +39 338 6233915 / martinafornasaro [at] alice.it
