Golden age: Fabrizio Plessi gilds Venice’s Museo Correr
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

Opening this week, to coincide with the first day of the Venice film festival, the site specific work ‘L’età dell’oro' by the pioneering Italian video artist Fabrizio Plessi, fills all 15 first floor windows of the facade of the Museo Correr, which takes up the whole of the western end of Piazza San Marco.
Sponsored by the House of Dior, the piece with its title translated as ‘The Golden Age', references the Venetian gilding of Byzantine mosaics. The artist hopes it will ‘raise the temperature’ in the city, slowly awakening from the profound effects of Covid-19.
Installation sketches by Fabrizio Plessi
The 15 panels of cascading liquid gold, in which appear the text ‘PAXI TI BI' meaning ‘Peace to you' in Latin, are accompanied by the sound of water and piano music written and performed by Michael Nyman. Plessi, the 80 year old artist, born in Reggio Emilia, often uses water and fire in his work, which he refers to as ‘focal points giving energy to our lives’.
He describes ‘L’età dell’oro' containing characteristics which are ‘fluid, elastic and movable’, that are central to Venice, the city that’s been his home for decades. Piazza San Marco is ‘a symphony of stone and harmony’ and this work, taking up a whole quarter of the facade of the Piazza, is in dialog with the tower of San Marco on the eastern side. A summer electrical storm that passed through Italy earlier this week left Piazza San Marco drenched, added a pleasing infinite reflection to the photos taken the night before the opening, serving further to emphasise the water in Plessi’s work.
‘L’età dell’oro', originally scheduled for May this year, proceeds Fabrizio Plessi’s upcoming retrospective at Palazzo Ca’Pesaro, also moved forward from its autumn opening and now postponed to the spring of 2021. Venice was in total lockdown between March and May, and only from the first week of June were Italians permitted to travel between regions and International visitors welcomed back. Most of us will remember unforgettable images of the eerily empty city. The cultural life of the city is very important, for residents, Italians and international visitors. Showing resilience, museums started to reopen from early June, initially just at the weekends.
This is a Covid-19 social distancing friendly installation, visible only from outside in the square. The official ‘opening’ or switching on earlier this week included an intimate cocktail seated outside at Caffé Florian. This is reminder that Venice is alive.
INFORMATION
correr.visitmuve.it (opens in new tab)
dior.com (opens in new tab)
-
Max Richter: ‘Visual art culture is wide open in a way that classical music, unfortunately, sort of isn't’
Hot on the heels of Max Richter’s new album, ‘Sleep: Tranquility Base’, and recently opened multi-arts haven in rural Oxfordshire, we speak to the acclaimed composer about creating a sonic antidote to complex times
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Discover all the Rolex watches released at Watches and Wonders 2023
Rolex unveils bold new additions to its iconic watch families
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
Last chance to see: Brian Thoreen and Mario García Torres’ solo shows at Masa Gallery, Mexico City
Brian Thoreen and Mario García Torres’ solo shows (until 8 April 2023) inaugurate Masa Gallery’s permanent new home in the heart of Mexico City
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
Adriano Pedrosa announced as curator of the 2024 Venice Biennale
Adriano Pedrosa has been announced as the curator of the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024, becoming the first Latin American to spearhead the event
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Venice Biennale 2022 closing review: who, how and what on earth?
As the sun sets on the 59th Venice Art Biennale (until 27 November), we look back on an edition filled with resilience, female power and unsurprisingly, lots of surprises
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Bruce Nauman’s Venice mega-show is a full body experience
Focusing on the American artist's performative 'Contrapposto Studies', Bruce Nauman's show at Punta della Dogana, Venice, gives new meaning to body language – on view until 27 November 2022
By Laura May Todd • Published
-
Biennale Arcipelago Mediterraneo: reflections on Sicily’s history and futures
Opening against the backdrop of Italy’s snap general election, the third edition of the Biennale Arcipelago Mediterraneo in Palermo ruminates on past and present global conflicts, interwoven with stories from the Mediterranean
By Hili Perlson • Last updated
-
Mitico: art, luxury hospitality and home cooking collide in Italy
Spearheaded by the Belmond hotel group and Galleria Continua, new initiative Mitico introduces the work of four major artists on the grounds of four iconic Italian hotels
By Amy Serafin • Last updated
-
Ai Weiwei unveils first-ever exhibition of glass sculptures in Venice
On the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, Ai Weiwei unveils his first show of glass works, including one of the largest Murano glass sculptures ever
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated
-
Jes Fan: the artist probing the intersections of biology, identity and creativity
Multidisciplinary artist Jes Fan uses fungi, bacteria and hormones to produce thought-provoking sculptures that explore how art and biology come together to break down social constructs. This article originally appeared in the August 2022 Issue of Wallpaper*, on newsstands now and available to subscribers
By Drew Zeiba • Last updated
-
Dior Beauty photography prize asks young creatives to come ‘face-to-face’ with the future
Dior Beauty’s fifth annual Photography and Visual Arts Award for Young Talents celebrates the work of 14 creatives at Arles Photo Festival, with London-based photographer Rachel Fleminger Hudson recently announced as this year’s winner
By Mary Cleary • Last updated