From April 24 to 15 October 2024
Venice, Museo Correr
Museo Correr Library, Scuola Abate Zanetti Murano
Curated by Monica Viero
In 2024, the MUVE will continue its firmly established initiatives to promote the knowledge and practice of calligraphy among the general public. The traditional masterclasses organised by the Library of the Museo Correr will be accompanied by an exhibition of works mirroring the calligraphic cultures encountered by Marco Polo on his journey to China.
The event includes two workshops of four days each held on the premises of the Scuola del Vetro Abate Zanetti in Murano, in collaboration with MUVE Academy. They will include the presence of a teacher of Western calligraphy and teachers of Arabic, Chinese and Tibetan calligraphy.
The workshop and exhibition will explore the origins of calligraphic art and the mutual exchanges between East and West. The workshop will also enable participants to explore the origins and evolution of handwriting in Italy and Europe, with opportunities to admire and study at first hand precious ancient manuscripts, rare incunabula and extraordinary printed books kept in the Library of the Museo Correr. Given the character of the location that hosts it, the course also makes it possible to study the technique of writing on glass.
During the workshop we will experiment with the different techniques and the very concept of handwriting as a total gesture of the body and expression of the person, inherent in Eastern calligraphy and adopted by the Western world only in relatively recent times.
The exhibition will be linked to the calligraphy course, which this year will offer a study in depth of the calligraphic cultures encountered by Marco Polo on his journey to the East. It will provide an opportunity to study handwriting as artistic expression and a vehicle of knowledge and messages capable of creating a dialogue and establishing an authentic bridge between different cultures.
On display are the works of six contemporary artists from China, Iran, Iraq, Armenia and Italy, as well as a series of ancient documents and manuscripts preserved by the Correr Museum Library in Arabic, Armenian, Chinese and Burmese languages, in a journey in which the Silk Road becomes the Way of Writing.
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