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.
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.
This path allows us to appreciate the different artistic, historical and cultural declinations of calligraphy. While ancient documents maintain the classical relationship in which form is primarily in the service of content, contemporary artists investigate the communicative power of writing forms in themselves, even rejecting or renouncing semantic content altogether.
Each of the six artists stands in a particular relationship to the calligraphy and handwriting of their country of origin, investigating what the forms convey as symbols, shapes in space, or signs and maintaining a relationship of cultural identification with their origins.
The exhibition, which is part of the calligraphy events The way of writing – curated by Monica Viero – will be accompanied by two workshops of four days each held on the premises of the Scuola del Vetro Abate Zanetti in Murano in October 2024, 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.
They 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.
For more information, visit Museo Correr.
