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There are few places in the world where art and national identity are as intertwined as at the Venice Biennale. It remains unique, not only because it is the oldest international art exhibition and takes place in such an extraordinary setting, but because its collection of national pavilions encourages pluralism, diversity, and the surprising. Set within the beautiful Giardini, the pavilions proclaim their origins with an exaggerated air of national stereotyping, and in this talk, Andrea Rose shows how these distinctive buildings have lent piquancy and purpose to the art shown in them. From Mondrian in the limpid Dutch Pavilion to Hans Haake in the German Pavilion, where in 1993 the artist exhibited his critique of national history by smashing up the floor. Transitioning from an association of western nations at the end of the nineteenth century to the global phenomenon it is today, Andrea Rose describes how the Biennale has evolved, its relationship to the city, and its importance in an increasingly polarized world.

Andrea Rose was Director of Visual Arts and Strategic Programmes at the British Council from 1994 to 2014 . During this period she was responsible for Britain’s representation at Venice Biennale, commissioning and curating exhibitions by Leon Kossoff, Rachel Whiteread, Gary Hume, Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin, Gilbert & George, Steve McQueen, Mark Wallinger, Jeremy Deller and Sarah Lucas among others. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Burlington Magazine, a Trustee of Pallant House Gallery and Deputy Chair of Koestler Arts.

A drinks reception will follow the talk.

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‘Con un non so che del frizzante’ (‘with a little something sparkling’) is how the poet Giulio Strozzi (1574) described the essence of the madrigal: a short poem, flexible in rhyme and rhythm, ideal for brief, touching scenes of love and longing. In its musical form, it came to take on an extraordinary life of its own, and in The Madrigal Reimagined we present a striking range of settings, from solo voice and lute to a full string band, showcasing every facet of the madrigal’s transformative journey from gentle part song to one of the cornerstones of opera.

Works by Monteverdi, De Rore, Palestrina, Caccini, and others are embellished with remarkable vocal and instrumental ornamentation, and – in this special live presentation to celebrate the CD release – framed by pithy, contemporary readings featuring writers from the Classics to Monteverdi’s contemporaries

Performed by MONTEVERDI STRING BAND with guest artists Hannah Ely (soprano) and Toby Carr (lute, theorbo). Directed by Oliver Webber.

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From the ashes of the war and the first experiments in neorealism, Italian cinema rose to become one of the most important and influential in the world. With directors like Visconti, Fellini, Antonioni and many others it became a byword for art and innovation. This lecture will examine two people who played a vital role in this success; the producer Dino De Laurentiis (1919-2020) and the prolific screenwriter Suso Cecchi D’Amico (1914-.2010) Each thought more of the industry than art and worked not only with artistic directors but with the makers of the comedies and genre films that were the bread and butter of Italian film production. Their ways of operating could hardly have been more different: flamboyant and visionary in the case of De Laurentiis, discreet and modest in the case of Cecchi D’Amico. It will be suggested that these modes corresponded to the pattern of gendered labour in the industry, in which female contributions – no matter how important – tended to be invisible. While producers historically received far less credit than directors, the achievements of De Laurentiis are today more widely acknowledged. Yet it is hard to overestimate therole of Cecchi D’Amico in impressing the marks of quality and humanity on Italian cinema that were essential to its worldwide successes in the postwar decades.

Stephen Gundle is Professor of Film and Television Studies at Warwick University. He held academic positions at Cambridge, Nottingham, Oxford and London before moving to Warwick in 2008. His research interests lie in the fields of film and cultural and political history, with a special emphasis on Italian cinema and other media and he is author of books including Bellissima: Feminine Beauty and the Idea of Italy (2007) and Glamour: A History (2008), Mussolini’s Dream Factory: Film Stardom in Fascist Italy (2013) and Fame amid the Ruins: Italian Film Stardom in the Age of Neorealism (2019). Several of his books have also been published in Italian. In recent years, he has directed two major research projects on producers and production practices in the Italian film industry.

Please note:

– We do not issue physical tickets. Your name will be added to our Event Guest List.

– Online bookings close the day before the event. If you need to make a booking on the same day, please contact us to check availability.

Leonardo Sciascia was a Sicilian writer who defined his life by challenging injustice and illegal power wherever he saw it – among corrupt politicians in Palermo and Rome and above all in the mafia and its collusion with the state. The author of some 12 books – fiction, non fiction, poetry, essays – and a vast amount of journalism, he is one of Italy’s best known and best loved 20th century writers. His famous expose of the mafia – The Day of the Owl – in 1961 is accepted to have been the first time it was written about in fiction as a criminal organisation and not folklore. It has sold over half a million copies and been translated into many languages. As well known in Italy as Primo Levi and Natalia Ginzburg, he remains an outsider abroad – perhaps because he seldom left Sicily and spent much of his time in a small house not far from Agrigento. Sciascia died in 1989, having been involved in polemics over everything from the kidnapping of Aldo Moro to the work of the crusading anti mafia magistrates, Falcone and Borsellino.

Caroline Moorhead is a historian and biographer; author of lives of Betrand Russell, Heinrich Schliemann, Martha Gellhorn, Mme de la Tour du Pin. Her latest books are A House in the Mountains, Edda Mussolini: the Most Dangerous Woman in Europe and A Man of Honour: Leonardo Sciascia and His Battle Against the Mafia which will be published in 2025. She reviews for the TLS, Guardian, Wall Street Journal and has co-produced a series of programmes about human rights for the BBC.

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– Online bookings close the day before the event. If you need to make a booking on the same day, please contact us to check availability.

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