Italian
From December 1 to 3, 2025, the German Centre for Venetian Studies is promoting an international conference on art and literature in the early modern period
VENICE – A new appointment with the series «Widerspiegelungen – Reflections», promoted by the German Centre for Venetian Studies. From Monday, December 1 to Wednesday, December 3, 2025, the international conference “Venice as a Laboratory. Perspectives on Interdisciplinary Research on Venice in Art and Literature during the Early Modern Period” will take place, conceived by the Scientific Committee under the direction of Markus Koller (University of Bochum), in collaboration with the Director Richard Erkens, with the support of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the Dr. Christiane Hackerodt Foundation.
The public inauguration will take place on Monday, December 1st from 4 PM to 7 PM at Palazzo Barbarigo della Terrazza, the headquarters of the Center. Cristina Baldacci (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) will speak on the topic “The Fragility and Resistance of a Cultural Archipelago: Art as Ecological Care in Venice”. Institutional greetings will be delivered by President Barbara Kuhn and Director Richard Erkens, while the introduction of the proceedings will be by Robert Fajen.
At 6 PM, there will be the Visual Essay by Axel Braun, a photographer from Essen, titled “Machina Mundi / Reign of Reason [Built on the Back of Others]”, introduced by Petra Schaefer, the contact for artistic relations at the Center. The event is free and open to the public.
The conference, structured into three thematic panels – Venice as space, Venice as a model for the future, and Venice in the mirror of self-descriptions and descriptions by others – aims to reflect on the perspectives of interdisciplinary research on Venice, integrating artistic and scientific contributions. The initiative seeks to explore new possibilities for investigation, stimulate changes in perspective, and transform the conference itself into an interdisciplinary scientific laboratory.
Founded in 1972, the German Centre for Venetian Studies has been promoting the meeting of art, culture, and science for decades, supporting an interdisciplinary approach aimed at developing new knowledge and stimulating collaborations between different disciplines.
Photo credit by Axel Braun “The fate. Madonna del Monte”, Videostill, 2024
