2009 Summer School at the Venice Biennale,
21 - 28 June 2009
Click here for the Nurope Summer School Website
HERITAGE HACKING- THE CASE OF THE BIENNALE
Heritage is a complex word, with numerous meanings and as such is easily fossilized. The trick is to get inside the skin of heritage, to infiltrate it, to decode it and recycle its energy into new areas. This is how we bring life to it and how we become actors instead of spectators. Now the Biennale as a phenomenon is a way for nations to join the big game of art, this game has been going on for ages. The Biennale we are visiting is the oldest, greatest of them all; the Biennale of Art in Venice; a place where trade, art and politics have cohabited for very long time. So let´s infiltrate the Biennale and let it infect our minds and bodies.
Friday, May 15

- First official Summer School class at the Baldy Center with Professors and co-Founders of Nurope (The Nomadic University for Art, Philosophy and Enterprise in Europe), Pierre Guillet de Monthoux and Bengt Krisstenson Uggla.
- Presentation on Venetian history and art with Senior Associate Dean Charles Stinger.
Sunday, June 21
Afternoon Activities
- Welcome meeting with Professors Pierre Guillet de Monthoux, Bengt Krisstenson Uggla, Ruth Bereson, Rebecca French and Luca Zan.
- Professor Luca Zan, University of Bologna, Italy, Contextualising the Arsenale
Evening Activities
- Daniel Birnbaum, Director of the 53rd Venice Biennale 2009, joined the group at dinner for a discussion, Making Worlds; on heritage hacking for contemporary visions.
- Dance performance of Centre National de Danse Contemporaine Angers at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale
Monday, June 22

Morning Activities
- Tour of the Arsenale exhibition Making Worlds with Biennale Director Daniel Birnbaum.
Afternoon Activities
- Students continued to explore the Arsenale exhibition on their own.
Evening Activities
- Dinner at Hotel Sant’Elena, followed by a presentation by Professor Antonio Strati, University of Trento, Aesthetics and Arts; not to be confused or ?
Tuesday, June 23
Morning Activities
- Visit to the Biennale Giardini National Pavilions
- Tour of the Biennale’s Historical Archives of Contemporary Art in the new library located in the main Biennale Pavilion.
Afternoon Activities
- Professor Andrea Saba, University of Rome, Industry of Heritage, building the future out of the past.
Evening Activities
- Group dinner at al Diporto trattoria
Wednesday, June 24
Morning Activities
- Group discussion at Hotel Sant’Elena about Arsenale and Giardini exhibitions, art works, and various arts management approaches observed at the Biennale.
- Visit to the Biennale Giardini for the rest of the morning and afternoon.
Evening Activities
- Group dinner at al Diporto trattoria
Thursday, June 25
Morning Activities
- Students had the option to return to the Biennale Arsenale or explore collateral events taking place throughout the city. Many visited the exhibition, Mapping the Studio at the Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi.
Afternoon Activities
- Tour of La Fenice opera house with Professor Maria Ida Biggi, University Ca’Foscari Venice, Italy.
Evening Activities
- Picnic dinner before attending the world premiere Michael Clark Company Production Degree Zero at the Teatro alle Tese, part of the Dance Biennale
Friday, June 26
Morning Activities
- Professor Rebecca French, University at Buffalo, Laws of Lace
- Nurope member and artist Hanna Varis presents her current exhibition Traveler in Time.
- Dr. Nina Kivinen, Åbo Akademi University, Turku Finland, The Venice Biennale as a Department Store?
Afternoon Activities
- Tour of Basilica di San Marco
Evening Activities
Saturday, June 27
Morning Activities
- Professor Simonetta Carbonaro, Swedish Textile School of the Borås University College, Making Worlds and Designing Prosperity.
Afternoon Activities
- Farewell lunch at Osteria Santa Elena with Biennale Administrator for Theatre and Dance Alfredo Zanolla.
Evening Activities
- Biennale dance performance, Compagnia dell'Accademia Nazionale di Danza di Roma at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale
Sunday, June 28

- Last breakfast at Hotel Sant’Elena before students and professors prepared to leave Venice.

Previous Summer Schools:

Finland and Sweden May 12 -- May 19, 2008
Theme: Beyond Bergman and Nobel: Scandinavian cultural policy
and performing arts.

We held our annual summer school in Åbo/Turku Finland,
and Stockholm Sweden in conjunction with NUROPE.
Summer School in Finland and Sweden May 12 -- May 19, 2008
Gattières, France July 3 - July 8, 2007
Theme: Aspects of French Local, Regional
and National Cultural Policy and Visual Arts
Summer School in Gattières July 3 -- July 8, 2007





