Berggruen Institute Venice, Casa Dei Tre Oci, Venetian Architecture News
Berggruen Institute, Casa Dei Tre Oci
8 Sep 2021
Location: Venice, Italy
photo courtesy of Berggruen Institute
Berggruen Institute Venice in Casa Dei Tre Oci
The Berggruen Institute inaugurates the historic Casa Dei Tre Oci in Venice as its European Center Of Activity
Century-Old Neo-Gothic Building on the Giudecca, long a home to artists and thinkers, becomes a Berggruen Institute hub for summits, symposia, and exhibitions
Venice, Italy — September 2021 — Establishing a presence in the heart of Europe, the Berggruen Institute today held its first event at Casa dei Tre Oci in Venice. This historic building was recently acquired for the Berggruen Institute from the Fondazione di Venezia by the Nicolas Berggruen Charitable Trust. The Institute intends to make Casa dei Tre Oci its center of European activity: a gathering place for global dialogue and new ideas, housing an international program of summits, workshops, symposia, and exhibitions in the visual arts and architecture.
Commenting on the acquisition of Casa dei Tre Oci, Nicolas Berggruen, Chairman of the Berggruen Institute, remarked, “As Italo Calvino once wrote, ‘You take delight not in a city’s seven or seventy wonders, but in the answer it gives to a question of yours.’ We see Venice as a gateway for those seeking answers to the most pressing questions and challenges of our time—and Casa dei Tre Oci as the nexus of the Institute’s work in developing ideas to build a better world. We are deeply grateful to take this step forward with the Fondazione di Venezia in establishing a European presence. We look forward to developing our program at the Tre Oci in the coming years.”
Michele Bugliesi, President of the Fondazione di Venezia, said “I thank Nicolas Berggruen for the collaborative spirit that the Institute brought to the Fondazione di Venezia in acquiring Casa dei Tre Oci. We celebrate the realization of a project of international stature consistent with the institutional purpose of the Fondazione and with the history and character of this building. With Casa dei Tre Oci continuing to be the site of constructive discussion on contemporary issues, we look forward to the prospects of its future cooperation with other institutions in Venice, placing it at the center of the city’s cultural life.”
To mark this milestone in its ten-year history, the Institute announced in Casa dei Tre Oci that philosopher Peter Singer is the 2021 recipient of the $1 million Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture, given annually to thinkers whose ideas have profoundly shaped human self-understanding and advancement in a rapidly changing world. Peter Singer will receive the Prize in the Spring of 2022 in a ceremony to be held in Los Angeles.
In centering its European program at Casa dei Tre Oci, the Berggruen Institute will preserve the building’s function and identity as part of the cultural fabric of Venice. Tre Oci will attract local and international guests, policymakers and political thinkers, artists and architects, authors and scholars, scientists and technologists—across cultures, disciplines, and political boundaries—to develop and promote long-term answers to the biggest challenges of the 21st century. As part of the acquisition agreement, the Fondazione di Venezia will continue to use the Tre Oci to present its program of photography exhibitions for two years and will potentially work with the Institute on future exhibitions.
Designed as a private home and studio by the artist Mario De Maria and built on the Giudecca in 1913, the neo-Gothic Casa dei Tre Oci has a long history of hosting artists and intellectuals (including participants in the Venice Biennale) and serving as a venue for cultural meetings and debates. The Fondazione di Venezia acquired the Tre Oci in 2000, conducted a careful architectural restoration, and in 2012 reopened the building to the public as a space for photography exhibitions. In 2007, the Regional Directorate for Cultural and Landscape Heritage of the Veneto declared the Tre Oci to be an asset of historical and artistic interest.
Berggruen Institute
The Berggruen Institute’s mission is to develop foundational ideas and shape political, economic, and social institutions for the 21st century. Providing critical analysis using an outwardly expansive and purposeful network, we bring together some of the best minds and most authoritative voices from across cultural and political boundaries to explore fundamental questions of our time.
Our objective is enduring impact on the progress and direction of societies around the world. To date, projects inaugurated at the Berggruen Institute have helped develop a youth jobs plan for Europe, fostered a more open and constructive dialogue between Chinese leadership and the West, strengthened the ballot initiative process in California, and launched Noema, a new publication that brings thought leaders from around the world together to share ideas. In addition, the Berggruen Prize, a $1 million award, is conferred annually by an independent jury to a thinker whose ideas are shaping human self-understanding to advance humankind.
Berggruen Institute Venice Casa Dei Tre Oci images / information received 080921
Location: Venezia, Italia
Venice Architecture
Venice Architecture Designs – chronological list
Venice Architecture Tours by e-architect
Venice Architecture News – selection below:
Enel Power Plant Venice Building
Design: Frigerio Design Group
render courtesy of architects office
Enel Power Plant Venice Building
Vimar logistics and production hub, Marostica, province of Vicenza, Veneto, northern Italy
Design: Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia
photo © Stefano Anzini
Vimar logistics and production hub
La Biennale di Venezia 2021
Home Ground, Alison Brooks Architects
The Majlis at San Giorgio Maggiore
Pavilion of Finland Venice Biennale 2021
Young Talent Architecture Award 2020
picture Courtesy Fundació Mies van der Rohe
Young Talent Architecture Award 2020
Comments / photos for the Berggruen Institute Venice: Casa Dei Tre Oci page welcome
