Holy See to exhibit for first time at Venice's Biennale Arts Festival

(May 15, 2013) The Holy See is participating for the first time ever with its own pavilion at the 55th Bi-annual Arts Festival in Venice. The international arts festival is held every two years in Italy’s lagoon city. At a news conference in the Vatican on Tuesday, the President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, and other speakers described the reasons for the Holy See’s participation and spoke of the theme chosen for its exhibit. Cardinal Ravasi said the council that he heads, holds contemporary art at the heart of its interests because it is one of the most important cultural expressions of recent decades. He said that the Holy See wishes to rebuild an interrupted dialogue that took place between art and faith, especially in the last century. Cardinal Ravasi described the upcoming participation in Venice’s Bi-annual festival as an attempt to reconnect those very ancient and close links between art and faith in the world of culture.
The theme chosen for the Holy See’s exhibit is “Creation, Un-creation and Re-Creation,” inspired by the story told in the Book of Genesis.” The Venice Art Festival opens on June 1st and will run until November 24th, with artists from several countries around the world exhibiting their work.
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