Mirror the World – Venice

Today we present our Gold Label show called ‘Mirror the World’- and it’s about saving Venice. The problem there is one of repair but also of climate change.

In 12^th Century Venice great houses on stilts lined the canals. They were trading posts and they each belonged to rich families and on the ground floor of these houses were shops. All the luxury goods from the East came there and merchants and rich people travelled there to shop. The prosperity of these families was out of this world and they built grand palaces painted and gilded on the outside as well as in.

Bellini, Giorgione, Titian- it was the period of the greatest flourishing of art that the West has ever known. Venice was an emporium of culture.

Carnival– everyone in disguise in St. Mark’s Square or disappearing round corners into those narrow streets. The mask hides a time of altered states where the poor become rich and vice versa or the ugly become attractive. It dates from a primitive time when people indulged in excess so that their sins could be forgiven before the new spring.

Come on our march on the November 29^th in London. The People’s March for Climate, Justice and Jobs. Bring your children, it will be massive. The more people the better the chance to change the world. Come! To mirror the world: be beautiful as the world – you must engage with the world.