This semester’s plenary workshop took place on Friday November 19, 2021 with a focus on the theme of Venice. On March 25th earlier this year, the city celebrated its 1600th anniversary (421-2021). Thus, the chief goal of the workshop was to celebrate, represent and discuss its history and culture.
The Plenary Workshop of the Globalization Program is a key event in the academic calendar of Venice International University. It is a lively opportunity to share diverse disciplinary perspectives on a topic with a broader audience, while using the approaches learned in class. It is an opportunity for students and professors to show some of their talents, through talks, but also acting, reading, or singing. It is the outcome of working together and an opportunity to get to know each other better – a true manifestation of the Globalization Program community: international, transdisciplinary, and intergenerational.
This semester’s plenary workshop included the screening of a short film, Flood me with Love, a thirty-minute musical made and interpreted by the students of the Globalization Program, written and directed by Netta Toledano (TAU), which tells the story of Venezia, who leaves Poseidon for Turismo - the two need to go through couple therapy with doctor Unesco. An original, allegorical and humorous interpretation of the issues faced by the city of Venice today.
The program also included:
- A talk on the mosaics of the Adriatic shore by Samuel Pennynck (Ca' Foscari exchange) and Wannes Wets (Leuven)
- A video on the names of lagoon boats from the "Italian as a Foreign Language" class;
- A live performance of song representing "Art and Architecture in Renaissance Venice"
- An interpretation of the Lion of Judah in the Saint Mark's Basilica
- Descriptions of some of the digital heritage projects in Venice
- A sociological analysis of some of the anti-tourist graffiti from the class "Venice strikes back: anti-tourist mobilizations in the Serenissima"
- A debate pro et contra on deaccessioning museum works with Ben Smith (Duke) and Anna de Wandeler (Leuven) from the "Economics and Management of (Art and) Culture" course
- A reading of poems in German and Russian by Sina Streitberger (LMU), Alena Chekina and Dasha Glebova (EUSP)
- A presentation on the Council of Europe Venice Commission on cybersecurity from the "Global Internet Governance" class;
- A talk on the lagoon’s biodiversity by Enrico Green (Exeter) from "History of Venice".
See here the complete program (pdf file)
The workshop was a true success and reflected the hard work and commitment that students and professors alike have contributed to their time in Venice.
The contributions were coordinated and supported by the following professors: Martina Avanza (Lausanne), Massimo Brunzin (VIU), Alison Harcourt (Exeter), Aleksandar Keseljevic (Ljubljana), Paola Modesti (VIU), Luca Pes (VIU), Assaf Pinkus (TAU).
Previous Plenary Workshops:
2021
VIU Plenary Workshop Venice Talking to Us - Online edition
2019
VIU Plenary Workshop on Memory
VIU Plenary Workshop on Information Age and Democracy
2018
The VIU Apocalypse Plenary Workshop
VIU Plenary Workshop on Gender
