On the occasion of the 2026 Venice Biennale, Ulysses’ Gates inaugurates the artistic project Climate-tides at the Restaurant “In Paradiso” in Venice
Friday, May 8, 10:30 a.m.
The project, stemming from an idea by Umberto Vattani and created by Filippo Gregoretti, Hiroaki Kitano and Vittorio Loreto, transforms data from the lagoon, the tides and the MOSE system into an immersive listening experience dedicated to the relationship between Venice and water.
On the occasion of the 2026 Venice Biennale, and in resonance with the theme In Minor Keys conceived by Koyo Kouoh, Ulysses' Gates takes shape as the first chapter of Climate-tides, an artistic series dedicated to tides, climate change and new forms of listening to nature.
The project stems from an idea by Umberto Vattani, President of Venice International University and a leading figure in the dialogue between culture, institutions and international relations, and is created by Filippo Gregoretti, transmedial artist and musician; Hiroaki Kitano, no stranger to the themes of the Biennale thanks to his participation, in 2000, in the Venice Architecture Biennale directed by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas under the theme Less Aesthetics, More Ethics, and a leading figure in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics, President and CEO of Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL), Chief Technology Fellow of Sony Group Corporation and Professor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST); and Vittorio Loreto, Professor of Physics of Complex Systems at Sapienza University of Rome, Director of Sony CSL – Rome, and a scientist engaged in the study of the dynamics of innovation, creativity and emergent phenomena.
In a dialogue between art, science and generative technologies, Ulysses' Gates brings together sound and visual composition, performance, complexity theory and environmental data to transform the phenomena of the lagoon into a sensory experience.
In Venice, a city that symbolises the fragile and millennia-old relationship between civilisation and water, Climate-tides finds its ideal starting point. Here, water is protection, threat, memory and dialogue: a presence to be observed, understood and listened to.
Ulysses' Gates translates historical and contemporary data on tides, climate evolution and the MOSE system into sound and generative images. The work makes perceptible what normally remains invisible: the continuous relationship between the advancing sea, the city that resists, and the technology that intervenes to restore a threshold of balance.
The title evokes the figure of Ulysses as a symbol of intelligence, adaptation and vigilance. The MOSE is interpreted not only as a technical infrastructure, but also as a symbolic threshold: an invisible defence that protects Venice without definitively separating it from the sea. It is a necessary, but not conclusive response, one that invites us to continue listening to the waters and to the signals of nature.
The project will be presented on Friday, 8 May, at 10:30 a.m., at the Restaurant "In Paradiso", Giardini della Biennale, Riva degli Schiavoni 1260, 30122 Venice. The presentation is open to the public.
With Ulysses' Gates, Venice becomes not only the site of the work, but the symbol of a global question: how can we protect without dominating, intervene without erasing, and listen to nature before its signals become an emergency?
Credits
Idea of
Umberto Vattani (President of Venice International University)
Artists
Filippo Gregoretti, Hiroaki Kitano, Vittorio Loreto
Field Recordings
Gianluca Ferranti
Communication and Cultural Managers
Milena Di Canio, Yoko Honjo
Administration and Logistics
Cinzia Di Salvio
Sponsor
Promu - Musica ed Eventi
Supported by
Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL)
Sapienza University of Rome
Venice International University
Autorità per la Laguna di Venezia
ArtDiplomacy
Ristorante "In Paradiso" - Venezia
