Venice, the first week

This Thursday just gone marked two weeks since I've been in Venice. I began working at the Biennale on August 26th, so for the first three days we lost ourselves in the city. I mainly consumed a lot of pizza and gelato, people watched and gained more freckles. Italian women dress effortlessly for summer. I'm constantly gawking in awe at the colours, cuts and drapes I see on a daily basis on my walk to work.

Below is an assortment of shots from my early explorations of this unique cityscape.


Basilica Di Sanmarco


Basilica Di Sanmarco, and accompanying crowds of tourists


Typical Venetian buildings


Part of the Doge's Palace (Italian: Palazzo Ducale), built in Venetian Gothic style


San Giorgio Maggiore (taken from in front of the Doge's Palace)


View from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, onto the Grand Canal


Peggy's grave, where she is buried beside her beloved dogs


Sunset over the Southern Lagoon


A quiet street gives some respite from the constant stream of tourists


Gardens in the city, for hiding in the shade


My first bellini, at Caffe' Margaret Duchamp in Campo Santa Margherita, perfect spot for people watching


I'll post soon about the job itself and what Venice Takeaway is about. We Stewards have a tumblr blog that we kept up to date with the daily and weekly goings on.

Ciao!

So my blogging will be even more sporadic than it usually is -but- I have a legitimate reasoning this time, as I will be in Venice for 4, perhaps 5 weeks. I am flying out today as from this weekend onward I am going to be working as a Steward at Venice Takeaway, in the British Pavilion space at La Biennale di Venezia, for this year's architectural Biennale.


(Source)

The Architecture Biennale follows the same framework as the Art Biennale with the national pavilions presenting individual exhibitions in the centre of Venice. The British Council curate and organise an exhibition in the British Pavilion. The Council commissions architects, designers and engineers to put together exhibitions for the British Pavilion.

I'm nervous, but mostly I am excited at the prospect at working again at something I'm interested in, and all the new and interesting people I will encounter.

I will endevour to tweet/instagram/etc while I am there, so watch this space.



Follow Venice Takeaway on twitter and facebook, instagram handle 'venicetakeway'.

The 13th International Architecture Exhibition, directed by David Chipperfield and titled Common Ground, will be open from 29th August to 25th November 2012.

Stealing Beauty Revisited

A little over two years ago, when I first started this blog, I posted about one of my quintessential summer films, Stealing Beauty. You know those films that the mood takes you to watch only at certain times throughout the year? When June approaches, I find myself thinking about this film, prompting me to seek out my DVD copy and thus daydream the afternoon away.

I've finally gotten around to screencapping the whole film. Too many beautiful shots of Liv Tyler, the Tuscan countryside and crumbling Italian architecture, only a fraction of which I've included below. I wouldn't be surprised if Bernardo Bertolucci (Last Tango in Paris, The Dreamers) constructed this coming-of-age story solely around the youthful Liv Tyler, she is in practically every scene, and the subject of many, many close-ups.

Click on the images to enlarge them, more on my flickr. I have also uploaded 700+ screencaps here (remove xx). Please credit me if using. I am working on a slow connection so please be patient while I upload different parts of the film.

Other films I have screencapped or profiled:
Life without Zoe (1989)
Mysterious Skin (2004)
Wuthering Heights (2011)
The Red Shoes (1948)
Badlands (1973)
Dazed and Confused (1993)

Menswear Florence/Milan/Paris

I was alerted to these frankly amazing shots by House of Leaves. My own eyes were first opened to the eccentric and bold ways Italian men wear their suits through The Sartorialist. Pictures speak louder than words so I'll share some my favourites from Tommy Ton's photos.

















There's a lot of style cues there to take inspiration from. I'm very happy about the amount of tweed and plaid.

I've always been envious of menswear, mainly because of the wide selection of blazers available to them and well cut shirts. I love the clash of patterns and colours, it looks fun and it feels like they live in these clothes, which sometimes ain't the case for more fickle, trend driven womenswear.