VENICE — The WATER / MATER exhibition will feature works by John Lennon and Yoko Ono and the Dutch architect, designer and artist Maurice Nio. It opens on Saturday September 22, 2018 at Beatrice Burati Anderson Art Space & Gallery in Venice under the curatorship of Beatrice Burati Anderson. WATER / MATER, whose accompanying catalogue will include an introduction written by Achille Bonito Oliva, is the second exhibition in the Elements series, a more extensive project held once a year as part of the gallery’s exhibition program. The gallery will also be hosting a special event on November 24, 2018 for presenting the exhibition catalogue during the finissage of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition organized by La Biennale di Venezia. During this event, Maurice Nio will be giving a lecture on his work and research.
WATER / MATER springs from the theories of the Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto, who said that water molecules are not just sensitive to physical stimuli but also to emotional vibrations, harmonizing when they are exposed to positive input, praise and loving words. An awareness of this truth – that dates back to the days of Hippocrates and now lies at the foundations of homoeopathy – takes shape and is visualized. All thanks to research carried out by Dr. Emoto, who has photographed water molecules at a temperature of -5° to document how crystals take on wonderful forms or, on the contrary, chaotic and disheveled shapes, depending on the words they are exposed to.
Bearing in mind that human beings are largely made of water, this vision promotes a scientific and spiritual perspective in terms of how harmony with nature and the development of human mental faculties can help create a better world.
Yoko Ono and John Lennon espouse the belief that the world can only be changed by spreading loving vibrations by all means available. They focused their human and artistic lives around this awareness. Even today aged over eighty, Yoko Ono keeps on conveying thoughts and words of love and peace to the world every day through all the available channels, from art to social networks.
The exhibition will also feature the legendary Bag One: a collection of fifteen erotic lithographs – including the famous Bed-in for the peace in the world – that John made on his honeymoon and gave to Yoko as a wedding present, here kindly on loan from Rolando Giambelli’s private collection, the founder and president of The Beatles People Association of Italy. Maurice Nio will, on the other hand, be presenting Dark Matter, an important 17-metre sculpture taken as a metaphor for the uncontrollable forces of Nature. The work will be placed on sand bags, which have conventionally been used to provide protection against water in case of flooding, to evoke the twin potential inherent in this natural element, here presented as “mother water” but always possessing destructive powers. Video clips and architectural projects will also be on display highlighting Nio’s distinctive approach that always treats reality as including invisible elements, alongside a formal bond between his architecture and the various shapes of water. Nio the architect is, in fact, a firm believer in Masaru Emoto’s theories as explained in his book SupraSensitivity in Architecture.
WATER/MATER is intended to be an exhibition looking at the theme of Water in an unconventional way, an open question about the less obvious nature of what surrounds us in a city like Venice, fragilely interwoven and embraced by an element at whose mercy it also lies, and at the same time welcoming, inclusive and open to the others and to the world.
