8 – 9 April 2011
Venice Arsenale, Opening of the Porta Nuova Tower
The conclusion of the restoration works of the Tower will be announced on Friday the 8th of April at 3.00 p.m. during the press conference that will be attended, among others, by Mr. Giorgio Orsoni, the City of Venice Mayor, Mr. Maurizio Prato, Director of the Public Property Agency, Mr. Roberto D’Agostino President of the Venice Arsenale Company and Mrs. Ambra Dina, Manager of the Venice Arsenale Company.
The restoration has been financed by the State Property Agency, the City of Venice and the Veneto Region.
The Tower will be opened to the public on Saturday the 9th of April from 10.30 to 17.30: the entrance is located at the “Bacini” waterbus stop.
The project of the restoration of the Porta Nuova Tower has been designed by the architects T. Pelzel and F. Magnani who won the “architectural competition per 4 projects in Arsenale” launched by the Venice Arsenale Company in 2006.
The restoration project aims at preserving the historical integrity of the Torre di Porta Nuova, while turning it into a new exhibition and cultural centre: the aim is achieved through the preservation of the original structure, the great vertical emptiness inside, and the introduction of new structures which are independent of the historical ones.
The Torre di Porta Nuova will be a centre for the production of knowledge, a new “brain” for the Arsenale. Inside the tower, the pilot project for SECOND CHANCE will create an exhibition space open to international and local initiatives. Rooms will be made available to artists willing to take advantage of the potentialities inherent in the tower’s unique architecture.
It is not coincidental that Meneghetti’s “brain” is the first work of art to be housed in the tower. For the Torre di Porta Nuova will itself be the “brain” of the entire Arsenale. Far from being a simple museum, the tower will be a centre for the production of knowledge and the promotion of coordination between the various “stars” that make up the Arsenale’s extraordinary “galaxy”.