tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151589473709505648.post861139917393287826..comments2024-03-28T07:52:07.647-04:00Comments on venezia blog: Empress Sissi Slept Here: What Price History? Part 2Steven Varni, aka Sig. Nonlosohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10066672605318740533noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151589473709505648.post-89877910293783119232014-01-14T06:18:10.902-05:002014-01-14T06:18:10.902-05:00You bring up an interesting point, Laura: consider...You bring up an interesting point, Laura: considering that mass tourists (that is, those 80% of the tourists to the city who are here for only a few hours) don't even bother to visit the Museo Correr, and considering that many of the moneyed interests who seem to control Venice are interested only in increasing the swift flow of tourists in and out of the city (NOT having them stay longer), why would the Museo Correr even gear itself to an audience it has no hope of ever enticing inside its doors? Forget about Empress Sissi, not even scandalous photos of a young Lady Di herself in some palazzo would alter the fixed efficient itinerary of the mass tourist rackets who hurry their pigeons along the same fast worn courses. <br /><br />Of course maybe the museum believes even the 20% who remain in the city longer than a few hours need to be enticed with something glossy and celeb-driven. But maybe they're underestimating people.<br /><br />I know of 2 orti. How long are you here for?<br /> Steven Varni, aka Sig. Nonlosohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10066672605318740533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151589473709505648.post-42732909052885068922014-01-14T06:04:48.315-05:002014-01-14T06:04:48.315-05:00In terms of Rubelli itself and their field of expe...In terms of Rubelli itself and their field of expertise, their contributions to the museum are admirable and the process by which they were researched and created is quite interesting. But that's only a part of what's going on in these rooms, though it sounds like the director of the state museums would like to treat it as though it was everything. That's a problem, I think.<br /><br />Thomas Carlyle wrote that "The history of the world is but the biography of great men." It was an influential notion that has been long and completely discredited as simplistic, even childish (not to mention sexist and much else). Yet it seems to persist in the popular imagination--and those who would profit by pandering to it--in the slightly altered from of "The history of the world is but the biography of great celebrities." <br /><br />Alas, this has--as the your tiresome experiences in Vienna make clear--only opened the door to sloppier and worse curating, hasn't it? Steven Varni, aka Sig. Nonlosohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10066672605318740533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151589473709505648.post-68693432061549252772014-01-14T05:47:02.855-05:002014-01-14T05:47:02.855-05:00Given your background and experience, CV, your com...Given your background and experience, CV, your comments mean a lot to me, and reassure me that I wasn't completely off-base about the Museo Correr's decisions in regard to the history of occupation here. What you write makes me think that the museum has, in its descriptions of each room, for example, attempted to be curatorially rigorous, as you say, but only within the most limited horizon. They provide probably everything one might want from a decorative arts museum, but they leave out pretty much everything else. <br /><br />What a difficult job you and others in the world of arts and culture have these days! I would like to think I'm being overly-pessimistic, but for the most part it seems that the acceptable range of what is represented in or to our mass culture becomes ever more narrow--or maybe "bi-polar" is more accurate, everything tending toward one extreme or the other: flash or trash, imperious or abject. The two poles of a tabloid world, though most of us live our lives somewhere in the middle. I admire you for trying to maintain standards appropriate to the mission of a museum even while looking to draw people in--Venice too often seems ready to sacrifice all standards.Steven Varni, aka Sig. Nonlosohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10066672605318740533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151589473709505648.post-49497019597645171502014-01-13T08:50:27.293-05:002014-01-13T08:50:27.293-05:00I don't know much about hystory, it was so pai...I don't know much about hystory, it was so painfully taught in my schools that I tried to forget it as fast as I learned it unfortunately.<br /><br />What I know about Napolen is that he burnt the Bucintoro in the bacino to both show that Venice and the doge were no more, and also to melt all the gold it contained. He looted many pieces of art (not that Venice never did that...), and he ordered many effiges of the winged lion destroyed. In short, Venetian hate him.<br /><br />I suspect that since the mass tourist doesn't really care to visit museums, and if it does he/she will have only few hours to dedicate to an exibit, the curators choose to show crowd pleasing/glamorous things versus gloomy depressive facts. Like you concluded, why risk offending the sensitivity of the French? Doesn't History get rewritten or forgotten many times?<br /><br />FIY, I am in Venice and have kale seeds if you know anyone with an "orto".<br />Laurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15305773287880023217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151589473709505648.post-29614635621761145022014-01-13T04:46:55.376-05:002014-01-13T04:46:55.376-05:00We had a city tour in Vienna last July, and almost...We had a city tour in Vienna last July, and almost one third of everything the guide said were some details of Sissi's life. Her Barbie-like statuettes compete with Mozart’s figurines for shelf space at the souvenir shops. <br />There are also imperial rooms at Schloß Schönbrunn dedicated mainly to her, and the guide went on and on about her phenomenal hair and weird eating habits and her troubled life. At one point the group even urged the lady to move on to the other rooms – we were standing near the empress’ mannequin with coiffure falling down to the knees level and becoming bored with all that trivia. <br /><br />It was amusing how the guide had no doubts every detail of Sissi’s life is valuable to us. But we were unimpressed – all that stuff definitely belongs to the same place where the late Lady Di’s trivia is stored, it’s a kind of quasi-history, tabloid-style. <br /><br />The decision to give away several rooms in Museo Correr to such display is…I don’t know what was the reason. Giandomenico Romanelli, the director of state museums, was introducing these new spaces in a film, congratulating Rubelli on the fine work they did with their fabrics and even called the new additions long waited for or something like that. <br /><br />It’s very likely some politics are involved – the decision to occupy a considerable part of the city’s museum with memorabilia of one of the least significant events in Venetian history doesn’t seem like a logical step in the Museo Correr’s development.<br />Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05288500845815423152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151589473709505648.post-33754596950735578872014-01-12T11:07:51.353-05:002014-01-12T11:07:51.353-05:00Gigi, you send me an email me at: lastdoge@hotmail...Gigi, you send me an email me at: lastdoge@hotmail.comSteven Varni, aka Sig. Nonlosohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10066672605318740533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151589473709505648.post-7170050588838483972014-01-12T11:06:01.777-05:002014-01-12T11:06:01.777-05:00Thank you, pc, you're kind to let me know you ...Thank you, pc, you're kind to let me know you liked the piece.Steven Varni, aka Sig. Nonlosohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10066672605318740533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151589473709505648.post-17357583886912873032014-01-12T07:27:01.738-05:002014-01-12T07:27:01.738-05:00Sig. Nonloso - thank you for this post. As always...Sig. Nonloso - thank you for this post. As always, you are thoughtful and thought provoking. <br />I was interested to see these apartments when last in Venice, and I too was perplexed by the lack of CONTEXT about this critical period in Venetian history, and particularly about the demise of the Venetian Republic. <br />Your point about sponsorship and cultural institutions is also appreciated. I work in the museum industry, and it's been interesting to watch and work in the context of the influence of sponsors and other commercial interests on cultural organisations. My job is marketing manager and I daily think about the challenge of getting people through the doors and finding 'sexy' ways to entice them in - and how to craft marketing and media messages that are curatorially rigorous, and provide context, authenticity and accuracy. Thanks again.Capturing Venice/Capturing Paris https://www.blogger.com/profile/14033232922083621085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151589473709505648.post-9287623190692725552014-01-12T04:47:45.181-05:002014-01-12T04:47:45.181-05:00I can't find any way to contact you on the sit...I can't find any way to contact you on the site...is there an email address or a form I can fill out? I'm interested in chatting with you about an interview opportunity. Let me know!Gigihttp://gigigriffis.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151589473709505648.post-29211217391707452502014-01-11T04:53:20.816-05:002014-01-11T04:53:20.816-05:00Bravo!Bravo!pchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12669237165720965645noreply@blogger.com