Halfway between the Biennale gardens and the Venice Lido, the island of San Servolo (owned by the Metropolitan City of Venice) has a remarkable history: for about 1000 years it was the site of a monastery, and then of a mental hospital until 1978. Today it is an experiment of regeneration on a large scale, leading to the creation of a convention center and a hospitality structure, as well as extensive landscaping to create one of the city’s largest parks.
This extraordinary location, on 16 and 17 July, hosts the third edition of VID (Venice Innovation Design), an event in which to discuss new visions, ideas and projects, operative and entrepreneurial proposals for sustainable design. Participation is by invitation, but for the first time the program will be broadcast in streaming.
The island of San Servolo
Besides concentrating on the design of the island, starting with concerns of energy efficiency, there will also be round tables, lectures and case histories in the versatile program coordinated by the journalist Pierluigi Masini.
The first day, Saturday 16 July, has the theme The new identity of Italian living, with the participation of Andrea Anastasio, artist and designer; Enrica Cavarzan and Marco Zavagno (Zaven), designers; Luciano Galimberti, president of ADI – Associazione per il Disegno Industriale; the architect Mara Servetto (Studio Migliore + Servetto); and Monica Armani, designer.
This will be followed by a contribution by Leonardo Caffo, philosopher, Escape velocity as a unit of measure to decipher the contemporary; while Andreas Kipar, landscape architect (LAND), will illustrate his project of regeneration for the island’s park.
A moment from the 2021 edition of VID
On Sunday morning the program calls for a round table, The economics of informed recovery, with the participation of Bassel Bakdounes, CEO of Velvet Media; Clara Conti, co-CEO of Saib; Benedetta Pomini, co-founder of Meta Studio; Maurizio Sobrero, professor of Innovation Management at Università Alma Mater of Bologna; Umberto Vattani, president of VIU – Venice International University, based on the island.
Sunday will also be the day for three case histories: that of Edoardo Milesi, architect, director of the Scuola Permanente dell’Abitare, which will be located on San Servolo starting in October; Eric Ezechieli, founder of Nativa, the company that assigns B-Corp certification in Italy; and Andrea Maragno and Sonia Tasca, designers in JoeVelluto Studio.
The landing on the island of San Servolo during the 2021 edition of VID
This iteration of VID also includes an exhibition section, presenting 12 design startups: young companies and designers selected in collaboration with EDIT Napoli, the important fair of design editions curated by Domitilla Dardi and Emilia Petruccelli, and with #Greenheroes, the movement focusing on sustainable companies, coordinated by Alessandro Gassmann and Annalisa Corrado of Kyoto Club. The exhibition is also open to the public (only on Sunday the 17th).
VID will also be an opportunity to visit the island’s very new restaurant, renovated and now open to the public, managed by Art & Food.
