Manuzio, Giorgone.

1500, Venice. Aldus Manutius or Aldo Pio Manuzio (1449-1515) an excellent humanist begun his activities as a typographer in order to promote the Greek, Latin and Hebraic texts and ideas. His Aldine press has contributed to emergence of books both as technical objects and as cultural achievements. His initiatives have contributed for the birth of the splendid historical period in Europe, the Enlightment.

Especially for the Greek typography and the Greek Books, he has been at the origine of the major innovations concerning the books as content and as arrangement of letters and images. He is the inventor of the Greek printed alphabet in the modern times.

1500, Venice. Giorgone (1477-1510) felt in painful and philosophical way the crisis due to the transition from the 14th to 15th century. His work, probably no more than 25, as paintings of a genius have played a role of permanence reference not only for ‘classical’ European art, but also for modern art. His paintings are at same time aesthetic masterpieces and instruments for exploration of the cultural destiny of contemporary world.

1500+500+10{2010], Venice. A meeting (imaginary) between the two exceptional men, artists/philosophers in a bridge between their homes in Serenissima was organized as a re-enactment of a historical moment. The meeting is conceived as an occasion to celebrate the power and the inventiveness of humans at stake of history and its (mis) adventures.

James Johnson-Perkins