A Special Project of the Historical Archive focused on Meister Eckhart

From Wednesday March 5^th to Sunday March 9^th and in a repeat performance from Tuesday March 11^th to Saturday March 15^th (at 9:30 pm), La Biennale di Venezia presents the Special Project of the Historical Archive Expositio Sancti Evangelii secundum Iohannem (Commentary on John) by Johannes Eckhart (c. 1260 – c. 1328), the Dominican theologian and mystic known as Meister Eckhart.

The project stages the Commentary on John in the Portego delle Colonne of the Scuola Grande di San Marco, the atrium of the monumental sixteenth-century complex known today as the Ospedale Civile SS. Giovanni e Paolo with actors Federica Fracassi, Leda Kreider, Dario Aita together with the Coro della Cappella Marciana led by Maestro Marco Gemmani. The dramaturgy and direction are by Antonello Pocetti and the stage concept by Antonino Viola, who last January created Luigi Nono’s Prometeo for La Biennale, while the video images are designed by Andrew Quinn and the sound diffusion by Thierry Coduys.

The President of La Biennale di Venezia Pietrangelo Buttafuoco has stated: “The word makes the world, humanity is revealed in the word, the word returns the destinies of all to the Eternal. The special project that La Biennale di Venezia dedicates to the Expositio Sancti Evangelii secundum Iohannem by Meister Eckhart focuses attention on the word, which is the origin of everything, to attune us to listen. The word is the one most certain element in the human amalgam, and giving meaning to the world – in life’s long and secret history – is an exercise in pure vertigo that Eckhart forges in a direction that finds expression today in an artistic event: the resonance of the word in the flesh, in the voice and in performative action”.  

Expositio Sancti Evangelii secundum Iohannem is the theatrical rendition of the commentary to the “fourth gospel”, the work of the magister sacrae theologiae Johannes Eckhart, whose thinking represents one of the highest moments in western mysticism, destined to reverberate into our time after a lengthy period of oblivion.

“A master of life and not only of doctrine” as Heidegger would define him, Meister Eckhart chose to comment the most personal of the four gospels, the one written by John, “the disciple beloved by Jesus”. Destined to be the most influential of the gospels, with respect to the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, John’s gospel is the only one to cast light on the complex and enigmatic nature of Jesus’s thought. The power of which lies in the word, starting from its incipit – In the beginning was the Word – to which Meister Eckhart dedicates a large part of his Commentary, and has been the subject of infinite interpretations. The Gospel of John, in Meister Eckhart’s interpretation, is the “Gospel of the Logos”, of “God as pure thought” (Marco Vannini).

It is in the place par excellence destined for ‘care’, where for centuries charitas and culture have spoken to each other through the service of the two most important medieval Venetian “secular” institutions, the Scuola Grande di San Marco and the Ospedale di San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti, now called Civile, that the ten appointments illuminated by the writings of the German theologian and mystic Meister Eckhart, Expositio Sancti Evangelii secundum Iohannem, will take place.

Conceived in a dialogue with the highly particular architectural and artistic space, the stage structure designed by Antonino Viola encloses the entire space of the atrium with a slightly elevated rectangular wooden architecture that alludes to the Medieval schola cantorum, to gather together the community of public, actors and chorus. Surrounding the walls is a light metal frame for the video screenings conceived by the artist and computer graphic designer Andrew Quinn. Curated by the director and playwright Antonello Pocetti, Expositio Sancti Evangelii secundum Iohannem addresses, over five evenings, five of the themes developed by the Dominican magister in what is considered his greatest work in Latin.

The journey through the Commentary begins with the Logos, the search for an illuminated truth, on Wednesday March 5^th; it will be followed by Being, understood as one and many (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), and embracing the figure of the righteous man, as delineated by Eckhart, on Thursday March 6^th; on Friday March 7^th, the heart of the discussion will focus on Love, the generating force of life, truth and good; the duality between good and evil will dominate the evening of Saturday March 8^th, to end, on Sunday March 9^th, with the dialectic between body and soul.

Every evening the performance will be introduced by a different writer or philosopher invited to reflect upon the theme of the day, which will then find living expression in the Commentary read – partly in the original Latin and partly in Italian – by important authors-actors in our theatre and cinema: Federica Fracassi, recent winner of five Ubu prizes for theatre, Leda Kreider, directed by the finest names in Italian and European directing, Dario Aita, fresh from the film Parthenope by Paolo Sorrentino. Interwoven with those of the actors, with the fundamental contribution of sound diffusion by Thierry Coduys, the voices of the Coro della Cappella Marciana will sing Gregorian chants based on the liturgical texts of the Gospel of John, conducted by Maestro Marco Gemmani. At the centre the word – sacred, mystical, critical – all around the public, engulfed in the voices of the actors and the singers of Saint Mark’s. The project Expositio Sancti Evangelii secundum Iohannem by Meister Eckhart emerges as an immersive work that gives new shape to the unique space of the Ospedale Civile SS. Giovanni e Paolo.

We would like to thank for their hospitality and collaboration the Fondazione Scuola Grande di San Marco and Azienda ULSS 3 Serenissima di Venezia, two institutions for a single place that together embody the interconnection between care and art.

Expositio Sancti Evangelii secundum Iohannem by Meister Eckhart
direction, dramaturgy Antonello Pocetti
actors Federica Fracassi, Leda Kreider, Dario Aita
Coro della Cappella Marciana, conducted by Maestro Marco Gemmani
sets Antonino Viola
video Andrew Quinn
lighting Tommaso Zappon
music and sound projections Thierry Coduys

5 > 9 March and 11 > 15 March, 9:30 pm
Portego delle Colonne of the Scuola Grande di San Marco - Ospedale Civile SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice.