SWAROVSKI FOUNDATION AND JOHN PAWSON
PERSPECTIVES
55th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Collateral Events
In collaboration with: Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore
Perspectives, the luminously beautiful art work created by leading minimalist designer John Pawson for
Swarovski, opens as a collateral event of the 55th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia on
1st June 2013, at the 16th Century Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore, one of the most powerful examples of
Palladian architecture.
The installation, which uses the largest Swarovski lens ever made, is the first ever Swarovski official collateral
event at La Biennale di Venezia.
The newly-established Swarovski Foundation is working in close collaboration with the Basilica di San Giorgio
Maggiore and will provide a financial donation enabling the restoration of the statue of San Giorgio, which
stands on top of the dome of the church. This restoration will help ensure that the 16th Century Basilica is
preserved as one of the key examples of Palladian architecture in the city of Venice.
It will be the first donation made by the new Swarovski Foundation, in line with its mission to support
creativity and culture. The Foundation will demonstrate its commitment to promote artistic inspiration in creative
industries including art, design, fashion, theatre and film, in a natural extension of the collaborations that
Swarovski creates with established and emerging designers such as Ron Arad, Zaha Hadid, Gaetano Pesce,
Tom Dixon, Ross Lovegrove, Tord Boontje, Piero Lissoni, Fernando & Humberto Campana, Karl Lagerfeld,
Christian Lacroix, Mary Katrantzou, Marios Schwab and Giles Deacon.
Perspectives will be placed beneath the central cupola in the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore, providing
visitors with architectural perspectives beyond the range of the naked eye, thereby inviting them to look at and
appreciate Palladio’s glorious 16th century Benedictine church with fresh eyes.
The spectacular reflective work was first installed in the Geometric Staircase of St Paul’s Cathedral for the 2011
London Design Festival. The move to Venice is in homage to the genius of Palladio, the greatest architect of
the Italian Renaissance, and will create a dramatic optical experience that depends on material simplicity and
complex combinations of light, space and proportion to reveal the Basilica in a new way.
John Pawson commented: “I am delighted that Perspectives is being shown as a collateral event at the 55th
International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. I am also honoured to be collaborating on the Swarovski
Foundation’s inaugural project. The focus of the work has never been about the physical piece itself, so much as
how this object enables people to see in a different way. The Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore is an immensely
complex spatial environment. The temptation is to try to take in everything. This is about offering viewers a
dynamic visual experience of Palladio’s architecture, based around a single, sharply honed perspective.”
Nadja Swarovski, Member of Swarovski’s Executive Board and Chair of the Swarovski Foundation’s
board of Directors, commented: “It is an honour to participate as a collateral event at the 55th
International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia for the first time, and we are proud to collaborate
once again with John Pawson. A master of minimalism, his simple but magical piece pays eloquent tribute
to the complex majesty of the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore and to Palladio’s creative genius. This is a
truly inspirational debut project for the Swarovski Foundation in its mission to foster creativity and contribute to culture
and design. ”
Perspectives by John Pawson for Swarovski will be open to the public at the Basilica di San Giorgio
Maggiore from 1st June 2013 until 24th November 2013.
For more information and images:
swarovskiperspectives/press
NOTES TO EDITORS
Please contact:
Claire Thomas, Swarovski –
claire.thomas@swarovski.com / +44 (0)7921 352 990
Giulia Masla, Smith Petersen –
giulia.masla@smith-petersen.com / +39 0236537328
Txampi Diz, KCD -
diz@kcdworldwide.fr / 33 (1) 49 96 20 70
1. Perspectives
A 40cm wide concave Swarovski crystal meniscus made from optical quality glass – the largest commissionable lens - will sit on a
much larger reflective surface – the upper plane of a specially fabricated metal hemisphere of diameter 1200mm and height 675mm.
2. Swarovski
Swarovski’s rich history and culture of creativity delivers a diverse product portfolio that is loved by designers and millions of
customers around the world. Still a family business, Swarovski is a global leader in crystal manufacturing. It brings
innovation in crystal elements, gemstones, jewellery, fashion, beauty, home accessories and more, and its collaborations in art, design,
fashion, film, stage and screen challenge emerging and established creative talents to evolve groundbreaking new uses for
crystal. Swarovski is a growing business, maintaining its place at the forefront of design, creativity and technological innovation.
Swarovski Crystal Business currently employs around 25,000 people worldwide, turning over EUR 2,38bn in 2012. Together with the
companies Swarovski Optik (optical devices) and Tyrolit (abrasive), Swarovski Crystal Business forms Swarovski Group. In 2012, the
Group generated revenues of around EUR 3bn and employed around 30,000 people.
3. Swarovski Foundation
The Swarovski Foundation was incorporated in 2013 to pursue charitable goals to honor the philanthropic spirit of Daniel
Swarovski, who founded the crystal business in 1895. Since then, five generations of the Swarovski family have reinforced the company’s
commitment to philanthropy and charitable giving. The Swarovski Foundation’s mission is to build on this heritage by supporting
charitable initiatives and organizations working in three areas. Fostering Creativity and Culture by promoting the arts, advancing
education, supporting cultural institutions and innovative projects with cutting edge talent; Promoting Wellbeing and
Human Rights, supporting initiatives on women’s empowerment, access to health and education and
assisting the advancement and development of young people and communities; and Conserving Natural Resources through
environmental projects to promote the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment.
The Swarovski Foundation’s founding trustees are Nadja Swarovski (Chairperson), Anthony Julius, Paul van Zyl and Helen Jenkins.
4. John Pawson
Yorkshire-born John Pawson spent a number of years living in Japan, before returning to England to train as an architect,
establishing his own practice in 1981. The defining theme of his architecture has always been simplicity, consistently focusing on ways of
approaching the fundamental problems of space, proportion, light and materials, while also reflecting the environmental and
historical context of the work. Key projects include the RIBA award-winning Sackler Crossing – a walkway over the lake at London’s Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew – and the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Novy Dvur in Bohemia, awarded the Frate Sole International Prize for
Sacred Architecture in October 2008. He is currently engaged in remodelling the former Commonwealth Institute in London, scheduled to
open as a new permanent home for the Design Museum in 2015.
johnpawson.com
5. Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore
The monastic community of San Giorgio was founded in 982, when the island was donated to the Benedictine Giovanni
Morosini by Doge Tribuno Memmo to build a monastery dedicated to San Giorgio. When the celebrated Italian architect Andrea Palladio
arrived in Venice in 1560, he made great improvements to the refectory, and in 1565 was asked to prepare a model for a new
church. Although work was not completed until Palladio’s death in 1580, the body of the church was complete by 1575 and it was
ultimately finished thirty years after the death of Palladio in 1610. The interior of the church contains beautiful sculptures and
considerable works of art created by Jacopo and Leandro da Bassano, Sebastiano Ricci, and Domenico and Jacopo Tintoretto. The
church of San Giorgio achieved the title of ‘basilica’ under pressure from the Venetian prelate Giuseppe Sarto (the future Pope Pius X)
to mark the hundredth anniversary of the election of Pope Pius VII.
6. La Biennale di Venezia
The 55th International Art Exhibition will take place in Venice from 1st June to 24th November 2013 at the Giardini and at the
Arsenale (Preview: May 29th, 30th and 31st) and in various venues around the city, titled The Encyclopedic Palace and curated by
Massimiliano Gioni.
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