This spring Fondazione Berengo and Berengo Studio are delighted to present the exhibition Sacrum Ungunetum by the French designer Sam Baron. Curated by Mariapia Bellis and Isabelle Valembras Dahirel.
The exhibition features an array of works made by Baron in collaboration with the master glassblowers of Berengo Studio. Inspired by the setting of the Berengo Collection space, once an old pharmacy, the exhibition uses the botanical origins of natural remedies and cures to create a surreal natural landscape, wherein glass vases sprout animated flowers and vines with threatening thorns and viper-like tongues.
Rather than simply a collection of “single pieces” the show presents a scenographic immersion among objects in glass that populate the shelves, the counter, and the display cases. As the founder of Berengo Studio, Adriano Berengo notes, “I’ve admired Sam’s work for a long time and it gives me great pleasure to see how he has taken inspiration from the Berengo Collection space and brought it to life with this exhibition. Good design, like good art, reinvigorates the senses and this installation within the old pharmacy space does just this – it ignites curiosity.” Thanks to the thoughtful curation of both Mariapia Bellis and Isabelle Valembras Dahirel, the art objects by Sam Baron cast a contemporary gaze on the ancestral art of glass.
In continuity with the exhibition and for the entire duration of the Biennale of Architecture 2023, a number of works will also be on display at The St Regis Venice at the hotel’s Arts Bar, together with a glass designed by Baron created for the occasion to contain Theriaca, the cocktail created for the occasion by Facundo Gallegos, Bars & Restaurant Manager, and his team in homage to Sacrum Unguentum. The cocktail, is inspired by a ‘magic’ potion sold in the pharmacy where the exhibition is being held – the former San Marco Pharmacy. The vision behind Theriaca also comes from playing on the ambivalence explored within the exhibition between beauty/repulsion and medicine/poison, creating a reference to the original medicines sold in the pharmacy at the time of the Venetian Republic, in a ‘magic’ potion that matches the exhibition.
𝔖𝔞𝔠𝔯𝔲𝔪 𝔘𝔫𝔤𝔲𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔲𝔪
Berengo Collection
Curated by Mariapia Bellis & Isabelle Valembras Dahirel
📌Sestiere di S. Marco, 412, 30124, Venezia VE
🗓18 May – 1 October 2023
⏰Everyday 11 am – 9 pm
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