French artist JR has long championed vulnerable communities, and the volunteers who devote their lives to helping them, through his massive installations. His latest piece, created for the 61st Venice Biennale, is no exception. Titled Il Gesto — A contemporary reinterpretation of The Wedding at Cana, the work had Palazzo Ca’ da Mosto, home to The Venice Venice Hotel, covered in a lively scene. In addition to JR’s first venture into the realm of tapestry, Il Gesto also aims to return an important part of Venice’s lost cultural heritage to the city.
The installation was inspired by Paolo Veronese’s 1563 painting The Wedding at Cana, which depicts a biblical miracle: when Jesus turned water into wine. The original painting was hung at the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, where JR stayed often, before being taken to the Louvre, where the painting resides today. Hoping to restore this loss to the City of Canals, JR set out to recreate the painting’s composition with a modern twist. “Where do miracles happen in our daily life?” he pondered in an Instagram video.
The answer was found in Refettorio Paris, a Venice community kitchen serving sophisticated three-course meals free of charge to refugees and unhoused people. The charitable organization manages to accomplish this benevolent service by recovering items discarded by supermarkets due to minor aesthetic imperfections. They have been operating for eight years, fighting both food waste and hunger at the same time.
A labor this generous and ambitious required an equally sized artwork. The first element is the Palazzo Ca’ da Mosto’s facade, which has been temporarily covered with ultra-lightweight panels that show the chefs, volunteers, and guests of Refettorio Paris coming out of the windows, as if celebrating a feast next to Venice’s Grand Canal.
Inside the palazzo, the walls of The Grand Salon have been covered in portraits that come alive with sound. Each image features the voice of the person depicted. They tell stories about the people who keep the kitchen running, next to long tables with towering plants ready to provide for dozens of people.
The crown jewel of the project is the monumental tapestry, featuring 176 members of the Refettorio Paris community posing like the original figures in The Wedding at Cana. This textile masterpiece was created by Master Weaver Giovanni Bonotto and produced by Fondazione Bonotto.
On top of honoring the community kitchen, the tapestry also celebrates human creativity; no computer would have been able to render such a large, complex design the way the artisans did. The final piece took 600 hours of work, and featured recycled plastic yarns, virgin wool, organic cotton, and washi paper. As opposed to the ephemeral nature of the facade project, this tapestry—and Refettorio Paris’ work—will stand the test of time.
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The latest installation by JR honors Refettorio Paris, a Venice community kitchen serving sophisticated three-course meals free of charge to refugees and unhoused people.
Titled Il Gesto — A contemporary reinterpretation of The Wedding at Cana, it was created for the 61st Venice Biennale.
The installation features portraits of chefs, volunteers, and guests who keep Refettorio Paris alive.
