Agenda

06 Feb 2026

REFRAMING SILK: Giacomo Caneva’s photographs of the 1859 expedition to China

Museo d'Arte Orientale di Venezia, Ca’ Pesaro, Santa Croce 2076, Venezia

REFRAMING SILK
Giacomo Caneva’s photographs of the 1859 expedition to China

Museum of Oriental Art, Venice
6 February-26 April 2026

 

In 1859, to revive European silk production devastated by the spread of the silkworm disease pébrine, noblemen Giovan Battista Castellani and Gherardo Freschi proposed traveling to India and China to purchase healthy silkworms. Photographer Giacomo Caneva participated in the expedition, producing images that allow today’s reader to observe, as if the distance of time and space was nullified, the snuff bottle of a Shanghai Qing official, the lotus shoes of Huzhou’s noblewomen, or a stone-carved monumental gate. In today’s society, characterized by the ubiquity of digital images, this exhibition presents photographs not only as supports for visual impressions but also as unique, unrepeatable objects defined by specific materialities, colors, and the marks of their turbulent lives.

The exhibition is promoted by the Department of Asian and North African Studies, and the Direzione regionale Musei nazionali Veneto and was realized with the support of the European Union (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, project PhotoMaKEASIA), the Confucius Institute at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and the MaP (Marco Polo Centre for Global Europe-Asia Connections).

06.02 – 26.04.2026
Museum of Oriental Art

Ca’ Pesaro, Santa Croce 2076, Venice
drm-ven.orientale@cultura.gov.it | 041 5241173

Organized by

Dipartimento di Studi sull'Asia e sull'Africa Mediterranea; Centro di ricerca Marco Polo sulle connessioni globali Europa-Asia (MAP); Istituto Confucio presso l’Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia;TerzaMissioneDSAAM

Downloads

Locandina 1040 KB

Search in the agenda