The Ca' Foscari University of Venice will open the doors of research to the public on Friday, September 30th with Venetonight, the research night which Ca’ Foscari will participate in for the 7th consecutive year together with the IUAV University and the Universities of Padua and Verona.
The 2016 edition will officially open in Venice at 5pm with a welcome speech from Rector Michele Bugliesi in the courtyard of the Gothic palace, headquarters of the university.
This year, Venetonight offers a varied program and an unmissable opportunity to learn about activities and achievements of the most innovative research, whilst in a “live” environment: there will be over 50 opportunities for interaction and discovery between workshops, talks, activities for children, guided tours, concerts, games and many other activities. A great event for the Venetian public, who always responds with great participation and enthusiasm. Reservations for tours and some workshops will open Monday, September 19th at 12 am online at www.venetonight.it.
Michele Bugliesi, Rector of the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice comments: "For Venetonight we are committed to celebrate the Research Night, which is now a well-known and much loved event, where we strive to raise awareness of the impact of research on both an economic and social level. The events will be plenty, with researchers taking to the field to talk about their activities and convey the social and economic importance of research that is the result of a continuous and constant commitment that needs to be supported. There will also be entertainment and shows open to everyone".
The entrance hall, courtyards, Exhibition Spaces, Aula Baratto, San Sebastiano, Ca’ Cappello, Ca' Foscari Zattere and Campo Santa Margherita will welcome researchers and the public for the long marathon of research that will end with the show "7 wonders and a mystery", a tribute to the writer and painter Dino Buzzati. Actor Giancarlo Previati and Bottega Baltazar will perform. Radiocafoscari, the university’s very own online radio station, will follow the research showcase.
Among the main topics of this year’s showcase: the environment and technologies applied to humanities.
In the morning, there will be a focus on the lagoon with a guided tour dedicated to environmental sustainability, organized by the marine ecology research group, which will arrive at the mouth of the Lido and will also reach the island of Sant'Erasmo.
From 5pm, an area of the Ca’ Foscari courtyard will be dedicated to Antarctica: Ca' Foscari glaciologists and the CNR will recount their experiences of the poles and of glaciers from around the world, showing the audience their tent-laboratory and the suits they use when working in extreme temperatures. They will also be showing some striking images from the remote places where they go to gather valuable information on the environment and the climate of the past, stored for centuries within the ice.
The focus then returns to Venice with a presentation from a researcher at Ca’ Foscari who, through sampling and testing the canals, found traces of fragrances, used in personal hygiene products, in the water. In addition, the group involved in reinstating aquatic plants in shallow lagoon beds, will show their latest results from SeResto project, funded by the EU Life program.
There is anticipation building for the results of another important European research and awareness project, DeFishGear, which concerns marine environments. Thanks to this group, Ca’ Foscari researchers analyzed and measured the presence of microplastics at sea and on the beaches: fragments of plastic, so small that they may enter into the food chain. These important results will be presented at Venetonight. At Ca’ Foscari Zattere there will be discussions on climate change, with screenings of short films and insights offered by Andrea Bellati, reflecting on the theme through science and media.
Among the most innovative applied technologies presented in the showcase will be drones, used by archaeologists to investigate the secrets of the environment from above, the use of virtual reality to immerse oneself in the world of theater, science hidden in paintings and the future impact of nanoscience on our everyday life.
Once again, children will be concentrating on the art of cuneiform script, but this year will be especially ''indulgent" as they will be writing onto glazed Venetian biscuits. In the small courtyard of Ca' Foscari returns the educational workshop for young archaeologists. Technology lovers will be able to make a video game, learning to programme with Scratch, a programming language developed by MIT as a way to train the small coders. Also there will be an opportunity to understand how a simple software can control the movement of a robot.
A castle, a princess and a puzzle to be solved will be the ingredients of the reading workshop, based on the story "The Little Lantern". There will also be workshops to playfully approach statistics (curated by Istat) and Europe (thanks to Europe Direct in the Municipality of Venice). For Art, in particular installations, there will be a "Ca'rte lab - Generation 2011" laboratory, inspired by an installation given to Ca' Foscari by Elena Gubanova and Ivan Govorkov .
After its huge success in recent years, we would be foolish not to include the preparation of molecular ice-cream. The researchers will explain the various aspects related to molecular cuisine regarding the scientific study of the chemical and physical processes that occur during the preparation of food, and then they will take a few moments to prepare a lovely molecular ice-cream.
Managing time, money and knowing their personality
What does bail-in mean? Many bank customers know this expression themselves, but in order to really understand what lies behind the procedure for the rescue of banks in crisis, Venetonight proposes a meeting with expert Professor Antonio Proto. Daily finance and behavior also will occupy the Experimental Economics Laboratory, with an interactive activity: "The piggy bank in times of crisis". The questionnaire of the Ca’ Foscari Competency Centre will reveal the visitor’s style of leadership.
Visits around the city and lagoon
Meanwhile, from morning onwards in the city, curious or enthusiastic members of the public can discover the most interesting historical sites of Venice and its fascinating environments, through visits or a pre-booked travel guide. From Palazzo Ducale to the State Archives, the Archaeological Museum to the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista. For the first time, visitors will be offered a guided tour of Ca' Cappello, once the home of Layard spouses but today one of the university buildings.
Music
Music will start at 6pm with The Peacocks: playing the most beautiful jazz songs from America, along with samba and bossa nova.
At 6:30pm in Aula Baratto there will be a lecture/concert about the history of Ottoman classical music, from the beginning in 1422 at the hands of Abdul Qadir Marâghî up to the composers who worked shortly before the birth of the Republic of Turkey (1925). Performing at the event will be Giovanni De Zorzi, narrator and ney flute and Stefano Albarello playing the Qanun Arabic zither.
At 9:30pm there will be a homage to the writer and painter Dino Buzzati, a prominent figure of both the Venetian and international culture of the twentieth century. Actor Giancarlo Previati and the band Bottega Baltazar will take to the stage, evoking the imagery of Buzzati through readings from some of his most amazing stories and songs from 'Il disco dei miracoli', dedicated to the Belluno writer and his pictorial series 'I Miracoli di Val Morel'. The show is organized by the Contemporary Veneto association, under the artistic direction of Marco Iacampo.
For a detailed program and reservations, please visit: www.venetonight.it
From Ca' Foscari to Brussels
The molecular ice-cream has also been requested in Brussels: the European Commission has invited the team of Professor Valentina Beghetto to a European Researchers' Night which will be held Sept. 28th at the Parlamentarium. The scientists from Ca' Foscari will prepare the molecular ice cream for the audience of the main event, organized at a European level.
