Palazzo Mocenigo hosts again the Fiber Art, a contemporary expressive form, in which thread, fiber and textile are used in every possible way, in complete autonomy, involving wholly new structures and iconographies in continual evolution. Matrix Natura is the theme which artists from all over the world have been asked to tackle. The exhibition brings together 54 minitextiles by artists from over 51 nations.

Curated by Luciano Caramel, the exhibition has been conceived and promoted by Arte&Arte in collaboration with the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, under the sponsorship of the WWF.

The titles and materials adopted are striking. In some cases there are surprising analogies; for example, Lina Ringeliene, a Lithuanian artist, presents Depth Structures, created with animal intestines and natural pearls, while Oznur Enes, a young Turkish artist, offers Deep, which also makes use of animal intestines and wire. Maria Barbara De Marco and Marialuisa Sponga have given their works the same title: Humus; while the Italian Filo Pezzullo, with his Cenere e Sangue (Ashes and Blood) recalls the work of the Moldavian Olga Strungari, entitled Incenerito (Burnt to Ashes).

There is a notable presence of Japanese artists, represented here by Masae Bamba, who is proposing an installation composed of numerous small sculptures in silk created with the Shibori technique; Tomoko Baba, who is building a sort of nest with a particular kind of wire; Kakuko Ishii, who follows and designs the perimeter of the space assigned to her with fine pieces of cane; and finally Naoko Yoshimoto, who is exhibiting White Coffin, making use of clothes and materials that are all rigorously white.

The 54 minitextiles are exhibited on the first floor of the museum; in addition there are two large installations placed in the large entrance-hall on the ground-floor, created by the Egyptian artist Medhat Sahfik and the German Jens J. Meyer. The former has created The City of Perfumes, an installation that brings together the colours and essences of unmistakeable aromas that evoke the atmospheres of distant lands and cultures. 
Medhat Shafik was born in Egypt in 1956 and has lived in Italy since the age of 20. He took his diploma in painting and scene design at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, and since the 1980s has taken part successfully in numerous exhibitions. His moment of glory came in 1995, when the Egyptian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, devoted to works by him and two other compatriots, was awarded the Golden Lion. Jens J. Meyer is offering Venice an installation created in sails of microfibre that recalls the shape of a gondola. 
The artist, who defines his sculptures and installations Textile Tensions, was born in Hamburg in 1958. After completing his studies in Economics he decided to devote himself to art, attending courses of painting and sculpture. He has taken part in numerous collective exhibitions all over the world, including the IIX Biennale of Havana in Cuba and the Taman Purna Budaya Yogakarta in Indonesia.

Italian/English/French catalogue JMD Como with critical essay by Luciano Caramel.