Seven individual abstract paintings make up Charline von Heyl’s installation at the Venice Biennale 2022. At the room’s center is a large-scale acrylic, oil and charcoal painting entitled Primavera (2020) that takes as a point of departure, Sandro Botticelli’s renowned 1480s painting of the same title. The surrounding paintings play upon the Primavera’s mythological theme, with titles Ninfa, Pagan Prophet, The Garden of Cyrus, Acidalia, The August Complex and Nymphs, they expand upon both the spiritual creation and the human destruction of the natural world.

Von Heyl created the painting Primavera at the invitation of Jeffrianne Young & the cellist Matt Haimovitz who commissioned a series of musical compositions by a diverse group of contemporary composers titled The Primavera Project. Both Botticelli’s original and von Heyl’s rendition are the source of inspiration for over 80 new solo cello works, of which a selection was made into a playlist for the Biennale.

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE PRIMAVERA A VENEZIA PLAYLIST

Renowned as a musical pioneer, multi-Grammy-nominated cellist Matt Haimovitz is praised by The New York Times as a “ferociously talented cellist who brings his megawatt sound and uncommon expressive gifts to a vast variety of styles” and by The New Yorker as “remarkable virtuoso” who “never turns in a predictable performance.” He brings a fresh ear to familiar repertoire, champions new music, and initiates groundbreaking collaborations, as well as creating innovative recording projects. In addition to his touring schedule, Haimovitz mentors an award-winning studio of young cellists at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montreal and is now the first-ever John Cage Fellow at The New School's Mannes School of Music in New York City.

Atar Arad
David Balakrishnan
Marcos Balter
Lisa Bielawa
Tamar-kali C. Brown
Layale Chaker
Annabelle Chvostek
Bryce Dessner
inti figgis-vizueta
Nia Imani Franklin
Gordon Getty
Philip Glass
Jake Heggie
Vijay Iyer
Donia Jarrar 'Phonodelica'
Jennifer Jolley
Aaron Jay Kernis
Texu Kim
David T. Little
Tod Machover
Sky Macklay
Missy Mazzoli
Nico Muhly
Osnat Netzer
Niloufar Nourbakhsh
Nkeiru Okoye
Tomeka Reid
David Sanford
Laura Elise Schwendinger
Juri Seo
Nina Shekhar
Roberto Sierra
Asher Sizemore
Gabriella Smith
Tyshawn Sorey
Jorge Sosa
Lewis Spratlan
Alex Weston
Luna Pearl Woolf
Nina C. Young