Giuseppe Penone’s The Listener to be the Special Event of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia and debut of Vuslat Foundation. The nine-metre-high tree sculpture by the Italian artist will be installed in the Arsenale, inaugurating new foundation for global ‘Generous Listening’ initiative.
The Vuslat Foundation is a global initiative that fosters a deeper appreciation of listening, the fundamental component to connecting with each other. The foundation creates awareness about and spreads the skill of generous listening- hearing beyond words- to oneself, to others and to nature as the essential element of all our connections. Established in Switzerland in 2020, with offices in Istanbul and London, Vuslat Foundation works with artists, storytellers, changemakers and thought leaders. Through partnerships with academia, the Foundation develops knowledge, research, methodologies and tools on generous listening; cultivates generous listening in the ecosystems of youth and children; partners with civil society to offer the practices of generous listening in their work; and engages with artists.
Penone’s work can be found in public collections across the world including Centre Pompidou, Paris; Collection Ville de Rotterdam; Dallas Museum of Art; MoMA, New York; Museé des Beaux-Arts, Montreal; the Judith Rothschild Foundation, Pennsylvania among many others.