On Saturday, June 20, Venice Sustainability Foundation will take part in the citywide initiative presented by The Human Safety Net as part of the 15th edition of “Art Night Venezia 2026”.
At the Procuratie Vecchie, the venue of The Home of The Human Safety Net will be open to the public from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM, hosting a site-wide journey dedicated to beauty as a relational, transformative, and collective experience. The evening will weave together reading, art, personal stories, and intercultural dialogue, inviting participants to explore human potential, creativity, and the power to imagine more inclusive and sustainable futures.
Embracing the vision of creating direct, participatory exchanges, the evening will feature the Living Library (Biblioteca Vivente): a space where the "books" are individuals ready to share stories and memories centered on inclusion. Visitors will be free to move among the participants, engaging with their stories and entering into informal conversations within small, spontaneous groups.
Among the living books, VSF will be represented by architect Marco Marino, curator of the exhibition “Intelligent Venice. The Oldest City of the Future,” created for the 2025 Venice Biennale of Architecture. His contribution will guide visitors through Venice as a laboratory of collective intelligence, illustrating how the lagoon city is the product of centuries of dialogue between humanity and nature. A narrative connecting past and future through medieval inventions, contemporary technologies, and adaptation strategies that enabled the city to thrive in a challenging environment and continue to offer valuable lessons on resilience and sustainability today.
Free admission, subject to availability.
The initiative, developed through the collaboration between The Human Safety Net and VSF, takes place within the framework of Art Night Venezia—an event conceived and coordinated by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, in partnership with the City of Venice and the Regione del Veneto, forming part of the University's 2026 Public Engagement activities. For the occasion, 142 venues and hundreds of events will bring the entire city to life, from the historic center and the islands to the mainland. Museums, cultural institutions, theaters, bookstores, galleries, associations, and artist studios will open their doors free of charge, creating a distributed evening dedicated to art and culture.
