Red Regatta

In May 2019, during the 58th Venice Biennale, artist Melissa McGill launched a preview of Red Regatta, an unprecedented series of large-scale choreographed regattas of traditional vela al terzo sailboats, hoisted with hand-painted red sails, that activates Venice’s lagoon and waterways. The project unites Venetians and visitors to celebrate the cultural and maritime history of this iconic city to call attention to the forces of climate change and mass tourism that threaten its future. Red Regatta is presented in collaboration with Associazione Vela al Terzo Venezia and more than 250 local partners, led by McGill, curator Chiara Spangaro, and project manager Marcella Ferrari, and co-organized by Magazzino Italian Art Foundation. Unfolding in multiple parts over the duration of the Biennale, artist-led workshops and public programs developed in collaboration with Ocean Space will explore the project’s themes in relation to the traditions that have shaped Venetian life for a millennium. Red Regatta is the first artwork to be registered as a Clean Regatta, a program of Sailors for the Sea that mobilizes sailors to protect the ocean through education and activism.

Red Regatta navigates the delicate and liminal relationship between Venice’s built and natural environments, between land and sea, and between humanity and nature. The project comprises evanescent performances, including four regattas in the Bacino di San Marco of approximately 50 traditional sailboats and a series of smaller regattas sailing in routes mapped by McGill and local sailors. Each performance will be visible from vistas throughout the city. A meditation on Venice’s fragile future, Red Regatta invites local citizens and visitors alike to consider the impact of sea level rise and mass tourism in this city that lives and works by water yet is at risk of being overtaken by it.

Melissa McGill is an interdisciplinary artist based in New York who creates ambitious, large-scale site-specific art projects, and works in a variety of media, including photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, sound, light and immersive installation. McGill lived in Venice from 1991-93, and returns regularly for inspiration, for work, and for friendship. Red Regatta was inspired by her observations over more than two decades of the challenges Venice is facing and has been intentionally designed to welcome the participation and enjoyment of local citizens and to honor their abiding love for their city.

www.redregatta.org