The Venice Biennale brings the Commentary on the Gospel of John to the stage

The Venice Biennale presents the special project of the Historical Archive “Expositio Sancti Evangelii secundum Iohannem” (Commentary on the Gospel of John) by Johannes Eckhart (c. 1260 – 1328), the Dominican theologian and mystic known as Meister Eckhart: it will be on stage from Wednesday 5 March to Sunday 9 March 2025 and in repeat from Tuesday 11 March to Saturday 15 March (hours 9.30pm).

The project brings the Commentary on the Gospel of John to the Portego of the columns of the Scuola Grande di San Marco, the atrium of the monumental sixteenth-century complex now known as the Santi Giovanni e Paolo Civil Hospital, with the actors Federica Fracassi, Leda Kreider, Dario Aita together with the Choir of the Marciana Chapel under the guidance of maestro Marco Gemmani. Dramaturgy and direction are by Antonello Pocetti and the scenic design by Antonino Viola, who had already designed Nono’s “Prometeo” for the Biennale in January, while the video images are designed by Andrew Quinn and the sound diffusion is entrusted to Thierry Coduys.

Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, president of the Venice Biennale, states: “The word makes the world, in the word humanity reveals itself, with the word everyone’s destiny is returned to the Eternal. The special project that the Venice Biennale dedicates to the Expositio Sancti Evangelii secundum Iohannem by Master Eckhart pays attention to the verb, which is the origin of everything, to listen to it. The word is what is most certain in the human mixture and giving meaning to the world – in the long and hidden history of life – is the exercise of vertigo that Eckhart forges in a direction that today experiences a fact of art: a resounding of the verb in the flesh, in the voice and in the scenic action “.

“Expositio Sancti Evangelii secundum Iohannem” is the stage realization of the commentary on the “fourth gospel”, the work of the magister sacrae theologiae Johannes Eckhart, whose thought represents one of the highest moments of Western mysticism, destined to reverberate down to us after a long oblivion .

“Master of life and not only of doctrine” as Heidegger will call him, Meister Eckhart chooses to comment on the most personal of the four gospels, the one written by John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. Destined to be the most influential of the gospels, compared to the so-called synoptics of Matthew, Mark, Luke, the gospel of John is the only one to highlight the complexity and enigmatic nature of Jesus’ thought. The strength of which is in the word, starting from ‘incipit – In the beginning was the Word – to which Meister Eckhart dedicates much of his Commentary and is destined for infinite interpretations. The Gospel of John, in Meister Eckhart’s reading, is “the gospel of the Logos”, of “God as pure thought”, as Marco Vannini explains.

It is in the place par excellence intended for “cure”, where for centuries charitas and culture have spoken through the service of the two most important medieval Venetian “secular” institutions, the Scuola Grande di San Marco and the Hospital of San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti , now called Civile, which will take place the ten events illuminated by the writings of the German theologian and mystic Meister Eckhart, “Expositio Sancti Evangelii secundum Iohannem”.

Designed in dialogue with the very particular architectural and artistic space, the scenic structure designed by Antonino Viola embraces the atrium in all its width with a slightly raised rectangular wooden architecture that alludes to the medieval schola cantorum to gather together the community of the public, the actors and the choir. Instead, a light metal armor runs all around the walls for the video projections conceived by the artist and computer graphic designer Andrew Quinn. Curated by the director and playwright Antonello Pocetti, Expositio Sancti Evangelii secundum Iohannem addresses five of the themes developed by the Dominican magister in what is considered his greatest work in the Latin language in five evenings.

The journey through the Commentary begins with the Logos, i.e. the search for an enlightened truth, on Wednesday 5 March; then it will be the turn of Being, understood as one and multiple (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), also embracing the figure outlined by Eckhart of the just man, Thursday 6 March; on Friday 7 March the heart of the discussion will be Love, the generating force of life, truth and good; the good/evil dualism will dominate the evening of Saturday 8 March, finishing on Sunday 9 March with the soul/body dialectic.

Every evening the staging will be introduced by a different writer or philosopher invited to reflect on the theme of the evening, which will then find live expression in the passages of the Commentary recited – partly in the original Latin and partly in Italian by important author-interpreters of our theater and cinema scene: Federica Fracassi, just winner of five Ubu awards for theatre, Leda Kreider, directed by the best names in Italian and European filmmaking, Dario Aita, fresh from the film Parthenope by Paolo Sorrentino. Intertwined with those of the actors, with the fundamental contribution of Thierry Coduys’ sound diffusion, the voices of the Marciana Chapel Choir engaged in Gregorian chant on the liturgical texts of the Johannine Gospel, under the direction of Maestro Marco Gemmani. At the center the word – sacred, mystical, critical – all around the audience, surrounded by the voices of the actors and singers of St. Mark. Meister Eckhart’s “Expositio Sancti Evangeli secundum Iohannem” project is proposed as an immersive work that reshapes the unique space of the Santi Giovanni e Paolo Civil Hospital.