On the occasion of the 2026 Venice Biennale, Ulysses’ Gates inaugurates the

artistic project Climate-tides at the Restaurant “In Paradiso” in Venice

8 May, 10:30 a.m.

The project, stemming from an idea by Umberto Vattani and created by Filippo Gregoretti,

Hiroaki Kitano and Vittorio Loreto, transforms data from the lagoon, the tides and the

MOSE system into an immersive listening experience dedicated to the relationship between

Venice and water.

On the occasion of the 2026 Venice Biennale, and in resonance with the theme In Minor

Keys conceived by Koyo Kouoh, Ulysses’ Gates takes shape as the first chapter of

Climate-tides, an artistic series dedicated to tides, climate change and new forms of

listening to nature.

The project stems from an idea by Umberto Vattani, President of Venice International

University and a leading figure in the dialogue between culture, institutions and international

relations, and is created by Filippo Gregoretti, transmedial artist and musician; Hiroaki

Kitano, no stranger to the themes of the Biennale thanks to his participation, in 2000, in the

Venice Architecture Biennale directed by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas under the theme

Less Aesthetics, More Ethics, and a leading figure in the fields of artificial intelligence and

robotics, President and CEO of Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL),

Chief Technology Fellow of Sony Group Corporation and Professor at the Okinawa

Institute of Science and Technology (OIST); and Vittorio Loreto, Professor of Physics of

Complex Systems at Sapienza University of Rome, Director of Sony CSL – Rome, and a

scientist engaged in the study of the dynamics of innovation, creativity and emergent

phenomena.

In a dialogue between art, science and generative technologies, Ulysses’ Gates brings

together sound and visual composition, performance, complexity theory and environmental

data to transform the phenomena of the lagoon into a sensory experience.

In Venice, a city that symbolises the fragile and millennia-old relationship between civilisation

and water, Climate-tides finds its ideal starting point. Here, water is protection, threat,

memory and dialogue: a presence to be observed, understood and listened to.

Ulysses’ Gates translates historical and contemporary data on tides, climate evolution and

the MOSE system into sound and generative images. The work makes perceptible what

normally remains invisible: the continuous relationship between the advancing sea, the city

that resists, and the technology that intervenes to restore a threshold of balance.

The title evokes the figure of Ulysses as a symbol of intelligence, adaptation and vigilance.

The MOSE is interpreted not only as a technical infrastructure, but also as a symbolic

threshold: an invisible defence that protects Venice without definitively separating it from the

sea. It is a necessary, but not conclusive response, one that invites us to continue listening

to the waters and to the signals of nature.The project will be presented on Friday, 8 May, at 10:30 a.m., at the Restaurant “In

Paradiso”

, Giardini della Biennale, Riva degli Schiavoni 1260, 30122 Venice. The

presentation is open to the public.

With Ulysses’ Gates, Venice becomes not only the site of the work, but the symbol of a

global question: how can we protect without dominating, intervene without erasing, and listen

to nature before its signals become an emergency?

Credits

Idea of

Umberto Vattani (President of Venice International University)

Artists

Filippo Gregoretti, Hiroaki Kitano, Vittorio Loreto

Field Recordings

Gianluca Ferranti

Communication and Cultural Managers

Milena Di Canio, Yoko Honjo

Administration and Logistics

Cinzia Di Salvio

Sponsor

Promu – Musica ed Eventi

Supported by

Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL)

Sapienza University of Rome

Venice International University

Autorità per la Laguna di Venezia

ArtDiplomacy

Ristorante “In Paradiso”

– Venezia

More info:

Milena Di Canio (milena.dicanio@sony.com)

+39 3490707850