Giudecca Art District is a platform and a network of art professionals whose interest focuses on the island of Giudecca.
It was founded in 2019 by Valentina Gioia Levy and Pier Paolo Scelsi who also acted as a co-director until 2022.
In the last 3 years, GAD created an attractive art pole far from the clamor of the mass tourism and it managed to propose a diversified program made in collaboration with several local and international institutions.
Like many other European cities, in the nineteenth century, Venice was affected by the process of urban transformation driven by growth circumstances connected with industrial change.
The peculiarity of the city architecture and the scarcity of spaces led to the dismantling of private buildings to make place for new activities. That happened particularly on the ancient island of Spina Lunga, which today is known as Giudecca, where alongside the Palladian religious architectures, new and multiple industrial activities and factories started to appear.
Thus, tanneries, mills, weaving mills, breweries, craft factories, chemical plants, and shipyards started to transform the island's landscape. This new industrial appearance contributed to enriching the characteristic atmosphere of the lagoon that, until that moment, had strictly displayed its Renaissance and Baroque face.
Giudecca became, and still is, a border area that seems to be in-between times. The architectural stratification continued to the present day. The interventions promoted by brands such as Gino Valle, Cino Zucchi, Raphael Romeo, Aldo Rossi, and Alvaro Siza nourished this constantly evolving interaction with the surrounding. Today, among many challenges, the island needs to find new ways to cope with the current emergencies of the city, which is, in the first place, the need for living spaces for the middle class.