DIVINITA – The Birth of the Black Venus (Excerpt)
Music: Nicole Renaud
DIVINITÀ – The Birth of the Black Venus , Venice Biennale 2005
DIVINITÀ was the first photo-performance by Iris Brosch, realized in 2005 during the 51st Venice Art Biennale. In collaboration with the Centro Italiano per le Arti e la Cultura, Brosch introduced her photo-performance practice to the public in a groundbreaking multimedia event.
The audience was not merely spectator of a tableau vivant — the audience became part of the creative process itself. They were included in the unfolding act of image-making, witnessing and participating in the birth tableaux vivant.
VENICE
"In 2005, everything was possible in Venice — a city built upon the memory of art and beauty. We created a modern Renaissance, painting and capturing moments as if such freedom might not be possible again for the next three hundred years." — Iris Brosch
More than fifteen international models were invited to participate, including the Choir of Saint-Eustache Church, the performance artist Nicole Renaud, the hair designer Dorah, and the set designers Barbara Staib and Peter Pfund. Together, they formed a living tableau reinterpreting the Renaissance masterpiece The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli.
This time, Venus was Black.
the Birth of the Black Venus, by Iris Brosch ,Venice Biennale 2005 , Giardino di Paolo Trentinaglia De Daverio
The performance took place in the garden of Paolo Trentinaglia, transforming the historic Venetian garden into a poetic stage where photography, film, music, and live presence merged. It became a spiritual experience — the bells of Venice’s churches accompanied the process, resonating through the air as the images were created.
The body language of the young women belonged to a time before the iPhone and the culture of constant self-projection. Their gestures were filled with grace, natural presence, and an unselfconscious femininity — reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance. There was no performance for a device, no formatting through selfies.
Their bodies, too, carried a different sensibility. They had not yet been shaped by the standardized aesthetics of social media. Their forms were natural, unaltered, unapologetic. Even details once considered ordinary — such as pubic hair — were present without self-awareness or stylization. The body was not edited; it was lived. It moved and flowed according to its own rhythm.
Brosch’s headquarters was the Museo della Musica in Venice, where she created a paradisiacal photo and video installation. From this historic space, she produced throughout the week of the Venice Biennale, gradually extending her presence into the city itself.
What began within the intimacy of the installation expanded outward — moving through the calli and across the waters — until it culminated in a powerful morning intervention at Piazza San Marco. There, at dawn, her models celebrated the human form as living Venus figures, dancing as if emerging from a Renaissance vision.
Venice ,Piazza St.Marco , 12 June 2005 with original voice of Iris Brosch and team
Nearly nude yet dignified, they appeared as if stepping out of a painting by Sandro Botticelli — not as quotation, but as continuation. The body was not spectacle; it was presence. Not provocation, but grace.
During the week of the Venice Biennale, Brosch transformed Venice into a living stage — a city of memory, light, and sound, where every narrow street and ancient wall resonated with history and the feminine spirit. In this intimate dialogue with the city, she reawakened the archetype of Venus, weaving a modern Renaissance through live performance captured in video and photographic work.
In 2005, Venice offered a rare freedom: a moment of flourishing when economic optimism and artistic daring converged, and everything seemed possible in the name of art. This work celebrates not only the enduring beauty of the city but also the timeless feminine values
, DIVINITÀ – The Birth of the Black Venus (Excerpt) Projection in the Museo della Musica,
Music: Nicole Renaud
Divinta Documentary on IRIS BROSCH Photo performance 2005