“Vene d’Oro” by Bizhan Bassiri tells the art, culture, identity of a territory, and wine connection

A permanent artwork for Montalcino, a region that has always forged connections to art, culture, identity, and wine. On October 18th, the internationally renowned Iranian artist Bizhan Bassiri will inaugurate “Vene d’Oro” (veins of gold), the first act of “Venti di Ottobre” (October winds) 4th edition. The annual event is promoted by the Bassiri Foundation, and created by Bassiri, together with his wife Camilla Cionini Visani, to manage, preserve, and spread knowledge of his work as well as to promote art and culture through multidisciplinary initiatives such as visual art, music, theater, literature, and writing. The 2025 edition of “Venti di Ottobre” is titled “Veins of Gold of Magmatic Thought”, and will be held in Montalcino in Tuscany and in Fabro in Umbria. Alessandro Regoli , Director of WineNews will introduce the artwork, and Bruno Corà, one of Italy’s leading art critics, will speak about it. Bizhan Bassiri’s permanent artwork, “Veins of Gold of Magmatic Thought”, will be unveiled in the building owned by WineNews, one of the most followed Italian wine websites (2 million IP addresses), in Montalcino, the elegant city of Brunello, in Palazzo del Popolo and its 13th-century Palazzo Comunale.
The Bassiri Foundation event, in collaboration with the Municipalities of Montalcino and Fabro, also includes a visit to “Il Pozzo”, a 2001 artwork by Jannis Kounellis, located next to the Montalcino Cathedral. The visit will be guided by Michelle Coudray, president of the Kounellis Foundation and companion of the artist, one of the greatest artistic souls of our time. Then, in the Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior, a public debate will be held, entitled, “The Attributes of Time: Leaden and Golden - A Dialogue between Art, Philosophy, Science, and Economy” featuring artists, philosophers, scientists, economists, and art critics, including: artist Bizhan Bassiri; Elena Di Giovanni, Vice President and Co Founder of Comin & Partners; Maria Letizia Magaldi, Kyoto Club President; Alessandro Profumo, manager; Sabina Ratti, sustainable development specialist; Cristian Stanescu, physicist, Giorgio Verzotti, art critic, and Aldo Iori, Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. The debate - after greetings from the Mayor of Montalcino, Silvio Franceschelli, and the Vice President of the Bassiri Foundation, Camilla Cionini Visani - will focus on the introduction and thoughts of the art critic, Bruno Corà, “the most advanced thoughts on time and its attributes up until now seem unable to unravel its enigmatic dimension. From the sacred scriptures to the most acute philosophical cogito, and from scientific to artistic definitions and configurations, instead of reaching the heart of its presumed entity, they seem to push its essential essence toward more extreme latitudes. Those who see us in it seem to be once again in the Years of Lead, while everyone is eagerly waiting for the innumerable crises to be resolved and return to an era of greater balance, or even a possible new golden age. At this point, what signals can we hope for from art and poetic thought”? Following the debate the “Vene d’Oro” artists, Antonino Bove, Marco Papa, Gianluigi Colin, Renato Ranaldi, Klaus Münch, and Sean Shanahan will perform. The book, “Venti di ottobre 2024 - Visione” (FB Editori) will then be presented, and the percussion trio “Ars Ludi”, Antonio Caggiano, Rodolfo Rossi, and Gianluca Ruggeri, will perform a concert of music by Giorgio Battistelli and Steve Reich.
The event will end on October 19th in Fabro, Umbria, in the vaulted spaces of the Bassiri Foundation. A new sound installation will be inaugurated there, a musical performance featuring the music of Dvořák, Gershwin, Mozart, and Puccini, will be held, along with a group exhibition featuring art works by Bizhan Bassiri, Per Kirkeby, Marco Papa, Antonino Bove, Jannis Kounellis, Renato Ranaldi, Gianluigi Colin, Klaus Münch, and Sean Shanahan.
Bizhan Bassiri is an internationally renowned artist whose works have captivated art galleries around the world, from Europe to Asia, his native continent, thanks to his technique characterized by the use of various materials. He is also famous for theorizing “Magmatic Thought”. For the past 40 years, he has lived in Italy, in Rome, Fabro, in Umbria, where the Bassir Foundation is based, and Montalcino, his “buen retiro”.
Bizhan Bassiri was the star artist at the prestigious Building Gallery in Milan, from January 30th to March 22nd 2025, and the exhibition “Bizhan Bassiri. Creation”, curated by the art critic Bruno Corà.