Jurij Lotman, Aleksandr Ponomarëv i venecianskij Renessans: oziraja perspektivy i pereskaja granicy / Jurij Lotman, Alexander Ponomarev and the Venetian Renaissance: reviewing the field and crossing the limit

The essay compares the performance «Windtruvian Man» by Alexander Ponomarev (2014) and his next exhibition at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow (2015) with the Renaissance reflection on limit and trespassing. Reference is made to nineteenth-century historiographical tradition (Michelet), which is integrated with a number of analytical tools provided by Yuri Lotman, in particular with the concept of the hero as the «mobile element in the text», in order to underline the complexity of great cultural transformations and of their inner articulation. The analysis – however concise – of the innovative features of several great Venetian Renaissance artists (Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese) shows how art is perpetually destined to balance its respect for tradition and the need to innovate.