Serpenti Infinito Exhibition: The snake as remarkable works of art 

[SHANGHAI] With the Chinese New Year of the Snake just round the corner, Bvlgari has taken the opportunity to lead off the festivities with an immersive exhibition in China that also celebrates the Italian jeweller’s most successful icon – the Serpenti.

The Serpenti Infinito Exhibition’s worldwide debut is being staged in Zhangyuan, a historic shikumen compound in Shanghai. The area boasts the largest and best-preserved collection of buildings featuring the traditional Shanghainese architectural style combining Western and Chinese elements.

Notably, the opening party for the exhibition took place on Jan 8 – a particularly significant date as the number mirrors the Serpenti symbol of a snake in the figure of eight that represents infinity and endless possibilities. It was attended by celebrities including Bvlgari’s global brand ambassadors, actresses Anne Hathaway and Liu Yifei.

At the exhibition, 28 artworks by 19 Chinese and international artists, of which 11 were created exclusively for the occasion, are on display, along with the Roman jeweller’s heritage and newly unveiled Serpenti creations.

Divided into three chapters, the show traces the serpent’s symbolic place in traditional Chinese culture, explores snakes and their multiple meanings in the arts, and investigates the animal’s contemporary transformations and infinite forms.

Across the exhibition, works of art pay homage to the snake’s mystique and appeal across cultures – from more traditional forms such as paintings and sculptures to the use of movement, multimedia and artificial intelligence (AI).

A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Friday, 2 pm

Lifestyle

Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself.

Sign Up

Sign Up

In Square Word Calligraphy: Serpenti, renowned Chinese contemporary artist Xu Bing explores the correlation between the serpent and wisdom via his celebrated original writing system that transforms English words (in this case “Serpenti”) to resemble Chinese characters.

For her artwork Between the Lines, Emirati artist and product designer Azza Al Qubaisi’s fluid and mesmerising steel sculpture draws a connection between the sinuous movement of a snake and the elegant curves of sand dunes.

Meanwhile, Chinese artist Xie Wendi’s Spring reveals the snake as a symbol of rebirth and transformation through pastel-coloured, hand-blown glass that coils around like springs before “blooming” into flowers.

SEE ALSO

Bvlgari’s Year of the Serpenti

Then there are the interactive works such as New York-based Israeli-American artist Daniel Rozin’s Snake Scales Mirror. The installation presents a wall of kinetic golden “scales” that respond to the viewer’s presence and movements via a camera and custom-designed software.

The highlight of the exhibition, however, is Infinito: AI Data Sculpture by Refik Anadol, an acclaimed Turkish media artist, director and pioneer in the aesthetics of data and machine intelligence. In his work, machine-learning algorithms trained on a dataset on snakes are used to ignite a giant sculpture in a 360-degree mirrored room. The result is a kaleidoscopic, visual feast that conveys the metamorphic and endless nature of Bvlgari’s Serpenti icon.

And of course, there are the exhibits of Bvlgari’s archival Serpenti jewellery and watches, which offer a fascinating look into how Serpenti – which celebrates its 77th anniversary this year – has evolved over the decades.

Guests at the opening party were also the first to see a new collection of one-of-a-kind Serpenti high jewellery pieces, with the piece de resistance being the Serpenti Infinito necklace.

Using white gold, buff-top rubies, pave diamonds and onyx elements, Bvlgari’s artisans mimic the sinuous movements and elegant coils of the snake’s body through five serpents that converge into an infinite and seamless motif.

Another stunning piece is the Serpenti Emerald Nimbus necklace in white gold, which features a geometric-style serpent in diamond and emeralds reaching for a centrepiece 12.73-carat emerald from Zambia.

“Whatever the culture, the snake of all the animals is the only one that is truly universal as a symbol,” Jean-Christophe Babin, Bvlgari’s chief executive officer, told The Business Times. “And it’s a natural fit to become a jewel, but no one before Bvlgari made it into a true jewellery collection. Today, the Bvlgari Serpenti is an icon across jewellery, watches and bags. And we’re already in the largest market to kick off the Year of the Snake before any other brand.”

And that, is an auspicious start to the new year indeed.

The Serpenti Infinito Exhibition in Shanghai runs till Feb 16, 2025, in Zhangyuan