Venice's Giardini, a park established in the early 19th century by Napoleon, is the platform for national presentations during successive installments of the Biennale. Belgium erected the first pavilion here in 1907, Hungary followed two years later, and gradually other countries joined in, creating a mosaic of architectural visions in the Giardini. Today, during the 19th Architecture Biennale we can see more than twenty exhibitions here, including Poland. How do they respond to the slogan proposed by Carlo Ratti , "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective " ("Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.")?
A&B partners at the Biennale
What were the most interesting themes at the Venice International Architecture Biennale?
reuse and materiality
Denmark's pavilion received a lot of attention - the "Build of Site" exhibition, curated by Søren Pihlmann, addresses the idea of reusing existing buildings and resources. The exhibition focuses on discovering the value of the built fabric and shows local methods of reclaiming building materials. Listen to what Kacper Kepinski, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Architecture and editor of A&B, says about it (as well as the Nordic Countries Pavilion):
Denmark Pavilion - "Build of Site" exhibition, curated by Søren Pihlmann
Photo: Hampus Berndtson
inhabitation and a sense of security
The Austrian pavilion also focuses on the very everyday challenges of contemporary architecture. Proposed by the curators (Michael Obrist, Sabine Pollak and Lorenzo Romito), the exhibition "Agency for Better Living" addresses global housing issues. The creators seek a solution to this challenge in examples of successful social housing models and grassroots initiatives. Michal Duda, director of the Museum of Architecture in Wroclaw, tells more about this exhibition (as well as about the exhibitions in the Polish and Danish Pavilions):
Austrian Pavilion - "Agency for Better Living" exhibition, curators: Michael Obrist, Sabine Pollak and Lorenzo Romito
Photo: Luca Capuano | illustrations courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia
natural partnerships and climate
On the other hand, Małgorzata Kuciewicz, an architect from the Centrala Design Group, mentioned among the pavilions that best fit her research interests related to climate architecture, the one prepared by the Belgians (the architect also talks about some of the themes raised in the main exhibition, the Pavilions of Poland, Bahrain, Denmark, Korea, Ukraine and Latvia). The exhibition "Building Biospheres," curated by landscape architect Bas Smets and biologist Stefano Mancuso, envisions a future in which nature becomes an active partner in urban space. In this vision, plants and architecture are integrated with each other and create healthier cities.
Belgium Pavilion - "Building Biospheres" exhibition, curators: Bas Smets, Stefano Mancuso
Photo: Luca Capuano | illustrations courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia
What can we find in the other nard pavilions on the Giardini grounds?
Australia
The Australian Institute of Architects in the exhibition "Home" reached to the core of architecture - the idea of home, a place of memory, of sensation, of relationship. Combining physical and digital experiences, the creators offered a sensory space and invited visitors to leave their mark on a living canvas, to share their stories of home.
Brazil
Plano Coletivo's team at the "Re(Invention)" exhibition combines architecture with nature and social infrastructure by drawing on both the past and indigenous knowledge, as well as contemporary practices.
Egypt
The curators of the "Let's Grasp the Mirage " exhibition - Salah Zikri, Ebrahim Zakaria and Emad Fikry - have created an unusual play "on the delicate balance from a small Egyptian oasis to a large planet."
Finland
The pavilion, designed by Alvar Aalto's studio in 1956, presents an exhibition telling the story of the building itself , "The Pavilion - Architecture of Stewardship." Curator-architects Ella Kaira and Matti Jänkälä highlighted the work and efforts of those who care about preserving and maintaining the architecture.
France
The French pavilion is currently undergoing renovation, so this year's exhibition - "Vivre avec / Living with" - is presented adjacent to it. The exhibition, created by Dominique Jakob and Brendan MacFarlane, in collaboration with Martin Duplantier and Éric Daniel-Lacombe, asks how to live and build in the face of contemporary changes and constraints.
Greece
The creators of the exhibition in the Greece pavilion reached directly to the slogan set by the Biennale's curator, incorporating its main segment into the exhibition's title - "IntelligensHistorica." The authors of the project are: Nikos Skoutelis, Elisabetta Molteni, Klimis Aslanidis, Antonis Karamitrou and Anna Tsitonaki.
Spain
Roi Salgueiro Barrio and Manuel Bouzas Barcala, curators of the exhibition "Internalities: Architectures for Territorial Equilibrium," explore key strategies leading to the decarbonization of Spanish architecture.
Japan
The "In-Between" pavilion , curated by Jun Aoki, also directly touches on the Biennale's main theme, exploring the dynamically changing role of artificial intelligence in architecture.
Canada
The Living Room Collective (composed of Andrea Shin Ling, Nicholas Hoban, Vincent Hui and Clayton Lee) presented "Picoplanktonics," an exhibition at the Biennale that reaches back to the earliest life forms ( picoplankton), responsible for lowering carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere more than two billion years ago, and contemporary innovations. The result? A biofabrication platform that allows the printing of living structures at an architectural scale!
Qatar
How does contemporary architecture respond to community needs? How does it express a sense of belonging? Hospitality in architecture is looked at in the exhibition "Beyti Beytak. My home is your home. La mia casa è la tua casa," curated by Aurélien Lemonier and Sean Anderson.
Korea
The Korean pavilion, like the Finnish one, focuses on the architecture of the pavilion on its 30th anniversary. The exhibition , "Little Toad, Little Toad: Unbuilding Pavilion," curated by the CAC team (Dahyoung Chung, Heejung Kim, Sungkyu Jung), seeks opportunities for sustainable development of the pavilion and ideas for its reinterpretation.
Nordic Countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden)
The Nordic Countries Pavilion is a space of performative activities by Teo Ala-Ruon and his team (curated by Kaisa Karvinen). "Industry Muscle: Five Scores for Architecture" is a proposal for five exercises to allow new insights into standardization in architecture.
The Netherlands
"Sidelined," or "Out of the Game," is the title of an exhibition developed by curator Amanda Pinatih and social designer Gabriel Fontana. The creators wonder, arranging the space like a sports bar, how architecture shapes social dynamics, can it counter exclusion?
Germany
Curators of the exhibition "STRESSTEST" - Nicola Borgmann, Elisabeth Endres, Gabriele G. Kiefer and Daniele Santucci - look at the extremes to which the climate crisis is driving cities. The creators tackle the topic of adapting urban spaces to climate change in an exhibition divided into two parts: STRESS and DESTRESS.
Poland
In the Polonia Pavilion you can see the exhibition "Lars and Penates. On building a sense of security in architecture" created by a team consisting of: Aleksandra Kędziorek, Krzysztof Maniak, Katarzyna Przezwańska, Maciej Siuda. You can read more about the Polish exhibition here.
Romania
Cosmina Goagea, researcher and curator, as well as artist Vlad Nancă and a team from architecture studio Muromuro Studio, in the exhibition "Human Scale" - focuses on one of the elements of the Biennale's main slogan, collective intelligence, by analyzing architectural drawings where people can be seen.
Serbia
The exhibition "Unraveling: New spaces," which is about untangling new spaces. Curated by Slobodan Jovic.
United States
The exhibition "PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity," curated by Peter MacKeith , talks about the porch as an example of the architecture of generosity. The contemporary manifestation of the title porch, a quintessentially American architectural element, expresses a special place of multifaceted meaning and value.
Switzerland
The exhibition in the Swiss pavilion is another proposal that puts the exhibition facility itself at the center. The curators of the exhibition "Endgültige Form wird von der Architektin am Bau bestimmt" - Elena Chiavi, Kathrin Füglister, Amy Perkins, Axelle Stiefel and Myriam Uzor - wonder what would have happened if the pavilion had been designed by Lisbeth Sachs rather than Bruno Giacometti.
Uruguay
Katia Sei Fong, Ken Sei Fong and Luis Sei Fong's exhibition "53.86% Uruguay, Land of Water" explores the relationship between the built-up area and water, which occupies more than half of the country. The immersive experience tells the story of precious water resources in a variety of ways.
Hungary
MártonPintér, curator of the exhibition "There is Nothing to See Here," together with invited young architects, tackles the topic of the architectural profession - careerabandonment and the search for new professional paths.
Great Britain
The exhibition "GBR - Geology Of Britannic Repair" is the fruit of a collaboration between a British-Kenyan interdisciplinary team of curators: Kabage Karanji and Stella Mutega of Nairobi-based studio Cave_bureau, British writer Owen Hopkins and Professor Kathryn Yusoff. "The Geology of British Remediation" focuses on the relationship between architecture and geology, looking at earth-bound architecture and working methods that are resilient to climate collapse, social and political change.
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