Postponed by a year, the Venice Architecture Biennale will open on May 22 with the highly anticipated exhibition in the Polish Pavilion, "Trouble in Paradise" by curators from the PROLOG +1 collective. The exhibition treats the countryside as a self-contained area of research and there seeks answers to the theme of this year's biennale: How will we live together? The authors of the project, in collaboration with an international group of architects and artists, will show that in times of growing local and global crises, rural areas are an essential part of community building.
"Trouble in Paradise" is a multifaceted story about the future of community life in the countryside. It is there that the authors of the exhibition found a basis for discussing the common and moving beyond the division between public and private. Reflections on the marginalized issue of vast rural areas and the progressive migration from cities to the countryside gave impetus to the vision by the architectural teams invited to the project from Europe.
Trailer of the exhibition within the biennial Sneak Peak project
© BiennaleChannel
The projects are accompanied by an in-depth analysis of forms of working and living in the countryside, resulting in Panorama of the Polish Countryside, created in collaboration with Polish artists. The case study of Poland - a country where 93 percent of the area is rural - makes it possible to understand the peculiarities of post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe and to identify problems and proposals for their solution on a global scale, reads a press release from Zachęta - National Gallery of Art, which is the organizer of the Polish Pavilion.
the future of the world depends on the countryside
The PROLOG +1 collective curating the exhibition is made up of Mirabela Jurczenko, Bartosz Kowal, Wojciech Mazan, Bartłomiej Poteralski, Rafał Śliwa and Robert Witczak. They propose to look for solutions to global problems in new ways of organizing rural areas and studying the forces and processes that govern them, not yet recognized by architects. They are convinced that the future of the world depends on the countryside, and that cities cannot exist without it. The idea of the project is to dialogue and confront experience, theory, education and practice from many places to look at the countryside with fresh eyes.
PROLOG +1 collective: Rafał Śliwa, Robert Witczak, Bartosz Kowal, Wojciech Mazan, Mirabela Jurczenko and Bartłomiej Poteralski
Photo: Pawel Starzec
Theresearch method adopted by the PROLOG +1 collective aims to create new tools for describing the countryside, which is divided into three stages of historical development: early capitalist, socialist and late capitalist. These stages are analyzed in terms of three areas: territory, settlement and home, with a particular focus on colonization projects implemented by the Polish state over the last century. This analysis allowed the curators to build an exhibition divided into two complementary parts: analytical and design.
The exhibition in the Polish Pavilion
Upon entering the Polish Pavilion, we are surrounded by a photorealistic panorama of the countryside, printed on fabric and placed in our line of sight. This is the analytical part of the exhibition, depicting the characteristic elements of the rural landscape that are the result of the processes that have taken place there over a century. The panorama was created by photographers Michal Sierakowski and Pawel Starc and artist Jan Domicz in cooperation with the PROLOG +1 team. The installation allows the image to be perceived on two levels. Viewing it from a distance gives the impression of being in the landscape, while observing it up close allows one to recognize the forms that make up the landscape.
Each of the elements visible in the panorama carries information. The objects record the history of the ways of living and working in the countryside, as well as the processes that have perpetuated the fragmented nature of the rural landscape over the years. The countryside, hitherto considered a periphery, will cease to be so when we stop recognizing the city as the center. The countryside is not a hierarchical, but a horizontal entity, as we will understand by looking at its landscape. We will then notice silhouettes on the horizon and ask ourselves whether they are a threat to paradise," explain members of PROLOG +1.
The invited teams created, among other things, architectural models, collages and drawings
© organizers' archives
international cooperation
The design part is formed by six architectural teams from Europe: Atelier Fanelsa (Germany), GUBAHÁMORI + Filip + László Demeter (Hungary), KOSMOS (Russia, Switzerland, Austria), Rural Office for Architecture (UK), RZUT (Poland) and Traumnovelle (Belgium). All of the invited architects are close to research work in architecture and related sciences, and create projects based on the practice of commonality. As a starting point, each team set out to analyze one of the proposed areas (territory, settlement, house) in order to then extend the project to the others, creating an overall picture of the village. The results of their work are architectural models, collages and drawings presented in the pavilion against the panorama.
The diversity of viewpoints and the juxtaposition of different perspectives are bound together by reflections on the effects of exploitation of the rural territory, climate disasters or global crises - including those whose impact on the fate of the planet and rural areas remains to be seen, the organizers add.
The architects were asked to analyze the proposed areas
© organizers archive
The exhibition will open on May 22 this year, and in parallel a specially designed online version of the project will be launched on the Polish Pavilion website.
The event is accompanied by a publication that supplements the exhibition with theoretical foundations, showing the complex issue of the countryside both on a global scale and in the specific Polish context. Invited authors: researchers, sociologists, architects and photographers question the stereotypical understanding of rural areas and analyze the phenomena and trends occurring there.
Trouble in Paradise at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia
date: May 22 to November 22 this year, Venice
curators: PROLOG +1 (Mirabela Jurczenko, Bartosz Kowal, Wojciech Mazan, Bartłomiej Poteralski, Rafał Śliwa and Robert Witczak)
architectural teams: Atelier Fanelsa, GUBAHÁMORI + Filip + László Demeter, KOSMOS Architects, Rural Office for Architecture, RZUT, Traumnovelle
authors of Panorama of the Polish countryside: Jan Domicz, Michal Sierakowski, Pawel Starzec, PROLOG +1
authors of Glossary (online): Michał Sierakowski, Paweł Starzec, Wiktoria Wojciechowska, Patrycja Wojtas, PROLOG +1
visual identification of the exhibition, graphic design of the book: collaborative team
organizer: Zachęta - National Gallery of Art
commissioner of the Polish Pavilion: Hanna Wróblewska, director of Zachęta - National Gallery of Art
Polish Pavilionoffice: Ewa Mielczarek, Joanna Waśko
Poland's participation in the 17th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice is financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sports of the Republic of Poland. The exhibition in the Polish Pavilion is supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Polish Institute in Rome. The book is subsidized by the City of Wroclaw.
