The first of the meetings around the Venice Architecture Biennale is behind us. On June 26, at the headquarters of the Cracow branch of SARP, we met with the creators of the exhibition in the Polish Pavilion - Aleksandra Kędziorek, Krzysztof Maniak, Katarzyna Przezwańska and Maciej Siuda, Michal Kubiak of the Zachęta National Gallery of Art and Marcin Kościuch, an architect from the Poznan studio Ultra Architects. The meeting was moderated by Małgorzata Tomczak, editor-in-chief of A&B.
A&B partners at the Biennale
The 19th Venice International Architecture Biennale, curated by Italian architect and engineer Carlo Ratti, is held under the theme "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective" (Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective), which, by emphasizing the word gens, or "people," wants to draw attention to the fact that in the face of contemporary challenges, architecture should draw on all forms of intelligence.
The national exhibitions presented at the Biennale, however, do not necessarily respond directly to the curatorial slogan. Michal Kubiak, who is responsible for the Polish Pavilion in Venice, talked about the behind-the-scenes selection of the exhibition in the two-stage competition organized by Zachêta - National Gallery of Art.
Participants of the event; Maciej Siuda and Katarzyna Przezwańska
photo: Lubomir Nikolov
The authors of the exhibition selected in the competition , "Lars and penates. On Building a Sense of Security in Architecture" focused their concept on a shift from the narrative of architecture, broadening the perspective, directing their attention to its user and what provides him with a sense of security. They combined traditional practices with technical solutions, without avoiding mental health aspects.
Why do we still hang toppers on office buildings erected in city centers, still avoid greeting each other across the threshold, and fix a horseshoe over the door? Deeply ingrained in us, rituals, often already misunderstood gestures of forethought, give us a kind of sense of agency, of community, of protection against not always named danger.
event participants
photo: Lubomir Nikolov
Safety is also a variety of contemporary guidelines, rules and norms. The creators of the exhibition referred to them with a wink: if we must have a fire extinguisher in the room - let's put it in a richly decorated niche, if it is necessary to mark the emergency exit - let's expose it, we are watched by ubiquitous surveillance cameras - let them see us resting on a soft seat.
But is this an exhibition about architecture? The point is, as Maciej Siuda stressed, architecture does not end only with a building understood as a skeleton, it becomes one when we supplement this structure with content, how we use it and what we fill it with.
In the photo, the creators of the exhibition, from left: Maciej Siuda, Katarzyna Przezwańska, Aleksandra Kędziorek and Krzysztof Maniak
Photo: Lubomir Nikolov
The interdisciplinary team talked about the behind-the-scenes maturation of the exhibition theme in them, the process of building it, collaborating, prototyping and testing solutions - like designers of user experience, they tested on trusted people the paths they chose inside the pavilion for the best possible arrangement and understanding.
As a result, as Marcin Kościuch stressed, the exhibition in the Polish Pavilion is clear to visitors from the first moment.
Marcin Kościuch, an architect from the Poznan studio Ultra Architects, was a special guest at the event
photo: Lubomir Nikolov
around the Biennale
September 16, 6 pm
Another debate around the Biennale is ahead of us - on September 16 at 18:00 at ZODIAK Warsaw Architecture Pavilion, the team responsible for the exhibition - Aleksandra Kędziorek, Krzysztof Maniak, Katarzyna Przezwańska and Maciej Siuda, as well as Michał Kubiak from Zachęta - National Gallery of Art - will be joined by special guests: Bartlomiej Kisielewski, an architect from the Horizone Studio in Krakow, and Kacper Kepinski, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning, a member of the competition committee that decided that it was the exhibition "Lars and Penats. On building a sense of security in architecture" will fill the Polonia Pavilion. See you there!
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You can read more about this year's Venice Biennale in the articles:
Hope for a better tomorrow, or a slight cringe? The main exhibition at the Arsenale through the eyes of experts
A house for the price of a car, or maybe wood from a 3D printer? The ideas laboratory at the Arsenal
What surprises the pavilions in Venice's Giardini?
No is more... Inspirations straight from the Giardini
Golden Lions 2025 awarded!
The art of cooling: award for Bahrain's pavilion for fighting the heat
Robert Konieczny and Vladimir Belogolovsky at the Venice Architecture Biennale!
The project of a Polish architect in the main exhibition of the Venice Architecture Biennale!
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A&B Main Partner at the Biennale:
A&B partners at the Biennale:
