Austria: Thoughts Form Matter, LAAC, Henke Schreieck, Sagmeister & Walsh. Foto Martin Mischkulnig
Für die 16. Architektur Biennale Venedig 2018 entschieden die beiden irischen Architektinnen Yvonne Farrell und Shelley McNamara das Motto Free Space. Dafür luden sie 71 TeilnehmerInnen für die große Ausstellung im Zentralen Pavillon in den Giardini und im Arsenale ein. Erstaunlich direkt nahmen auch die meisten der 63 Länderpavillons heuer das Thema an. 6 Länder sind erstmals dabei: der ostkaribische Inselstaat Antigua und Barbuda, Saudi Arabien, Guatemala, Libanon, Pakistan und Vatikan.
Austria: Henke Schreieck, Layers of Atmosphere. 16. Architecture Biennale Venice 2018, Foto Martin Mischkulnig
AUSTRIA: Thoughts Form Matter (curator Verena Konrad; LAAC, Henke Schreieck, Sagmeister & Walsh) for 16. Architeceture Biennale Venice:
„The Austrian contribution Thoughts Form Matter is a plea for the power of architecture as an intellectual analysis of the world and for the freedom to design spaces that are not subject to functional and economic constraints. LAAC, Henke Schreieck and Sagmeister & Walsh are creating a conceptually and materially complex spatial installation which draws together inside and outside, vertical and horizontal, the historic pavilion and the language of contemporary architecture and design.“
Austria: Sphere 1:50.000, LAAC, 16. Architecture Biennale Venice 2018, Foto Martin Mischkulnig
„Concepts such as “deviation”, “atmosphere” and “beauty” become tangible in the three-part, converging spatial installation.“
Australia, Repair. Foto Rory Gardiner.16. Architecture Biennale Venice 2018
AUSTRALIA: Repair (Mauro Baracco, Louise Wright von Baracco-Wright Architects; Linda Tegg) for 16. Architeceture Biennale Venice:
10.000 plants inside and outside of the Pavilion, including 65 species of Western Plains Grasslands, are planed. „Grasslands Repair will serve as a reminder of what is at stake when we occupy land – junst one per cent of these threatened species are left in their native ecosystem.“
Finnland:Mind Building,16. Architecture Biennale Venice 2018
FINNLAND: Mind Building (Anni Vartola, Archinfo Finnland, Hanna Harris)
Mind-Building is a study of Finnish public libraries and library architecture. „We celebrate public libraries as constantly rejuvenating hubs of soical vitality and their role as public investments in a free and democratic society.“ The pavillion shows pages of the catalogue.
French Pavillion, Encore Heureux, Foto Sophie Scher
FRANCE: Infinite Places – Constructing Buildings or Places? (Nicola Delon, Julien Choppin, Sebastien Eymard) for 16. Architeceture Biennale Venice:
„Infinite places are pioneering places that explore and experiment with collective processes for dwelling in the world and for building community. These are open, possible, unfinished places that establish freespaces and the search for alternatives.“ 10 places are shown, not as models but as sources „of weak signals that open up subversive perspectives“, La Ferme Du Bonheur, La Grande Halle, L´Hotel Pasteur, Le Centquatre, La Convention, Le GB, Les Ateliers Medicis, Les Grands Voisins, Le Tri Postal, La Friche La Belle De Mai
Germany: Unbuild Walls, Foto Jan Bitter, 16. Architecture Biennale Venice 2018
GERMANY: Unbuilding Walls (Marianne Birthler, Lars Krückeberg, Wolfram Putz, Thomas Willemeit) for 16. Architeceture Biennale Venice:
Germany: Unbuild Walls, Foto Jan Bitter,16. Architecture Biennale Venice 2018
„By analyzing architectural projects on the former border strip, the question of what happened on this unprecedented void in the middle of a new capital will be examined. The heterogeneity of the multitude of approaches, typologies, protagonists, and results show the breadth of architectural debates and solutions.“
ISLAND_The British Pavilion © British Council, photo by Hélène Binet
GREAT BRITAIN: Island (Caruso St John and Marcus Taylor) for 16. Architeceture Biennale Venice: The staircase onto the interior leads into empty spaces. There are marks on the walls from previous shows but no exhibition. The other staircase leads above the roof, to a platform open to the sky with pattern on the floor reminiscent of an Italian piazza. At 4 o ´clock tea is served, an intense programme is hosted.
Greece: The School of Athens, Foto Ugo Carmeni. 16. Architecture Biennale Venice 2018
GREECE: The School of Athens (Xristina Argyros & Ryan Neiheiser) for 16. Architeceture Biennale Venice: „The School of Athens is an ambition, a utopian vision of a free, open, informal and common space for learning. (…) Althoug we typically think of learning taking place in the classroom, educators and architects have recognized for thousands of years that learning also takes place in the space between, in the hallways, on the stairs, at the cafe.“
Greece: The School of Athens, Foto Ugo Carmeni, 16. Architecture Biennale Venice 2018
The exhibition showcases models of 56 academic common spaces from across the history and around the world.
Italy: Urban Reports. 16. Architecture Biennale Venice, 2018
ITALY: Arcipelago Italia (Mario Cucinella) for 16. Architeceture Biennale Venice:
The Italian Pavillion presents architecture as a tool to revive the territory, showing 5 hybrid projects for the „rebirth of Italy“, a.o. a work-place for the Casentinesi Forests, a diptyh for Camerino to reconnect community through culture in the Crater Area, a place for care in the Barbagia.
Luxembourg Pavillon, 16. Architecture Biennale Venice 2018
LUXEMBOURG: The Architecture of the Common Ground
„The exhibition of the LuxembourgPavilion is engaging with the most radical of these approaches – elevated buildings that allow theland to remain open, both physically and symbolically. Various projects from the history of ideas enter into dialogue with contemporary experiments that share the aspiration of making the land accessible to public uses. In doing so, they are resisting an alleged logic that has led to an almost universal privatisation of land in cities, creating isolated enclaves and reducing the public sphere. Freespace, the theme for this year’s Biennale Architettura, has been transformed into Freeland. The social and political dimension of architecture is linked to its creative power.“
Netherland: Work, Body, Leisure, Foto Daria Scagliola
NETHERLAND: Work, Body, Leisure (Marina Otero Verzier) for 16. Architeceture Biennale Venice: „With the title WORK, BODY, LEISURE, the Dutch Pavilion addresses the spatial configurations, modes of living and notions of the human body engendered by disruptive changes in labor ethos and conditions. The project includes contributions by a group of architects, artists, designers, historians, musicians and theorists selected by the curatorial team and through a number of open calls. This collaborative endeavor seeks to foster new forms of creativity and responsibility within the architectural field in response to emerging technologies of automation.“
Singapore: No More Free Space, 16. Architecture Biennale Venice 2018
SINGAPORE: No More Free Space?
The pavillion „tells the story of how, in spite of the limitations in physical space, Singapore-based architects, urban planners and place-makers have creatively found ways to bring delightful free spaces to the city´s everyday life“ and features 12 Singapore-based projects. More than 400 times smaller than Italy, Singapore is an island with a population of about 5.6 million people on a land area of just 720 km2.
Installation view of “Svizzera 240:House Tour” at the Swiss Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Foto Wilson Wootton
SWISS: House Tour (Alessandro Bosshard, Li Tavor, Matthew van der Ploeg und Ani Vihervaara) – winner of the GOLDEN LION
„The most widespread achievements of the constructed world are not to be found in books celebrating architectural history“, instead they are overlooked: the interior of contemporary housing. „With only slight variations due to culture or climate it routinely consists of a volume of 240 cm in height, dressed with white walls, parguet or tile flooring, and off-the-shelf fittings.“
UAE: Installation view of the National Pavilion United Arab Emirates exhibition Lifescapes Beyond Bigness at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Image courtesy National Pavilion UAE. معرض الجناح الوطني لدولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة بعنوان „الحياة ما وراء العمران الشاهق“، في المعرض الدولي للعمارة الـ 16 في بينالي البندقية. الصورة مقدمة من الجناح الوطني لدولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Lifescapes Beyond Bigness (Khaled Alawady)
The exhibition reveals „hidden scenes of everyday life in the UAE across 4 human-scale urban landscapes“ with images, technical drawings, maps and 3-D-models. „Lifescapes Beyond Bigness is an effort to look beyond the monumental scale of the UAE´s most iconic architecture, and instead invite visitors to experience its human and under-celebrated landscapes“ (K. Alawady)