At the Venice Architecture Biennale, the pile became a symbol of the present and future
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The 80th International Film Festival ended in Venice. Unlike other world film festivals, it is also a structural subdivision of the Venice Biennale and is closely connected with it. Parallel to the screening of films, the 18th Architectural Biennale was held, which turned out to be more representative in terms of the number of participants from the most exotic countries, but not in terms of artistic discoveries. One could say that there was no smell of architecture there, although samples of high-tech materials in some pavilions emitted a stench. A picturesque Brazilian pile of plastic was awarded the Golden Lion in the field of architecture.
The 80th International Film Festival ended in Venice. Unlike other world film festivals, it is also a structural subdivision of the Venice Biennale and is closely connected with it. Parallel to the screening of films, the 18th Architectural Biennale was held, which turned out to be more representative in terms of the number of participants from the most exotic countries, but not in terms of artistic discoveries. One could say that there was no smell of architecture there, although samples of high-tech materials in some pavilions emitted a stench. A picturesque Brazilian pile of plastic was awarded the Golden Lion in the field of architecture.
The 18th Venice Architecture Biennale was curated for the first time by a black representative of the architectural community – Afro-Scot Leslie Lokko. Her roots are in Ghana. She is not only an architect, but also a writer, the author of easy bestsellers. Accordingly, the focus of the biennale was Africa, which cannot be said about the film festival, which has completely different priorities. Why is it Africa that people turn their attention to not only in Venice, but also in Russia? Yes, because it is young and dynamic, unlike tired Europe, and there is always room for experimentation.
On the territory of the Biennale there is a massive column made of black Spanish marble, symbolizing a certain identity and a message to the world about how difficult it is to be black. It is curious that it was originally created with the help of artificial intelligence. The current Architectural Biennale is organized as a “Laboratory of the Future”. The art biennale that will replace it in a year will be held under the title “Foreigners Everywhere.”
In order to see the work of architects, artists and designers, it is not necessary to go to the usual biennale pavilions in the Giardini Gardens and the Arsenale. Much is presented in parks, cathedrals, palazzos. This year we developed several quiet sites on St. Peter’s Island, far from the tourist routes. There is no need to look for anything specially. Walking around the city, you will certainly come across art representations from different countries.
Basically, the visitor is offered spaces open to the imagination without a hint of architecture. But there are a lot of diagrams and drawings devoted to the relationship between the level of consumption and life in different countries, globalization and global warming. There are also models of cities of the future made of acrylic, reminiscent of space objects. At one of the stands, the indicators of Mexico and Poland are side by side, which in principle are difficult to compare. The Spanish pavilion explores the culture of food consumption. New building materials are richly represented. Sometimes entire pavilions are filled with such samples with a specific smell, so that you quickly want to jump out into the fresh air from the toxic space.
And if the main cinematic award “Golden Lion” went to the film “The Poor Miserables” by the Greek director Yorgas Lanthimos, who in recent years has been filming in English and with an international cast, so you can’t say for sure which country is in the lead, then the “Golden Lion” of the Architectural Biennale won first of all to Brazil for the best pavilion of 2023. It presents the exhibition “Earth”. Curators Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares consider Brazil as a land. And this is the soil, and a certain territory, and the planet as a whole. The earth holds memories. There is no future without her. Visitors walk the land and learn about the traditions and religion of the indigenous Quilombola people of African origin.
Post-Soviet republics are scattered throughout the city. Except that in the Arsenal there is a Latvian supermarket and a wall of an Uzbek house. The exhibition from Riga resembles a cardboard house. This is a life-size supermarket, where there are no people, and the goods in the window lack volume. It’s an eerie feeling. The Uzbekistan pavilion is practically devoid of light and is almost entirely dedicated to the wall of a house, closed from prying eyes. Only a few inclusions of turquoise bricks are highlighted. The project, created with the participation of a famous French-Moroccan company, refers to a diesel station from the beginning of the last century, transformed into a Center for Contemporary Art.
The Estonian pavilion is located at the exit from the Arsenal. His Home stage exhibition consists of unremarkable rooms furnished with the most ordinary furniture. When entering the apartment, you must leave your shoes at the threshold in the courtyard. This home journey is accompanied by an interesting brochure, which describes in a downright philosophical way the rooms, kitchen, bathroom, furnishings, how your childhood home differs from rented housing, which gives rise to an almost Hamlet-like question: “To pay or not to pay?”
The eco-friendly Finnish pavilion displays a dry-flush dry-flush dry toilet. Bahrain has demonstrated how you can live comfortably when the thermometer is so hot. Small artificial ponds with plants can save you from heat stroke.
Famous Israeli film director Amos Gitai, until recently the only one who represented Israeli cinema at the Venice and Cannes Film Festivals and whose films are related to the Arab-Israeli conflict, has an architectural education. However, at the Biennale he presented his cinematic capabilities, showing a video about how people of different generations and nationalities get along side by side. Globally, they are able to live together not only in the same house, but also on the same land. Thus, Gitai called everyone to peace and harmony.
The Bulgarian pavilion, located in an ancient city building with vaults, presents the project “From Darkness to Light”. A recognizable school classroom has been restored there, though not with desks, but with old tables, a blackboard from the times of the USSR and Lenin on the wall, a “goat” sports equipment, over which more than one generation of Soviet and Bulgarian students jumped. All this seems to be covered with a cobweb.
Perhaps the most memorable installation is a hanging carpet made from squares of golden-yellow leather by Ghanaian artist, photographer and sculptor Serge Attquay Clottey. It sways in the semi-darkness above the brown water under the arches of the colonnade on the very outskirts of the Arsenal and acts magically. You can stand and watch for hours. Serge is not even forty. He was educated at universities in Brazil and the UK and often uses yellow plastic in his work, which allows him to create a variety of designs. This Africa is fascinating.
Newspaper headline:
Cities made of acrylic, heaps with meaning
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