tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/venice-architecture-biennale-9869/articlesVenice Architecture Biennale – The Conversation2023-05-17T16:42:56Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2020922023-05-17T16:42:56Z2023-05-17T16:42:56ZVenice architecture biennale: how pioneering Ghanaian architects reckoned with tropical modernism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525853/original/file-20230512-15-xb83ft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Owusu Addo Residence by John Owusu Addo.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kuukuwa Manful</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As curator of the 2023 <a href="https://theconversation.com/venice-biennale-an-exhausting-beautiful-attempt-to-relinquish-architecture-60789">Venice architecture biennale</a>, the Ghanaian-Scottish architect, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10464883.2022.2097495">Lesley Lokko</a>, has chosen to highlight the African continent as <a href="https://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/2023/18th-exhibition">“the laboratory of the future”</a>. </p>
<p>But as well as looking at the future of architecture on the continent, visitors will also be able to explore its history, through an exhibition at the Arsenale, entitled Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Power in West Africa.</p>
<p>Early 20th-century modernism in Europe saw architects using large expanses of unshaded glass and flat roofs. Practitioners in warmer, humid climates, such as in Africa and Asia, meanwhile, had to adapt their designs to withstand heavier rainfall and warmer temperatures. In late colonial Africa and during the independence era, this style became known as <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248524118_Modernist_architecture_and_'the_tropical'_in_West_Africa_The_tropical_architecture_movement_in_West_Africa_1948-1970">“tropical modernism”</a> or “tropical architecture”. </p>
<p>In the African context, this is possibly the best researched and well-documented architectural movement. When people discuss it further afield, however, it is mostly through a white lens. The focus is on what European architects practising in these regions were doing – African architects of the same era are largely overlooked. </p>
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<img alt="A large building of brick and plaster." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525682/original/file-20230511-11356-ilmz1k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525682/original/file-20230511-11356-ilmz1k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525682/original/file-20230511-11356-ilmz1k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525682/original/file-20230511-11356-ilmz1k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525682/original/file-20230511-11356-ilmz1k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525682/original/file-20230511-11356-ilmz1k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525682/original/file-20230511-11356-ilmz1k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Museum of Science Technology in Accra, designed by Daniel Sydney Kpodo-Tay.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Ghana_Museum_of_Science_%26_Technology.jpg">Mun85/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>Putting Europe at the centre of African stories is a choice that echoes the very colonial histories it seeks to elucidate, where European architects operated as though the continent were a blank slate, devoid of pre-existing architecture worthy of note.</p>
<p><a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f721c2997606a73ba692c14/t/60ddd58250288d718f236667/1625150868282/Early+Ghanaian+Architects_Kuukuwa+Manful.pdf">My research</a> shows how architects in Ghana in particular aligned with, adapted, or rejected Western colonial ideas. They created modernist buildings that reflected their visions for their nation, their experiences and their global outlook. </p>
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<h2>Ghanaian expertise</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.design233.com/articles/john-owusu-addo">John Owusu Addo</a>, the first black head of department of Ghana’s first architecture school, and <a href="https://www.design233.com/articles/samuel-opare-larbi">Samuel Opare Larbi</a>, another prominent educator and architect, embodied what I term the dominant Ghanaian tropical modernism. Their practice was most similar to, and aligned with, the practice of the white British tropical modernists. </p>
<p>The former Department of Tropical Architecture was <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/abe/9215?lang=en">established</a> at the Architectural Association (AA) in London in 1954 by the British wife and husband duo Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry, and James Cubbitt. Although Fry described the city of Kano, in present day Nigeria, as a “complete realisation of urban harmony”, he and Drew nonetheless declared having “invented” architecture in West Africa. Their work was coloured by the imperial, racist and sexist notions of the time. </p>
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<img alt="An archival photograph of an ancient city." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525710/original/file-20230511-21-svxysc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525710/original/file-20230511-21-svxysc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525710/original/file-20230511-21-svxysc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525710/original/file-20230511-21-svxysc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525710/original/file-20230511-21-svxysc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525710/original/file-20230511-21-svxysc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525710/original/file-20230511-21-svxysc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kano city, Nigeria, in 1911.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dc-8674-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99">Digital Collections, The New York Public Library</a></span>
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<p>Owusu Addo and Larbi both trained at the AA. They counted among their contemporaries the German architect <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/abe/696">Otto Koenisberger</a> and the Australian-born British architect <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352841025_Campus_Planning_and_Architecture_A_comparative_Study_of_Kwame_Nkrumah_University_of_Science_and_Technology_KNUST_and_University_of_Ghana_LEGON">Kenneth Mackensie Scott</a>. Although they faced racial discrimination in Europe and back home, their UK education put them in a position of relative privilege in Ghana. </p>
<p>From the outside, many of the institutional and corporate buildings they designed, including Cedi House in Accra (a high-rise tower that now houses the Ghana Stock Exchange) featured elements of tropical modernism: solar shading devices, rhythmic facades, breeze blocks, cross ventilation and east-west orientation. </p>
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<img alt="A high-rise building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525674/original/file-20230511-29-bjz76q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525674/original/file-20230511-29-bjz76q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525674/original/file-20230511-29-bjz76q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525674/original/file-20230511-29-bjz76q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525674/original/file-20230511-29-bjz76q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525674/original/file-20230511-29-bjz76q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525674/original/file-20230511-29-bjz76q.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cedi House in Accra.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Cedi_House_-_panoramio.jpg">Simon Ontoyin/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But it is in the interiors of their domestic architecture that their keen understanding of the people for whom they were designing becomes most apparent. When I interviewed Owusu Addo and Larbi in 2015, they recounted how they took Ghanaian societies into account. And they spoke of the pride they felt at being African architects. </p>
<p>For the <a href="https://www.arc.gov.gh/portfolios/unity-hall-of-the-kwame-nkrumah-university-of-science-and-technology/">Unity Hall</a> student accommodation at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, <a href="https://vebuka.com/print/200703151424-f3106f891ce976c8b2f12ac60cf427ad/Professor_John_Owusu_Addo_Modernization_of_The_Ghanaian_Tropics_KNUST_">Owusu Addo created</a> shaded outdoor space, with courtyards and verandas. As he put it: “Rarely do we stay in our rooms in the daytime. If in the daytime anyone was in the room, then he was sick.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A building with boys playing in the foreground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525672/original/file-20230511-33794-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525672/original/file-20230511-33794-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525672/original/file-20230511-33794-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525672/original/file-20230511-33794-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525672/original/file-20230511-33794-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525672/original/file-20230511-33794-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525672/original/file-20230511-33794-5201jv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unity Hall, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336407932_Cold_War_History_beyond_the_Cold_War_Discourse_A_Conversation_with_Lukasz_Stanek">Łukasz Stanek</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Creative dissent</h2>
<p>Other architects sought to establish an aesthetic that was visually distinct from European-driven tropical modernism. They accepted the climatic control and other technological and material aspects of the style. However, in the aesthetics they pursued, they were decidedly expressive. </p>
<p>Anyako-born architect Daniel Sydney Kpodo-Tay’s confidence was grounded in his centuries-long family history of building design and construction. Together with his anti-colonial politics and a desire for recognition, this informed an approach that the Ghana Institute of Architects termed “revolutionary”, upon his death in 2018. </p>
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<p>Kpodo-Tay was fascinated by symbolism. His designs rejected ornamentation. Instead, he sought to make the buildings themselves sculptural. His projects that were built were often not as bold as his proposals – a compromise he put down to the limited finances and conservatism of clients in Ghana.</p>
<p>When a competition was held, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to design the headquarters for the Economic Community of West African States organisation, Kpodo-Tay’s proposal drew on the form of a bowl as symbolic of communality and unity. His design for the complex, which was to house offices, a bank and a conference venue, featured bold inverted conical forms with internal spaces arrayed radially. </p>
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<img alt="A drawing of an architectural proposal." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525676/original/file-20230511-35403-jsfze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525676/original/file-20230511-35403-jsfze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525676/original/file-20230511-35403-jsfze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525676/original/file-20230511-35403-jsfze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525676/original/file-20230511-35403-jsfze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525676/original/file-20230511-35403-jsfze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525676/original/file-20230511-35403-jsfze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daniel Sydney Kpodo-Tay’s proposal for the ECOWAS headquarters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kuukuwa Manful</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Owusu Addo, Kpodo-Tay, and Larbi are not the only Ghanaian architects of their generations whose practice was informed by tropical modernism. Many stories are yet to be brought to light, especially those of the women. </p>
<p>Only a few women were trained at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science’s architecture school. Sexism in the industry saw some leave. But others, including the late <a href="https://contemporaryand.com/magazines/worldforming-by-ghanaian-women-in-architecture/">Alero Olympio</a> who designed Accra’s <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/kokrobitey-institute-sustainable-design">Kokrobitey Institute</a>, struck out in bold new ways. These visionaries challenged the Euro-centric assumptions of what tropical modernism was, in particular through their use of materials. </p>
<p>As scholars, practitioners and visitors from around the world turn to architecture on the African continent, they must be careful not to treat it as a blank slate in the way previous generations did. Africans have been creating, studying, teaching, and documenting architecture in Africa since time immemorial. Their work matters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202092/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kuukuwa Manful's PhD at SOAS, University of London was part of the African State Architecture project, which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 772070).
She is the president of docomomo (International Committee for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement) Accra, and has been interviewed by journalists, researchers, and curators (including the curators of 'Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Power in Africa) as an expert on modernism and tropical modernism.
</span></em></p>Too often, in discussions about tropical modernism, what African architects working in Africa were doing is overlooked. Their work matters.Kuukuwa Manful, Postdoctoral Researcher in Politics of Architecture, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/607892016-06-12T19:40:06Z2016-06-12T19:40:06ZVenice Biennale: an exhausting, beautiful attempt to relinquish architecture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126105/original/image-20160610-29205-1aggwbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Venice's Arsenale holds a curated display from the 15th International Architecture Exhibition.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bas Boerman</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From now through November 27, architects and enthusiasts from around the globe will descend upon Venice, Italy, for the <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/exhibition/">15th International Architecture Exhibition</a> organised by La Biennale di Venezia. The Venice Architecture Biennale is like the Olympics for architecture, bringing together a global perspective and dialogue. </p>
<p>It occurs every two years, alternating with the world-renowned International Art Exhibition organised by La Biennale di Venezia, with the objective of celebrating, summarising and addressing the current state of architecture and the most pressing issues in the profession. The growing success of the Venice Architecture Biennale has inspired a range of spin-offs including the recent <a href="http://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/">Chicago Architecture Biennial</a>.</p>
<p>The centrepiece of the event is a curated exhibition in Venice’s Arsenale, a 13th century former shipyard, showcasing 88 participants from 37 different countries. In addition, there are 62 individually curated national pavilions mostly located around the nearby Giardini, and a range of off-site events and exhibitions. The overall production takes over the entire water city, turning Venice into a hub of cultural production, discussion and discovery.</p>
<p>This year’s curator, Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, is no stranger to the Venice Biennale. In 2008 his “do tank” <a href="http://www.elementalchile.cl/">Elemental</a>, won the Biennale’s Silver Lion, the second place prize for Promising Young Architects for their <a href="http://www.archdaily.com/10775/quinta-monroy-elemental">reinvention of social housing at Quinta Monroy Housing</a> in Iquique, Chile, and their focus on community engagement. </p>
<p>Only eight years later, Aravena was awarded the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the industry’s most prestigious prize, along with his appointment as curator of the 2016 Venice Biennale. A big year for Aravena, indeed.</p>
<p>The 15th International Architecture Exhibition theme, “Reporting From the Front”, brings social consciousness in architecture to the forefront, responding to a turbulent time when many countries are suffering economic unrest, an ongoing refugee crisis and political discord.</p>
<p>Aravena wrote <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/news/18-07.html">when he was nominated as director</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are several battles that need to be won and several frontiers that need to be expanded in order to improve the quality of the built environment and consequently people’s quality of life. </p>
<p>This is what we would like people to come and see at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition: success stories worth being told and exemplary cases worth being shared.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At the main entry to the Arsenale, a large sign painted on the wall explains that “the introductory rooms of the Biennale Architettura 2016 were built with the 100 tons of waste material generated by the dismantling of the previous Biennale”.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126051/original/image-20160610-10706-m3s0mg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126051/original/image-20160610-10706-m3s0mg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126051/original/image-20160610-10706-m3s0mg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126051/original/image-20160610-10706-m3s0mg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126051/original/image-20160610-10706-m3s0mg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126051/original/image-20160610-10706-m3s0mg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126051/original/image-20160610-10706-m3s0mg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126051/original/image-20160610-10706-m3s0mg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The entry to the Arsenale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The vast reception space of the Arsenale is filled with a curtain of standard metal studs hanging from above. It makes noticeable light patterns on the surfaces below, surrounded by walls made of stacked plasterboard. The plasterboard, piled at a range of depths, produces a changing surface with varied openings. </p>
<p>Arriving at the actual entry to the exhibition, one questions if the next curator will reuse the materials required for Aravena’s exhibition?</p>
<p>What follows is a broad range of dislocated projects from around the globe which as Aravena describes in his curatorial statement,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>will widen the range of issues to which architecture is expected to respond, adding explicitly to the cultural and artistic dimensions that already belong to our scope, those that are at the social, political, economic, and environmental end of the spectrum.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But beyond the visual propaganda that seems to be populating the 300 meter-long Arsenale (and beautiful and intelligent propaganda it is) one might question where the architecture resides. It appears that the curator has made an attempt to relinquish architecture (the building form) in order to visualise social and political issues. </p>
<p>Signage reading “Does permanence matter?” or “Is it possible to create a public space within a private commission?” further reduces architecture to slogans and one-liners.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126057/original/image-20160610-10715-18x9nje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126057/original/image-20160610-10715-18x9nje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126057/original/image-20160610-10715-18x9nje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126057/original/image-20160610-10715-18x9nje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126057/original/image-20160610-10715-18x9nje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126057/original/image-20160610-10715-18x9nje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126057/original/image-20160610-10715-18x9nje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126057/original/image-20160610-10715-18x9nje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But of course within this mix, a range of stand-out projects begin to demonstrate that design can be socially active and play a significant role in the reshaping of the environment. For example, <a href="http://www.nleworks.com/team-member/kunle-adeyemi/">Kunle Adeyemi</a>’s Makoko Floating School, a prototype for a floating community in the rising waters of the Lagos Lagoon in Nigeria, was reconstructed and docked in Venice. The project uses only local materials such as reused plastic barrels for floating. It was the deserving recipient of the Silver Lion award. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.designboom.com/architecture/rural-urban-framework-venice-biennale-settling-the-nomads-06-05-2016/">Rural Urban Framework</a>, looking at the conflict between the nomadic nature of the past and the sedentary nature of the present, develops housing prototypes for those left out of the urbanisation process in Mongolia.</p>
<p>In the Giardini exhibition, which breathed a bit more life compared to that of the Arsenale, <a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/visual-cultures/w-eizman/">Eyal Weizman</a>’s Forensic Architecture uses architectural design logic working from images, films and satellite footage to trace wrongdoings, such as a drone attack in an Afghan building made legible by video footage from a neighbouring building.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126054/original/image-20160610-10736-dox1h8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126054/original/image-20160610-10736-dox1h8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126054/original/image-20160610-10736-dox1h8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126054/original/image-20160610-10736-dox1h8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126054/original/image-20160610-10736-dox1h8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126054/original/image-20160610-10736-dox1h8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126054/original/image-20160610-10736-dox1h8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126054/original/image-20160610-10736-dox1h8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eyal Weizman, Forensic Architecture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beyond Aravena’s exhibitions in the Arsenale and Giardini, the individually curated national pavilions offer a wide range of insight into the current state of architecture. The intensity and variation can be overwhelming. </p>
<p>At one end of the spectrum are pavilions that are overloaded with information, such as the deconstructed German Pavilion, which has literally removed four of its walls so that it is always open. Inside, documents that demonstrate how cities and buildings have been transformed with the recent influx of refugees cover the walls from floor to ceiling. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126053/original/image-20160610-10715-f2i6rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126053/original/image-20160610-10715-f2i6rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126053/original/image-20160610-10715-f2i6rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126053/original/image-20160610-10715-f2i6rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126053/original/image-20160610-10715-f2i6rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126053/original/image-20160610-10715-f2i6rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126053/original/image-20160610-10715-f2i6rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126053/original/image-20160610-10715-f2i6rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Image from the Belgium Pavilion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the other end of the spectrum you have Australia’s “The Pool”, an immersive sensory experience where curators <a href="http://wp.architecture.com.au/news-media/making-a-splash-creative-team-selected-for-2016-venice-biennale/#sthash.8ZNGDqrQ.dpbs">Michelle Tabet, Isabelle Toland and Amelia Holliday</a> have designed a swimming pool surrounded by seating so guests can sit back or even take a dip while listening to interviews about the pool and its influence on Australia’s cultural identity. </p>
<p>Little written or visual information is provided in the pavilion but a take away leaflet expands on the relevance of the swimming pool, addressing issues such as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a backdrop to the good times, the pool is also a deeply contested space in Australian history, a space that has highlighted racial discrimination and social disadvantage.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126050/original/image-20160610-10703-1ckx8al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126050/original/image-20160610-10703-1ckx8al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126050/original/image-20160610-10703-1ckx8al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126050/original/image-20160610-10703-1ckx8al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126050/original/image-20160610-10703-1ckx8al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126050/original/image-20160610-10703-1ckx8al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126050/original/image-20160610-10703-1ckx8al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126050/original/image-20160610-10703-1ckx8al.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other pavilions that should not be missed include the British pavilion and its show <a href="http://design.britishcouncil.org/venice-biennale/VeniceBiennale2016/">Home Economics</a>, exploring new models for domestic life based on hours, days, months, years, and decades. The Russian pavilion exhibits the wild <a href="http://www.archdaily.com/784716/russian-pavilion-at-2016-venice-biennale-to-examine-the-vdnh-nil-moscows-soviet-amusement-park">Urban Phenomenon</a>, which examines the Exhibition of Attainments of the National Economy, a 1939 Soviet exhibition and park complex reincarnated as a public multi-format cultural and education space.</p>
<p>Belgium’s Bravura Pavilion investigates, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>what craftsmanship can mean during a period of economic scarcity as, according to the curatorial team, dealing with scarcity demands a high level of precision.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Spanish Pavilion’s show Unfinished was the winner of the Golden Lion, the top award at the Biennale. Spain presents a survey of photos and drawings of incomplete construction projects prompted by its 2008 economic crisis alongside 55 recent buildings that demonstrate innovative solutions or responses based on economic constraints.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126061/original/image-20160610-10700-1q76a35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126061/original/image-20160610-10700-1q76a35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126061/original/image-20160610-10700-1q76a35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126061/original/image-20160610-10700-1q76a35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126061/original/image-20160610-10700-1q76a35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126061/original/image-20160610-10700-1q76a35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126061/original/image-20160610-10700-1q76a35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126061/original/image-20160610-10700-1q76a35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Spanish Pavilion show Unfinished won the Golden Lion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But one of the most powerful and thoughtful installations came from Ireland with its project titled “Losing myself.” Offering insight into the unimaginable – the experience of dementia – the project works directly with patients suffering from the disease. It explores alternative ways of redrawing a building collectively witnessed by sixteen people throughout one day, based on subjects that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>cannot use memory and projection to see beyond their immediate situation and can no longer synthesise their experiences to create a stable model of their environment.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126055/original/image-20160610-10729-idgw06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126055/original/image-20160610-10729-idgw06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126055/original/image-20160610-10729-idgw06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126055/original/image-20160610-10729-idgw06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126055/original/image-20160610-10729-idgw06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126055/original/image-20160610-10729-idgw06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126055/original/image-20160610-10729-idgw06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126055/original/image-20160610-10729-idgw06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Irish Pavilion, Venice Binnale 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The results are beautiful representations of a very real and frightening experience but more importantly, returning to Alejandro Aravena’s curatorial statement, this is a project that is an “exemplary case” where architecture made a difference.</p>
<p>Last stop on the Biennale circuit was the off-site Zaha Hadid retrospective at the <a href="http://www.fondazioneberengo.org/">Fondazione Berengo</a>, an homage to the late architect who <a href="https://theconversation.com/zaha-hadid-an-exceptional-complex-and-inspirational-person-to-work-with-57138">died in March at the age of 65</a>. While the exhibition has a strong focus on the late architect’s current projects, (which are really the brainchild of Zaha Hadid Architect’s Director Patrik Schumacher) a large portion of the space displays some of Hadid’s most influential works.</p>
<p>These include her large scale paintings in which architecture grows out of the surface of the canvas, as well as models in paper relief and 3-D printing, line drawings, photographs, and videos. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126064/original/image-20160610-10696-110we3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126064/original/image-20160610-10696-110we3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126064/original/image-20160610-10696-110we3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126064/original/image-20160610-10696-110we3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126064/original/image-20160610-10696-110we3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126064/original/image-20160610-10696-110we3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126064/original/image-20160610-10696-110we3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126064/original/image-20160610-10696-110we3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zaha Hadid retrospective.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The work celebrates the role form plays in the production of space. Here, the architect, unlike many witnessed at the Arsenal and Giardini, truly manifests the role of both the public intellectual and a maker of space. </p>
<p>The dichotomy between social activism and Architecture with a capital “A” is blurred here. Certainly refreshing following days of sensory overload.</p>
<p>In 2000, I visited the Venice Architecture Biennale for the first time. It was 7th International Architecture Exhibition directed by formalist Massimiliano Fuksas, with a title “Less Aesthetics more Ethics”. It also claimed to abandon previous Biennale structures, “no longer based on architecture as buildings.” </p>
<p>Fast forward 16 years and we seem to be approaching a similar cycle. The big question is: has architecture made a substantial contribution over the past 16 years, or are we just experiencing a case of déjà vu? Is architecture more innovative today? </p>
<p>We cannot deny the amazing array of talent and work presented at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition but did I leave feeling that when it comes to solving the world’s problems “architecture makes the difference”, as Aravena puts it?“ It would be almost impossible for any exhibition to live up to the expectations of its own publicity. </p>
<p>I leave the Venice Architecture Biennale thinking more about the world in its current state. The problems. The issues impacting our profession. I think that we can all learn a lot from the late, great Dame Zaha Hadid whose seminal work, along with her fearless attitude, challenged the state of architecture through design. </p>
<p>But I also leave inspired (and exhausted) by the amount of work I have been exposed to, and optimistic that we can continue to ask the same questions while challenging them through new paradigms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60789/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Feuerman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From now through November 27, architects and enthusiasts from around the globe will descend upon Venice, Italy, for the 15th International Architecture Exhibition organised by La Biennale di Venezia. The…William Feuerman, Course Director (B Des Arch), Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/335822014-11-12T00:47:39Z2014-11-12T00:47:39ZThe Venice Architecture Biennale avoids lessons from the past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64086/original/x4j8zf4d-1415591760.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The growth of the French suburbs is critiqued in France's pavilion – Modernity: promise or menace?
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrea Avezzù, la Biennale di Venezia</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/Home.html">14th International Architecture Exhibition</a> in Venice – <em>la Biennale di Venezia</em> – which runs until November 23 is best tackled in bite-sized chunks. It’s vast and expansive – both in theme and scale. And it’s really two discrete exhibitions. </p>
<p>In the overarching theme, <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/exhibition/14iae/">Fundamentals: elements of architecture</a> Dutch curator <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/director/">Rem Koolhaas</a> brings us back to basics with a focus on “fundamentals” - doors, ceilings, stairs, windows and so on; an eclectic array that in the main, looks back at what was, to what is. </p>
<p>From a Roman chariot latrine to a Wi-Fi-enabled toilet some displays have elements of surprise while others have the feel of a trade show.</p>
<p>Retrospection is also explored in <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/exhibition/national-participations/index.html">Absorbing Modernity 1914 – 2014</a>, inviting 65 countries to respond to the question of whether modernity has produced a universal architectural language – the international style - resulting in the erasure of national characteristics. </p>
<p>What was once local and specific is now global. At least these are the assumptions put into question. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64084/original/rkd5fmhs-1415591646.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64084/original/rkd5fmhs-1415591646.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64084/original/rkd5fmhs-1415591646.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64084/original/rkd5fmhs-1415591646.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64084/original/rkd5fmhs-1415591646.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64084/original/rkd5fmhs-1415591646.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64084/original/rkd5fmhs-1415591646.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64084/original/rkd5fmhs-1415591646.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Central Pavilion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Giorgio Zucchiatti, la Biennale di Venezia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A summary of world architecture of the last 100 years is a big endeavour and it’s produced a range of national responses, varying from the playful, the intellectual to the mundane. </p>
<p>Many countries critique modernity’s utopian project – with its architectural attempts to create a better world – France and Britain express this through popular culture which makes for an engaging experience. </p>
<p>At the centre of France’s pavilion is a 1:10 model of Villa Arpel (main image), the high-tech modernist house in Jacques Tati‘s 1958 film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050706/">Mon Oncle</a> which ridicules the advent of time-saving electronic gadgetry. Our attention is directed to the question looming behind the model: Object of Desire or Machine of Ridicule? The growth of the French <em>banlieue</em> (suburbs) is critiqued in a visually arresting manner that invites contemplation.</p>
<p><a href="http://design.britishcouncil.org/venice-biennale/venice-biennale-2014/">A Clockwork Jerusalem</a>, referencing Kubrick’s 1971 film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066921/">A Clockwork Orange</a>, exhibits a grand sweep of British architectural and visual culture from <a href="http://www.william-morris.co.uk/a-full-history/">William Morris</a> to <a href="http://www.hockneypictures.com/illust_chronology/illust_chrono_01.php">David Hockney</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64076/original/9qsqsnjb-1415590498.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64076/original/9qsqsnjb-1415590498.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64076/original/9qsqsnjb-1415590498.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64076/original/9qsqsnjb-1415590498.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64076/original/9qsqsnjb-1415590498.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64076/original/9qsqsnjb-1415590498.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64076/original/9qsqsnjb-1415590498.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64076/original/9qsqsnjb-1415590498.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Great Britain, A Clockwork Jerusalem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrea Avezzù, la Biennale di Venezia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The pavilion, with a 60s psychedelic look features a striking pink and earth mound sitting in the middle of a panorama of British architectural styles. But what stands out is Britain’s utopian effort at public housing which resulted in those grim council estates, spawning a magnitude of social problems – and also solving many of them. We are reminded of this with reference to A Clockwork Orange’s droogs (thugs). </p>
<p>The German pavilion, somewhat playfully, features a full-scale reconstruction of part of the <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2012-03-27_Bonn_Kanzlerbungalow.JPG">Chancellor’s bungalow</a> built in Bonn in 1964.</p>
<p>Its sleek, low modernist lines sit in contrast with the pavilion itself, a grand Third Reich statement remodelled in 1938. This exhibition is refreshingly spare of textual references, the house speaks for itself.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64077/original/jwzyr5t7-1415590621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64077/original/jwzyr5t7-1415590621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64077/original/jwzyr5t7-1415590621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64077/original/jwzyr5t7-1415590621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64077/original/jwzyr5t7-1415590621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64077/original/jwzyr5t7-1415590621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64077/original/jwzyr5t7-1415590621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64077/original/jwzyr5t7-1415590621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Germany, Bungalow Germania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrea Avezzù, la Biennale di Venezia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Appearing to lack a coherent Japanese aesthetic, the Japan pavilion includes a mishmash of wooden pallets and crates, construction bunting, handwritten notes and models. The aim is to show how architects challenged modernism during the 1970s recession, a significant period in redefining Japanese architecture. Copious amounts of real drawings, models and notes require time and dedication to absorb but are gems for architectural enthusiasts. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64078/original/v8mypt69-1415590742.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64078/original/v8mypt69-1415590742.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64078/original/v8mypt69-1415590742.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64078/original/v8mypt69-1415590742.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64078/original/v8mypt69-1415590742.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64078/original/v8mypt69-1415590742.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64078/original/v8mypt69-1415590742.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64078/original/v8mypt69-1415590742.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Japan, In the real world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrea Avezzù, la Biennale di Venezia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Israel’s <a href="http://www.archdaily.com/486059/the-israel-pavilion-at-the-2014-venice-biennale-urburb-neither-urban-nor-suburban/">Urb Urb</a> critiques suburban housing sprawl in a striking way. Four enormous “print machines” are programmed to trace a series of plans in the sand spread across the pavilion’s floor, beginning with Israel’s master plan in 1949. Intended as an “abstraction of reality”, we can interpret what it might mean for Israel’s expanding settlements. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64079/original/kcgb4tqr-1415590832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64079/original/kcgb4tqr-1415590832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64079/original/kcgb4tqr-1415590832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64079/original/kcgb4tqr-1415590832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64079/original/kcgb4tqr-1415590832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64079/original/kcgb4tqr-1415590832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64079/original/kcgb4tqr-1415590832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64079/original/kcgb4tqr-1415590832.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Israel, The Urburb.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrea Avezzù, la Biennale di Venezia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/the-venice-architecture-biennale-by-phone-whats-app-25269">Augmented Australia</a> resides in a temporary tent structure while the existing pavilion undergoes a major renovation. Its displays are fittingly digital, downloadable as a series of apps. The exhibition looks at buildings that didn’t make it to construction and although there’s been some criticism of this, it brings an interesting and appropriate twist to the theme. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64080/original/tm39pn5w-1415590944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64080/original/tm39pn5w-1415590944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64080/original/tm39pn5w-1415590944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64080/original/tm39pn5w-1415590944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64080/original/tm39pn5w-1415590944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64080/original/tm39pn5w-1415590944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64080/original/tm39pn5w-1415590944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64080/original/tm39pn5w-1415590944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Augmented Australia 1914 – 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrea Avezzù, la Biennale di Venezia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With its broad focus and exploration of what architecture has lost and retained through globalisation, the Architecture Biennale elides a compelling concern of contemporary architecture: what lessons have we learnt from the past? And how might an architecture of the future promote the health of the planet? </p>
<p>Perhaps Koolhaas wanted to avoid this question explicitly. He’s spoken about the empty rhetoric of sustainability and its politicisation, a view hard to ignore in a world driven by rapacious growth and consumption. And while implicitly, retrospection might afford contemplation of the future, only a few countries articulated this link explicitly. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Malaysia, Sufficiency.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrea Avezzù, la Biennale di Venezia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One such country was Malaysia, with <a href="http://www.venicebiennale.my/">Sufficiency</a>; standing out as a clarion call for “material adequacy”. In recognition of needs rather than wants, a series of cages suspended from the ceiling suggest the idea of minimum building footprint and asks us to tread on the earth lightly. </p>
<p>Other exhibitions are scattered throughout Venice itself, some will invariably be serendipitous finds, hidden in alluring Venetian laneways. You really need a month in Venice to enjoy the fruits of this exhibition … if you leave tomorrow you’ll have 10 days.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><em>The <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/">14th International Architecture Exhibition</a> in Venice runs until November 23.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33582/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Felton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 14th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice – la Biennale di Venezia – which runs until November 23 is best tackled in bite-sized chunks. It’s vast and expansive – both in theme and scale…Emma Felton, Senior Lecturer, Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/265162014-05-30T01:07:48Z2014-05-30T01:07:48ZExplainer: what is a biennale?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48558/original/sz6tzd2c-1400118467.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Bang' composed of 886-three legged wooden by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei at the German during the 55th International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy, 2013.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/ Andrea Merola</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Chances are you’ve heard of an art biennale, even if you haven’t visited one. This year’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/biennale-of-sydney">Biennale of Sydney</a> hit the headlines with a controversy over <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/sydney-biennale-boycott">sponsor Transfield’s links</a> to off-shore refugee detention centres.</p>
<p>And if you haven’t visited a biennale, it’s probably by design rather than accident. With at least 98 biennales (and triennales) staged worldwide, it can be difficult to avoid them. According to the <a href="http://www.iaa-europe.eu/">International Association of Art</a>, biennales are staged in 46 different countries. So almost a quarter of the world’s sovereign states offer one. </p>
<p>There are currently four on offer in Australia: the <a href="http://www.biennaleofsydney.com.au/">Biennale of Sydney</a>, founded 1973 and currently running until June 9; the <a href="http://adelaidebiennial.com.au/">Adelaide Biennale</a> (1990) – which just finished and was <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-2014-adelaide-biennial-contemporary-art-as-it-was-meant-to-be-23033">highly praised</a>; Brisbane’s <a href="http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/apt">Asia-Pacific Triennial</a> (1993); the <a href="http://twma.com.au/static/files/assets/cfaf4aed/Curators_2014_Biennial.pdf">Tarrawarra Biennial</a> (2008). The City of Melbourne staged one biennale in 1999.</p>
<p>The Italian word “biennale” acknowledges the original art biennale; the <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/Home.html">Biennale di Venezia</a>, staged since 1895. </p>
<p>Biennales are large-scale exhibitions of contemporary art, named for their host city and typically managed by a combinations of public art museums, government agencies and philanthropic supporters. As for the two- or three-year cycle, that’s simply a reflection of the time required to organise a large exhibition.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Drive In’ by Dutch artist Erik van Lieshout, 55th International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy, 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/ Andrea Merola</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Originally more of a specialised, art-world affair, biennales now figure in the cultural menu supported by state and local government tourism agencies. A successful biennale will draw tens, even hundreds of thousands of visitors. </p>
<p>A biennale is also a promotional platform for participating nations; this year’s Biennale of Sydney, for example, lists 27 different national cultural agencies among its partners.</p>
<p>A biennale operates on a grand scale, gathering artists from around the globe and presenting their work across multiple venues. The art works are often room-filling, theatrical environments, heavy with high definition video technology. </p>
<p>Add the forums, performances, opening night parties and semi-official parallel exhibitions hovering around the margins and a biennale becomes an immersive, weeks-long arts festival.</p>
<p>Because each biennale is a brief, one-off event (usually of about 12 week’s duration), visitation is driven by an intensive promotional “call to action”. Increasingly marketing strategies focus on emotive effects, emphasising the biennale as an “experience” rather than as a formal cultural affair. </p>
<p>The titles of the 2014 Adelaide Biennial — “Dark Heart” — and Biennale of Sydney – “You Imagine What You Desire” – evoke emotional states. The curator of the first <a href="http://adelaidebiennial.com.au/the-exhibition/">promises</a> “a moving experience” and <a href="http://www.biennaleofsydney.com.au/19bos/visit-biennale/">the second</a>, “splendor and rapture”.</p>
<p>Canny organisers amplify these emotional effects with unusual venues (abandoned factories are a favourite), hands-on and interactive art works, and the placement of striking sculptures or installations in familiar public spaces. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48238/original/97rq5bx3-1399866789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48238/original/97rq5bx3-1399866789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48238/original/97rq5bx3-1399866789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48238/original/97rq5bx3-1399866789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48238/original/97rq5bx3-1399866789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48238/original/97rq5bx3-1399866789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48238/original/97rq5bx3-1399866789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48238/original/97rq5bx3-1399866789.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artwork on display at the 19th Biennale of Sydney on March 22, 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Thompson/Newzulu</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A smartly orchestrated biennale is a combination of magical mystery tour and high-brow theme park. Today’s biennale visitor traverses the city, map (<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-venice-architecture-biennale-by-phone-whats-app-25269">or app</a>) in hand, adding the thrill of discovery to the experience of the art works themselves.</p>
<p>The promotional “call to action” is often supported by the open declaration of an artistic agenda or the linking of artists within a shared theme. Often, the organisers of a biennale will make a grand statement about pressing social and aesthetic issues, or even that old chestnut, the human condition. </p>
<p>An evocative subheading can gussy up the bald, numerical title of a biennale, as in the case of the 52nd Biennale di Venezia, 2007: Think with the Senses – Feel with the Mind. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48242/original/5m2xxzph-1399869045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48242/original/5m2xxzph-1399869045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48242/original/5m2xxzph-1399869045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48242/original/5m2xxzph-1399869045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48242/original/5m2xxzph-1399869045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48242/original/5m2xxzph-1399869045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48242/original/5m2xxzph-1399869045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48242/original/5m2xxzph-1399869045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘I am the River’ by Eva Koch in the Turbine Hall on Cockatoo Island in Sydney, March 18, 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Quentin Jones</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An aesthetic agenda promises signposts to the visitor, the past few years of global art activity will be distilled into a manageable event. Themes represent the pulse of the contemporary art world, flagging issues that will shape museum exhibitions and art market movements in subsequent years. A cultural experience (the event itself) is coupled with cultural capital (information that a visitor can trade on).</p>
<p>The roots of the modern biennale lie in the annual academy exhibitions of the 18th and 19th centuries. In its heyday, the <a href="http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/15">Royal Academy’s summer exhibition</a> (established 1769) made reputations and established markets. The [Paris Salon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salon_(Paris) (established 1725) did the same and its offshoots, such as the <a href="http://www.salon-automne.com/">Salon d’Automne</a> (established 1903), introduced <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-modernism-24534">modern art movements</a> such as fauvism and cubism. </p>
<p>The grand-daddy of them all, Biennale di Venezia, was a variation of the 19th-century international expositions, where art was displayed in national categories alongside the products of primary and secondary industry, with merit recognised by the awarding of medals. This fusion of national, commercial and cultural promotion continues to haunt the contemporary biennale. </p>
<p>Like a 19th-century exposition or world’s fair, an art biennale puts a city on the global map. In 21st-century terms, a biennale declares a city part of the creative economy, with art acting as a metaphor for innovation and entrepreneurship. Today the logos in biennale catalogues belong to trade and innovation agencies, as well as the arts.</p>
<p>Like the international expositions, biennales are nationally competitive. They compete with each other for audiences, participating artists, premieres and exclusive presentations. The major biennales host national pavilions (Venice has 50), encouraging visitors to compare national endeavours. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nzwhYYPXoTc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Biennales can be a source of great joy.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Critics measure success by the length of the queue at the pavilion door. Offering a range of awards – lifetime achievement, best national pavilion, best artist, best young artist – the Biennale di Venezia makes national and generational competition overt (as well as hinting at its capacity to shape reputations and future trends).</p>
<p>All of these factors – national cultural agendas, marketing strategies, promotional spectacle, the experience economy – have lead some critics to complain of what they call “biennial art”. The risk is that biennales have become something of a circuit, an endless roadshow for a globalised art world in which, as American critic <a href="http://meanjin.com.au/articles/post/living-the-dream-the-contemporary-australian-artist-abroad">Barry Schwabsky suggested</a>, artists speak a <em>lingua franca</em> of “atmosphere” and “themes” supported by the showmanship of high-definition video and sideshow-scaled installation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48240/original/fc6235n4-1399868820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48240/original/fc6235n4-1399868820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48240/original/fc6235n4-1399868820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48240/original/fc6235n4-1399868820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48240/original/fc6235n4-1399868820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48240/original/fc6235n4-1399868820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48240/original/fc6235n4-1399868820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48240/original/fc6235n4-1399868820.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Luminale festival in Frankfurt, Germany, 30 March 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Boris Roessler</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perhaps the greatest challenge to the biennale is art itself, as it should be. In his 1997 book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/After-End-Art-Arthur-Danto/dp/0691002991">After the end of art</a>, critic Arthur Danto argued that with the collapse of modernism’s single-minded pursuit of abstraction, there was: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>no special way a work of art had to be … artists were liberated to do whatever they wanted to do.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As artists now enjoy that freedom, the biennale curator’s ability to comprehensively and convincingly map the territory of art has evaporated. And as for handing out medals, that looks all the more arbitrary. </p>
<p>If all that remains for the biennale is themes and moods, the takeover of art exhibitions by the experience economy will be complete.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48244/original/xzdvtk8y-1399869317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48244/original/xzdvtk8y-1399869317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48244/original/xzdvtk8y-1399869317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48244/original/xzdvtk8y-1399869317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48244/original/xzdvtk8y-1399869317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48244/original/xzdvtk8y-1399869317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48244/original/xzdvtk8y-1399869317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48244/original/xzdvtk8y-1399869317.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Venetians’ by artist Polish Pawel Althamer at the 55th International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy, 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/ Andrea Merola</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26516/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris McAuliffe receives funding from the Australian Research Council (2014-16 multi-partner research grant).</span></em></p>Chances are you’ve heard of an art biennale, even if you haven’t visited one. This year’s Biennale of Sydney hit the headlines with a controversy over sponsor Transfield’s links to off-shore refugee detention…Chris McAuliffe, Independent art historian and Honorary Fellow at the Australian Centre, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/252692014-04-16T02:42:46Z2014-04-16T02:42:46ZThe Venice Architecture Biennale by phone … what’s app?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46167/original/rpgq8kq9-1397181072.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A re-imagined Sydney Opera House by Minifie van Schaik - trigger this for a glimpse of what's to come in Venice.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy: Felix Laboratories Pty Ltd</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The creative team representing Australia at the 14th <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/news/11-03.html">International Architecture Exhibition</a> – from June 7 to November 23, <a href="http://felixlab.com/">Felix Laboratories</a>, of which I am a team member, was faced with the particular challenge this year of having no Australian Pavilion in Venice, with the new <a href="http://www.archdaily.com/223320/australian-pavilion-for-venice-biennale-winning-proposal-denton-corker-marshall/">Denton Corker Marshall building</a> not due to open until 2015.</p>
<p>And so, we devised the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/augmented-australia/id841761982?mt=8">Augmented Australia app</a>, using technology to overcome the hurdles of no pavilion and showcase historical and contemporary Australian projects from the last 100 years which, for various reasons, were never actually built. All the while increasing the capacity for the creative team to extend our creative boundaries.</p>
<p>If you download the app now and scan the “trigger images” accompanying this article they will come alive and take you on a virtual journey through these unrealised projects, incorporating three-dimensional (3D) augmented models, images, voiceovers and animations. </p>
<h2>Fundamentals 1914 – 2014</h2>
<p>The Venice Architecture Biennale is considered to be the “Olympics of Architecture,” at which countries compete for the coveted Golden Lion trophy. Held every two years in the <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/venues/giardini.html?back=true">Giardini</a>, the gardens on the Island of Venice constructed by Napoleon Bonaparte, this historic site has been turned into a series of pavilions housing 30 of the 80 countries who participate in the Biennale. </p>
<p>The curator of the exhibition, <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/news/25-01.html">Rem Koolhaas</a>, possibly one of the most influential architects in modern times, has themed the 2014 exhibition “Fundamentals 1914 – 2014”, asking countries to examine their architecture and its relationship to national identity over the last 100 years. </p>
<p>Provocatively, Koolhaas <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/geographyAndEnvironment/whosWho/profiles/gajones/d.pdf">has claimed</a> that globalisation is affecting regional and national design, creating a global architectural homogeneity.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45678/original/rm8mh3hf-1396668161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45678/original/rm8mh3hf-1396668161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45678/original/rm8mh3hf-1396668161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45678/original/rm8mh3hf-1396668161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45678/original/rm8mh3hf-1396668161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45678/original/rm8mh3hf-1396668161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45678/original/rm8mh3hf-1396668161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45678/original/rm8mh3hf-1396668161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Cloud Space’, Temporary Australian Pavillion 2014, Sophie Giles, University of Western Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Felix Laboratories Pty Ltd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Augmented reality in Venice</h2>
<p><a href="http://mashable.com/category/augmented-reality/">Augmented reality</a> (AR), the technology we use in the app devised for Venice, is essentially an extra layer of information overlayed on the built environment. </p>
<p>The technology has freed the Venice exhibition from the constraints of the physical world to expose the designs of 22 – 11 historical and 11 contemporary – architectural dreams plus a completed version of the new Australian pavilion. </p>
<p>The temporary structure “Cloud Space” (pictured above) is the new spiritual home for the 2014 Australian exhibition, where participants can go to get help from the exhibition staff and partake in the animations and scale models on trigger images under the cloud before venturing off to explore the 1:1 scale models. </p>
<p>The 1:1 scale models are placed throughout the city of Venice, unbuilt but “habitable” through handheld devices using your phone’s GPS co-ordinate system and its camera to position itself within the built environment. This experience lets the participants experience each project’s scale, form and materiality. </p>
<p>In the article you are reading there are three examples of trigger images – a re-imagined Sydney Opera House by Minifie van Schaik (Caught Unawares) – main article image – and a 1952 competition entry by Harry Seidler for the Melbourne Olympic Stadium, below. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46178/original/c6jzyy3y-1397187797.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46178/original/c6jzyy3y-1397187797.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46178/original/c6jzyy3y-1397187797.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46178/original/c6jzyy3y-1397187797.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46178/original/c6jzyy3y-1397187797.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46178/original/c6jzyy3y-1397187797.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46178/original/c6jzyy3y-1397187797.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46178/original/c6jzyy3y-1397187797.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trigger image – Harry Seidler, Olympic Stadium, Princes Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Competition Entry 1952. Digital Reconstruction by Daniel Giuffre and Paul Sawyer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Felix Laboratories Pty Ltd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is also the real-world scale digital model of a 1958-designed Pier Nervi cathedral, below, which has been GPS-located in the CBDs of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Perth.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45904/original/n5xymdnc-1397003283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45904/original/n5xymdnc-1397003283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45904/original/n5xymdnc-1397003283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45904/original/n5xymdnc-1397003283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45904/original/n5xymdnc-1397003283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45904/original/n5xymdnc-1397003283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45904/original/n5xymdnc-1397003283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45904/original/n5xymdnc-1397003283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trigger image – Pier Luigi Nervi, Antonio Nervi, Carlo Vannoni and Francesco Vacchini, Cathedral, Abbey and Benedictine Monastery, 1958, New Norcia, Western Australia, Australia. Digital reconstruction by Matt Delroy-Carr, Keith Reid, Scott Horsburgh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Felix Laboratories Pty Ltd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Into the future</h2>
<p>The built environment is facing some critical issues in the near future. In the sustainability and climate-change space, architecture can be considered a “waste management” issue, given building life-cycles can be as little as 30 years.</p>
<p>Redundancy in building stock is a natural force in our urban condition, being largely driven by economic factors and property value.</p>
<p>It’s no longer enough to find materials, or energy and resource harvesting products, to help reduce a building’s life-cycle impact on the environment. One of the implications of augmented reality technology is allowing the creation of a hybrid building – half physical, half soft (or virtual).</p>
<p>Google Glass, which I wrote about on <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-eyewear-to-eyeware-googles-project-glass-and-the-future-of-augmented-reality-6458">The Conversation</a> in 2012, is a dedicated AR device allowing for a more immersive experience through a set of glasses. </p>
<p>Although still unreleased to the general market, this currently offers the best delivery model to utilise unbuilt architecture through AR.</p>
<p>The Augmented Australia app at the Venice Biennale is pioneering it’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of technology and its application.
<br></p>
<p><em>The <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/news/11-03.html">14th International Architecture Exhibition</a> will take place in Venice from June 7 to November 14 2014.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25269/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rene Van Meeuwen is an Assistant Professor at the University of Western Australia and the founding Director of Felix Laboratories Pty Ltd.</span></em></p>The creative team representing Australia at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition – from June 7 to November 23, Felix Laboratories, of which I am a team member, was faced with the particular challenge…Rene Van Meeuwen, Assistant Professor of Architecture, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.