Saudi And The UAE’s Participation At This Year’s International Architecture Exhibition
Now open to the public, the immersive exhibition explores human connection, emerging communities and spatial identities
The 17th International Architecture Exhibition launched 22 May and will run until 21 November 2021 at the Giardini, the Arsenale, and Forte Marghera in Venice. Curated by architect and scholar Hashim Sarkis, the exhibition is themed on a very open, thought-provoking question, How will we live together? and organised by La Biennale di Venezia.
Architects were called on to imagine spaces in which, as the title suggests, we can harmoniously live together. The question was proposed a few months prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the following topics in mind: Climate change, population displacements, global political unrest and increasing economic, social and racial injustices.
A total of 112 participants from 46 countries are set to participate, with growing numbers from Africa, Latin America and Asia along with a larger female representation as well. And, for the first time, Grenada, Iraq and Republic of Uzbekistan are also taking part.
The exhibition has been split into five ‘scales’ entitled Among Diverse Beings, As New Households, As Emerging Communities, Across Borders, As One Planet. Three are exhibited in the Arsenale and two in the Central Pavilion.
Five international architects have also designed a project for How will we play together?, on view at the 19th century Forte Marghera.
For the fifth year in a row, La Biennale di Venezia and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London have partnered to present a project at the Pavilion of Applied Arts. Named Three British Mosques and created by architect Shahed Saleem, the pavilion celebrates Islam and the South Asian diaspora in London.
The historic Pavilions will be brought to life in the Giardini, at the Arsenale city centre of Venice by 61 national participations. Representing the Emirates for its 10th participation at the Venice Biennale are Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto, curators of the National Pavilion of the UAE, commissioned by the Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation to create Wetland.
The project presents an eco-friendly salt-based alternative to cement, in hopes to reduce the climate impact of the construction industry in desert environments. Following over 90 submissions, the principal architects of Dubai-based architecture and interior design practice Ibda Design were selected to curate the National Pavilion UAE.
Titled Accommodations and curated by Uzma Z. Rizvi and Murtaza Vali, the Saudi pavilion is represented by Hessa AlBader, Hussam Dakkak and Basmah Kaki. The pavilion explores the social and spatial elements of housing in the Kingdom, through the lens of present and historic enclosures.
It aims to showcase how built environments adapt to emergency situations such as the current pandemic, inspiring a broader understanding of the inevitable social separation caused by quarantine.
The 17th International Architecture Exhibition titled How will we live together?, curated by Hashim Sarkis and organised by La Biennale di Venezia, runs from 22 May until 21 November 2021 at the Giardini, the Arsenale, and Forte Marghera.
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Lead image courtesy of Instagram/@labiennale