A site for her work with an area of 0.8 hectares was found directly next to the Arsenal complex: this is a wasteland on the site of the demolished at the end of the 19th century. Convent of Santa Maria delle Vergini. Since the theme of this year's Biennale involves the study of all types of "architecture except buildings", the sphere of landscape will receive a significant place in its exposition.
The curator of the 2008 Biennale, Aaron Betsky, offered Catherine Gustafson an assignment, which included a quote from Voltaire's Candida: "We need to cultivate our garden." Therefore, the architect focused on the methods invented by mankind for the use of natural resources, on their advantages and disadvantages. The landscape installation, titled "To Heaven," asks uncomfortable questions: is the person hardworking or careless? responsible or depraved? Gustafson's work and her American and British workshops are inspired by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's painting "The Brazen Serpent" from the Galleria dell'Accademia in Venice, in which the sculptured serpent becomes a metaphor for travel, discovery and self-discovery. So "To Paradise" should become a modern allegory in the broadest sense of the word.
The installation, the first such piece of landscape architecture in the history of the Venice Biennale, will take visitors on a journey through the eternal questions of earthly existence, from life to death and “to paradise”. The garden created next to the Arsenal will reflect the trinity of time - past, present and future, and will also consist of five main spaces: reflections, memories, conversations, contemplation and insight.
The installation by Katherine Gustafson will be included in the international part of the Biennale exhibition, curated by Betsky. In addition to her, installations at the Arsenal will be performed by workshops Asymptote, Bow Wow, Coop Himmelb (l) ay, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, MVRDV, UN Studio, architects Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Massimiliano Fuksas, Greg Lynn and Totan Kuzembaev. Most of them will also take part in the Manifesto section. In addition, a special part of the exposition will be the exhibition “The Non-Eternal City. "Roma interrotta" 30 years later ", dedicated to a new look at the landmark exhibition in 1978, when 12 prominent architects proposed their options for the development of Rome. In this "chapter" of the Biennale, along with Italian colleagues, Danes BIG, Chinese architects MAD, Dutch West 8 will show their works.
