Even if you do not count the dozen "semi-autonomous" exhibition points that are located in the immediate vicinity of the Arsenal, there are about 30 more national pavilions and "accompanying Biennale events" scattered around the city.
In most of them you will hardly meet visitors: apparently, the variety of the main exposition fully satisfies the needs of the specialists who came to the Biennale, and casual tourists visiting an architectural exhibition as another attraction of Venice are all the more reluctant to look for small exhibition halls hidden in the maze of streets and canals.
The only exception was the exhibition “The Universe of an Architect: Jorn Utzon. Process and vision”at the Venice Institute of Science, Literature and Arts, located on the road from San Marco to the Accademia Bridge. This is one of the most spacious "side" spaces of the Biennale, and also one of the best exhibitions in its program. The organizer was the Danish Louisiana Museum, which renewed its 2002 exhibition for Venice. The exhibition is distinguished by a deep analysis of the chosen subject - Utzon's work as an integral architectural phenomenon. The various sources of inspiration for the architect - nature and non-European cultures, as well as the typology of his projects, favorite structural and formal elements and their application, the use of natural surroundings, light and shade are considered quite in an academic spirit. At the same time, the exposition does not contain the dryness of scientific research, it is bright, original, alive: the most interesting video materials coexist with photographs, models and diagrams. Perhaps its only drawback is the lack of a catalog.
However, indifference to the theme of the Biennale - “Not here. Architecture besides buildings”- and an emphasized serious approach to the creation of an exhibition does not always give a positive result: the national pavilion of Slovenia shows in a small gallery near the Grande Canal the most boring exposition entitled“Ljubljana - Venice: a new need for urban planning policy”. Plates glued to foam board with various schemes and a large amount of small text are more reminiscent of an exhibition of student works, moreover, created by clearly not the most capable and diligent students. Knowing about the high level of modern Slovenian architecture, one cannot but regret that this country was so indifferent to its participation in the main international architectural show, which is the Venice Biennale.
At the same time, even with small means it is possible to create a very interesting and elegant exposition, while not forgetting about the general theme of the exhibition. An example of this approach is the Luxembourg pavilion, where the installation "Points of view: 4 questions, 44 answers" is demonstrated. The curators asked 11 architects, including Rudi Ricciotti, Dietmar Eberle and Leon Crieux, four questions on the burning topics of modern architectural life (for example, “Towards global copy / paste: will the genius loci survive in such conditions?” Or “Who will fix architectural environment: after all, in the 20th century, the city, this miraculous invention of civilization, is in decline? ") and placed their answers on a long white cloth winding through the exhibition premises. Visitors can also take a paper mini-version of the exhibition with them.
Irish participants in the Biennale worked in the same direction, creating one of the best national pavilions. They are located in the building of the Biennale Foundation in Palazzo Giustinian Lolin with their exhibition "The Life of Space". Video installations tell about the “life” of buildings for decades; Among the "heroes" of the exhibition is architect Robin Walker's own villa, which he built in a remote corner of County Cork in the 1970s and became a popular political and artistic salon, St. Patrick in Dublin, losing its inhabitants due to the decline of religious consciousness in modern Ireland, the Mays prison near Belfast, hated by the Irish, where the IRA militants were kept, captured during its demolition in 2006, the Waterford city library, presented in the form of paired shots: as soon as that a complete, completely empty building and a room already inhabited by staff and readers … All the video materials presented at the exhibition are an example of the highest skill in the most complex genre of cinematography - films of architectural themes. With the help of excellent camera work, well-chosen voice-overs and editing, they make you think that each structure has its own life, lived from the first draft of the project to demolition and is closely connected with the lives of people.
The convent of San Francesco della Viña, whose church façade was designed by Andrea Palladio, presents a more ordinary, but no less interesting exhibition “Architecture. Religion. Utopia". In this exhibition, as a variant of the meaning of architecture, in addition to the construction of buildings, its spiritual content is considered. The centerpiece of it is the presentation of the project of the ecumenical library, which will be located in the coming years in a gas holder located next to the monastery. During the Biennale, the gas tank itself is decorated with banners with reproductions of pages of the most valuable books from the monastery collection. Also in the cloister of the complex are presented the best examples of modern cult architecture, in the opinion of the curators, each of which personifies one of the building materials and one of the “architectural virtues”: the Church of Santo Volto in Turin by Mario Botta follows the mottoes “brick” and “sustainability”, and the sanctuary San Pio in Foggia Renzo Piano - "copper" and "respect".
The Cyprus pavilion, located on the third floor of the Mondadori bookstore near San Marco, shows the results of a competition held by the curators specifically for the Biennale. Participants from all over the world were invited to take a fresh look at the infrastructure of a beach holiday. The theme of "relaxation" (another excursion "past the buildings") is beautifully reflected in a very bright and calm pavilion with beach chairs scattered around the hall; even the exhibition curator, sleeping in one of them, fits perfectly into the general atmosphere. This exposition is also interesting because the first place in the competition was taken by the Russian architect Maxim Bataev.
An obvious way of interpreting the theme of the Biennale: outside the building, construction in general is the design - is also popular among the participants. The Pavilion of San Marino, located in the UNESCO office, is entitled “The South Is Not Here” and is dedicated to projects for hot regions of the world, designed to solve the problems of drinking water shortages, maintaining hygiene and health. This is a cheap and ergonomic ceramic lid for collecting steam when cooking, a dew collection system created from used plastic bottles, a stand-alone sink.
A less serious view of the world from Singaporean participants - their charming pavilion with emerald green artificial turf and colorful benches is called SuperGarden; it presents works of young designers and architects that have a very unobvious practical value.
The least successful exhibitions of the Biennale include those that move away from architecture to the sphere of contemporary art. "Billboard Project" by Patrick Mimran is a photograph of banners with phrases of varying degrees of meaning, displayed against the background of various attractions - the bridges of Venice, views of New York, the streets of Paris.
But the prize for the worst exposure can undoubtedly be awarded to the exhibition "Enduring lightness of being - a metaphor of space." This is an exhibition of 17 contemporary artists, whose works have a very indirect relationship to the title of the exhibition, and even more so to the architectural biennale. The works exhibited together are more likely to be united by an interest in pornography (variations on this theme can be seen in almost half of the authors), rather than a reflection on the phenomenon of space.
A special place among the city's points of the Biennale is occupied by the Scotland pavilion: it simultaneously plays the role of an exhibition hall (this region of Great Britain received its space in Venice for the first time) and an exhibit. The wooden structure of Gareth Hoskins opposite the Santa Lucia train station connects the observation deck and the recreational area, it can also be called a large sculpture. The pavilion looks great both in the daytime and at night, when its very successful lighting scheme works. As a topical addition to the building and a reference to the eternal problem of the modern city, we can consider the Venetian homeless, who rest around the clock in the deep niche of the pavilion.
The architectural exhibits of the Biennale include the Bridge of the Constitution, designed by Santiago Calatrava and opened on 11 September. It connects the railway station square and the bus station, and, despite the scandalous glory of the modernist building, which violates the historical appearance of the city, it looks quite appropriate. White marble and glass, forming a restrained, streamlined shape, do not hurt the eyes, especially when you consider the not very sophisticated appearance of the bus station.
But the structure seems to be in trouble: since the bridge's commissioning, at least 10 tourists have been admitted to hospital with injuries sustained at this particular structure. Some of the steps are made of slippery frosted glass, and their rhythm is constantly changing, which increases the risk of falling. The author of this article stumbled on this bridge three times, although she was warned of the danger. The creation of Calatrava presents special difficulties for wheelchair users (they cannot overcome it at all) and for travelers with luggage on wheels. The city authorities promised to install an elevator for disabled people, and for everyone else - to stick bright stickers on the steps of the bridge, urging to be more careful. However, according to recent reports, Calatrava himself agreed to make his project more humane.
Another exhibition unit of the Biennale can be called a new building by David Chipperfield - plot 23 in the city cemetery of San Michele. This columbarium courtyard opened last year, but most of the visitors to the Venetian architectural exhibition saw it for the first time. A discreet complex of dark gray basalt hides within four open courtyards, named for the evangelists. The center of each is planted with flowers and shrubs, while the walls are divided into white marble squares intended for burial.
The space of ideal tranquility created by the architect only benefits from the proximity to the brick walls and various tombstones of the old part of the cemetery. This building once again proves the inconsistency of the claims of the "traditionalists" to modernism, because, as in the last refuge of humanity, there is much more humanity in it than in the usual stone angels and chapels. The very philosophical idea of the finiteness of being, going beyond the brink of existence is manifested in it brighter and clearer; and, perhaps, this is a kind of response to the current Biennale: you can look for something in architecture other than buildings, but it is in them that its best content is expressed.
