The main and only theme of the Swiss pavilion was bridges - its curator, the famous designer Jürg Conzett, rightly judged that it would be difficult to find another architectural structure, equally completely subordinated to the idea of uniting and meeting different people. The exposition, dubbed Landscape and Structures, is based on gorgeous black and white photographs of large and small bridges built at different times and in different parts of the country.
From stands with photographs and descriptions of the structural schemes of bridges and their significance for the economy and society of a particular region of Switzerland, Konzett built a real labyrinth.
Slowly moving along it from one picture to another and gradually getting acquainted with the evolution of engineering, visitors were involuntarily imbued with the idea of time travel. The newest bridges, projects of which have already been approved but not yet implemented, were presented in the pavilion in the form of masterly made wooden models, allowing to fully appreciate both the elegance of their architectural solution and the complexity of the structure.
Israel also built its national exposition on photographs, however, on archival or "vintage", as it was proudly indicated in the press materials of this pavilion. A state like Eretz Israel, of course, had something to say on the topic “people meet in architecture”, and the main subject of the show was, quite predictably, kibbutzim - agricultural communes in which almost all immigrants began their lives in Israel ten years ago.
Buying up on special effects, but very informative, the exposition of this country told in the most detailed way about what kibbutzim are, how they were designed and built, how the social ideas and urban planning solutions underlying the commune ensured its successful development.
As a souvenir of this exhibition, each visitor could take one or several photographs of the most famous kibbutzim of Israel - gigantic stacks of these photographs were placed throughout the pavilion, and during the Biennale their "growth" gradually decreased.
Armenia approached the theme of the Biennale in a very original way, interpreting the maxim “people meet in architecture” as an opportunity to show how many Armenian architects the world has met over the past decade. The main part of the exposition presents the projects of Armenian architects, developed for the USA, European countries and for Russia.
Romania had two pavilions at the Biennale this year. One was located in Giardini, the second in the Cannaregio area - and both were solved extremely conceptually. An open national competition was held for the project of the main pavilion in Romania last year, in which a team of designers led by 26-year-old Tudor Vlasceanu, by the way, the youngest curator at the current Biennale, won. We have already talked in detail about the project of this team aimed at creating "fundamental relations between man and space"
The second exhibition of Romania, entitled SUPERBIA, was located in a tiny gallery in the Cannaregio area, owned by the Romanian Institute for Culture and Humanitarian Studies, and was devoted to the study of modern clichés and stereotypes about living in a metropolis. In other words, the curator Monica Morariu (Morariu) sought to find out what unites all residents of large cities and what, on the contrary, makes them so lonely and disconnected. One of the most striking exhibits of this small exhibition was a white tunnel, laid in an embankment of black soil - unlike the main Romanian pavilion, it is impossible to penetrate into this hole, it is purely decorative, but it so vividly symbolizes the futility of most of our efforts, which is almost impressive stronger than the entire Giardini pavilion put together.
White patent leather shoes with gold-plated soles - “shoes for golden routes” also invariably attracted the attention of visitors. Exhibited at the very window of the gallery, they gave the exposition site the appearance of an expensive boutique, and moving to the next "showcase", pedestrians were amazed to notice that for some reason this "shoe store" also sells land (and in bulk!), Incomprehensible white constructions and plasma TVs showing movies about the suburbs of Bucharest. I personally happened to witness an episode when two men literally broke into the gallery, stood in front of the embankment and asked indignantly: "What is this ?!" “Part of the exposition,” an employee of the Institute politely explained. - Within the framework of the XII Architectural Biennale ". For a while, the men silently digested this information, and then one of them said: "Oh, is this design?" And he explained to the second already calmly: "It's just a design, you know?" Isn't it an example of how people meet - in architecture and with architecture?
