The fact that the next largest architecture exhibition in Scandinavia will be devoted to “sustainability” was revealed only during an international competition for the position of curator. The organizers of the triennial, the Norsk Form agency, set a single limitation for all candidates: the topic must be clearly formulated so that all participants stay within its framework. This requirement arose after they visited various biennials and triennials (including the Moscow one in 2012), where exhibitors often showed whoever wanted what, and it was almost impossible to guess the general theme of the exhibition from the exposition.
The winning Belgians Rotor are known to the general public for their witty
the Usus / Usures exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2010 (then they presented the worn-out architectural details of typical modern buildings in the Belgian pavilion as an elegant exhibition of contemporary art), as well as the curators of the OMA retrospective at London's Barbican Art Gallery in 2011, appointed by Rem Koolhaas. they had a much more ambitious and responsible task - the study of the key concept for modern ideology and even, perhaps, mythology of the concept of "sustainability", a term so often used that it almost lost all meaning.
The motto of the entire triennial and the name of its main exhibition at the DogA center, created by the Rotor themselves, is “Behind the Green Door”. This "green door" is the definition of "sustainable", behind which anything can be hidden. During the preparation of the exposition, the curators have collected 625 "stable" objects, which, as expected, often have almost nothing in common. They categorized these exhibits according to themes (Beauty, Concrete, Prosthetics, LEED), as well as an extremely long chronological line from 1970 - when we can talk about a fully formed "green" movement - to 2050, to which some modern eco-strategies. On this scale, the 2000s turned out to be the most detailed, but this is forgivable, because a special exhibition about eco-pioneers is being held within the framework of the triennial (we will tell about it separately).
The curators started from scratch - one of the walls of the exhibition hall was occupied by a huge reproduction of the photograph "Earth Rising" taken by the crew of the Apollo 8 spacecraft in 1968: in this picture, our planet is opposed to the dead surface of the Moon. Eco-movement activists used this and other images of the Earth from space as a clear example of the "limitedness" of its size (and resources), as well as its possible future as a lifeless desert.
Also, a key place in the exposition is occupied by the report of the "Bruntland Commission" (1987) - the UN International Commission on Environment and Development, which was headed by former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Bruntland: this commission was supposed to formulate "general perception of environmental problems" and "goals for the world community ". In an attempt to develop a platform that is relevant to all, the term “sustainable development” was coined with the definition “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”. Over the past 30 years, this logical, but very vague definition has become the basis for legislative acts, programs and initiatives of various levels: about the same amount was needed for an abstract idea to turn into concrete, real projects and processes. Of course, the very concept of "needs" is very conditional - it is difficult to measure them; the main conference of the triennial "The Future of Comfort" was devoted to this problem (we also plan to tell our readers about it).
Curators present strikingly different “sustainable” projects and processes to our attention as equal in value, only their comments sometimes become caustically ironic. At the exhibition one can find impeccable examples - the story of a Californian family that reduced the volume of household waste to 1 liter per year, or the use of low-quality sheep wool that is not suitable for textile production as an ideal insulating material, but still more tricky stories. For example, curators ask themselves whether the replicated photos of the modest life of the residents of the reconstructed Parisian
the Tour Bois Le Pretre towers in a new "gloss", like spectacular shots of new museums and expensive villas - only with a "green" tint? Or they publish fresh material from Abitare magazine about how the preacher of "hedonistic sustainability" Bjarke Ingels (BIG) charmed Danish Minister of the Environment Ida Auken, which allowed him to approve his controversial project for an incineration plant with a ski slope in Copenhagen, at that time practically collapsed.
It also tells about the popularity of "recycled teak" in the United States, due to which in Thailand, quite suitable for living houses from this timber are being dismantled (naturally, their former owners then build new ones for themselves - which can hardly be called an efficient use of resources) or about insulating material made from haute couture scraps, unusable due to its irresistible flammability - but its creators got their moment of fame in eco-blogs.
The widely criticized LEED building eco-certification system has been hit hard, with examples of BP approved petrol stations with 1,653 steel panel roofs in Los Angeles (Office dA) and parking for 882 cars (only 14 of them electric cars).
It was repeatedly mentioned by curators
the presidential library of George W. Bush, which received a LEED platinum certificate despite the fact that it contains documents about such "unstable" steps of this ruler, such as the military operation in Iraq and Afghanistan, the withdrawal of the United States from the Kyoto Protocol, the opening for oil production of the National Arctic Reserve and etc. It would seem that this is a big stretch: one thing is the materiality of a "green" building, another is "crimes against the environment", presented inside it in the form of intangible terabytes of information. But for this example, you can draw out, like a fishing rod, the whole concept of Rotor, although they hide it in a "random" selection of exhibits and plots.
They consider “sustainability” as a relative, conditional concept: each “green” step remains “green” within certain boundaries, turning into its opposite outside of its “pocket of sustainability”. The famous Masdar in Abu Dhabi will be ultra-eco-friendly in its area of 6 km2, but behind its fortress wall there will be gasoline-powered cars bringing its residents and the airport that provides it with the status of a world center of technology - by definition one of the "dirtiest" objects. Biofuel vehicles will not harm the environment, but they will compete for farmland and agricultural products - an already extremely demanded resource. Wind turbines generate clean energy, but they require a lot of reinforced concrete to build them, and then wind turbines cannot be recycled.
Therefore, the curators believe that the meaning of the concept of "sustainability" is in its educational function: a person, under the influence of "green" ideas and projects, realizes that there is an alternative for his lifestyle and that the resources of the Earth are exhaustible, therefore this idea must be impeccable from a moral point of view … Therefore, it should be taken on faith as a completely worthy "temporary truth", which may or even certainly be overthrown in future discussions - but then the general situation will be different. Which one - of course, is unknown, but the curators hope that the current "pockets of stability" will expand to such an extent that they will cover the whole world.
