The theme of the Biennale announced by curators Yvon Farrel and Shelley McNamara is, as always, vague, but not too vague. By the name - FreeSpace, or Free Space, by the way, on the multilingual screensaver of the Biennale, these words in Russian are given large and are inferior only to English - it is obvious that we are talking about public spaces, a topic that in recent years has managed to form a good ring-shaped groove in all those involved on the cerebral cortex. So at the press conference, the curators explained that yes, of course, public spaces, but not directly they and not only they, urging to think about how the existing spaces allow you to feel free, recalling the emotions of free space and inner freedom, clarifying that it is not only about the spaces between buildings, but also about the connections and interactions between them. Somehow it is necessary to show, at least out of the corner of the eye, the projects and buildings of the architects invited by the curators - this year there are 65 of them in the Arsenal, and I will say right away that there are no Russians. Diller Scofidio + Renfro participate, the second to the right of the entrance, but they do not show Zaryadye, but the 14-story building of the Roy and Diana Vagelos Medical Education Center at Columbia University in New York: “… the building encourages team learning, its main reception is the educational Cascade, a sequence of interconnected spaces, light and saturated with air. … Unlike conventional medical centers, where the main goal is to optimize each square meter, it is flexible, adaptive and pays attention to sensations, - this is how the project itself reveals the theme of the Biennale. Delight was heard.
But the theme of public spaces certainly influenced the exhibition. Not only were everyone again encouraged to think not entirely about the buildings, but about what is between them - remember the mysterious Out there of Aaron Betsky - so also the space should be free. Unsurprisingly, almost every exhibitor offered benches in one form or another, from cushions to places where you can even lie down for a bit. This is a very good innovation: it is known that the Biennale is about legs, the exhibition is huge, and not every wolf will reach the end. Although this year it seems a little smaller, the gloomy cameras of the Giardino delle Vergini are not busy with anything. Otherwise, as always, installations compete in originality and profundity, choosing a genre between the presentation of projects and research, the construction of stairs to the ceiling, from where you can view the Arsenal halls from above - there are especially many of these, every year more and more - meditative light and music shows, architectural plastics, minimalism to self-denial and so on.
The curators' commentary is laconic and distributed over two halls - at the entrance, after a curtain made of ropes, reminiscent of the original purpose of Corderi: ropes were made in it, “it was a working space, and now a space for communication”. In the first line, the curators call the building an active participant in the exhibition, admire its 317 m length and specify - the ruler they painted on the floor compares the old Venetian feet, piedi, and the metric system of measures. On the ceiling along the entire length of the Corderie, letters are projected with the same emblem of the current Biennale - they refer to the sun glare from the water, which can so often be seen on the ceiling here in the city. All exhibits “represent aspects of their authors' work” and respond to different parts of the manifesto, Farel and McNamara clarify. The points are: culture, materiality, space of possibilities, movement, time, memory and gifts of Nature.
The first participants from the entrance just present their projects: Briton McLaughlin - in the form of a rotating wooden table in the spirit of Leonardo's models, with a starry sky on the table top; on the opening day, he himself spun the table, which is quite difficult.
Nearby, Takahara Tezuka shows off his oval kindergarten Fuji: an animated projection model shows how children run not only around the yard, but also on the roof, and visitors are worried that they would not fall.
Architects show their work, but often, striving to find the theme of the Biennale and in search of “free space”, they turn to examples from history - for example, Arrea Architecture from Slovenia: “… our project is about a square and a tree”. One of the squares is cathedral.
Another option - Weiss / Manfredi, invited definitely as authors skilled in the construction of parks and public buildings, show 2/3 of their works and about a third of historical analogies, the Shah Abbas bridge in Isfahan and the Sydney Opera, so to speak, putting themselves in context.
The Gumujan Bureau, called the British at the Biennale, shows projects for the Transcaucasian Route, an analogue of the Norwegian tourist road: a series of spatial interventions spanning 750 km. Bridges, sheds, piers and other landscape inclusions, designed to be built within 10 years with the involvement of volunteers. The route is not designed for "industrial tourism" - the authors explain, but it perfectly suits the theme of the exhibition and, in general, amazes with the scale and delicacy of working with nature. Mountains of corrugated cardboard with golden splashes of designs are very attractive.
The exposition of the Chinese bureau DNA is related in its meaning to the Armenian one and also shows very high quality landscape inclusions - amphitheaters and bridges in the Sonyan canton, part of the project to revitalize the region. Called "architectural acupuncture". Local materials and building technologies are used.
The Spaniards Flores & Prats show on a large scale their project of transforming an abandoned building of a workers' cooperative, built in Barcelona in 1924, into a theater space, building a fragment of it in full size, and it turned out that in front there are the notorious benches, in the back there are scenes with detailed, in a variety of layouts, a story about the project.
Among the installations - micro-public spaces, the first, perhaps, is the amazement of the plywood enclosure-attraction from Alison Brooks. She combined four pavilions, two with disorienting mirrors, one with the perspective of arches going up, which can be observed and photographed, of course, lying on the platform, which is what everyone was doing. Of course, there was an amphitheater. The work of the bureau is in modest little books on ropes. We are sitting on the amphitheater, watching. All parts of the installation in one way or another resonate with Brooks' architectural solutions.
However, there are a lot of stairs to the ceiling, as already mentioned, this year.
Golden Lion
went to Kenneth Frampton, while in Corderie, Rafael Moneo, perhaps, plays the role of "luminaries" with the statement,
And Mario Botta, who collected bugs and classic facades in a plywood can. And all this is the work of several groups of first-year students. The topic of one group is an introduction to an architectural project, the other is to look, see, observe, imagine. “Architecture first of all studies the spaciousness of human life and transforms it, establishing new spatial connections,” the description says. “… Therefore, architects must first of all remember about responsibility, and in assuming the role of interpreter of the history of community memory, they must adhere to the firm belief that they are not so much inventing as they are rewriting the ancient“act of construction”in a modern way.
Alejandro Aravena wrote his principles quickly, on paper and on the wall.
There was a place for pillows - in the installation of Benedetta Tagliabue called "Woven Architecture". “Free space gives a sense of belonging and a certain kind of happiness,” comments the architect.
… and for the "Renaissance" sepia - from the Spaniards De Blacam & Meagher; the show of the project is stylized as an addict.
The Australians John Wardle architects built a pipe similar to the camera obscura, from which the drapery was removed, and called it mysteriously “Somewhere other”.
The long metal structure with corrugated roof represents the roof built by the Norwegians Jensen & Skodvin over the Moya spring. You can go inside.
The Italians Laura Peretti architects show a project for the regeneration of Corviale, a famous very long modernist house, either urban horror, or a monument to the experiences of post-war architecture.
And finally, at the end of 317 meters, the Corderi argue among themselves about the transparency and dematerialization of Kazuyo Shojima / Ryue Nishizawa with a plastic installation that vividly resembles Junio Ishigami's fishing lines that were torn by a cat 10 years ago, and Ricardo Bloomer with canvases of soap bubbles controlled by sophisticated automation, representing "Extreme circumstances of free space" and at the same time - experimental educational practices of the author. Perhaps, in the sense of dematerialization, the latter wins, but the overflow of soap bubbles - surprisingly - is almost impossible to photograph.
The last object of Corderi - "Spatial Experience", a hypostyle of Valerio Olgiati, puts an end to the dispute.
