my third biennale di venezia but my first architecture biennale. and as always i didn't have enough time to go through everything and missed quite some interesting pavilions (including the spanish!). as expected it's more relatable than the usual art biennale i've been to. lots of interesting thought provoking ideas and of course too many presentation techniques to be admired. some of the most interesting pavilions include the australian (top right), which was the very last one we visited and it was a real refreshing ending. then the way thailand presented their idea about earthquake (bottom left) to me was really smart. there was an insane raw model making technique by a romanian studio which i could stare at for hours if my friend didn't drag me away (bottom middle). then there were also some that i hated like the one by ando, which actually made me disrespect the architect which i used to admire (bottom right).
but. the coolest of all was the little red creatures (left, second from top). the whole day we were confused, intrigued, and entertained by all these small red people spotted on most of the architectural models exhibited. turn out it's a project by codesign in which there are 1,255 red figurines corresponding to the 1,255,000 refugees that applied for asylum in europe on 2015. each are numbered and we are to put them anywhere, find them 'home', and upload with the hashtag #includeme. it was just brilliant.
i had lots of thought about the biennale but since i never went to previous architecture one, i couldn't really compare. but i have to say that i agree with this article here. it says, "for its proponents, architecture is about making nice things for paying clients and there it ends". architecture is always more than just that. i knew little about aravena prior to the biennale. but then i went to his talk in milan, and right there and then i was mind fucked and i learnt what a respected architect he is. plus he speaks fluent italian. impressive.
