Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

<strong>Kingdom of Bahrain<br /><em>Fundamentalists and Other Arab Modernisms</em><br />Curators: George Arbid, Bernard Khoury – Arab Center for Architeture</strong><br /><br />The Bahrain pavil

Kingdom of Bahrain
Fundamentalists and Other Arab Modernisms
Curators: George Arbid, Bernard Khoury – Arab Center for Architeture

The Bahrain pavilion presents a vast library of 100 years of Modernism in the Arab world surrounding a round table set with a map that shows the region shaped by forces from colonialism to real-estate development.

Photo © Architectural Record

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Israel
The Urb Urb
Designers and Curators: Ori Scialom, Roy Brand, Edith Kofsky, Keren Yeala Golan

In beds of sand inside the Israeli pavilion, machines trace plans for the standard garden high-rise developments that rose throughout the country in the 20th-century and continue to characterize its cities and hold an important position in the culture.

Photo © Architectural Record

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Israel
The Urb Urb
Designers and Curators: Ori Scialom, Roy Brand, Edith Kofsky, Keren Yeala Golan

The mechanical drawing process is mesmerizing, and when complete, the equipment wipes away the completed drawings—like an ephemeral mandala—only to start again.

Photo © Architectural Record

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Israel
The Urb Urb
Designers and Curators: Ori Scialom, Roy Brand, Edith Kofsky, Keren Yeala Golan

The mechanical drawing process is mesmerizing, and when complete, the equipment wipes away the completed drawings—like an ephemeral mandala—only to start again.

Photo © Architectural Record

<strong>Switzerland <br /><em>Lucius Burckhardt and Cedric Price: A Stroll Through a Fun Palace</em><br />Designer: Herzog & de Meuron<br />Curator: Hans Ulrich Obrist</strong><br /><br />Art historia

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Switzerland
Lucius Burckhardt and Cedric Price: A Stroll Through a Fun Palace
Designer: Herzog & de Meuron
Curator: Hans Ulrich Obrist

Art historian Dorothea von Hantelmann presents in the courtyard of the Swiss pavilion. The homage to Swiss sociologist Lucius Burckhardt and British architect Cedric Price focused less on the pavilion design by Herzog & de Meuron, and more on a program of talks by Atelier Bow-Wow, Stefano Boeri, Eleanor Bron, Elizabeth Diller, Liam Gillick, Olafur Eliasson, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Dan Graham, Samantha Hardingham, Carsten Höller, Koo Jeong-a, Philippe Parreno, Asad Raza, Tino Sehgal, von Hantelmann, and of course, pavilion curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Photo © Architectural Record

<strong>Japan<br /><em>In the Real World</em><br />Curator: Norihito Nakatani<br />Deputy Curators: Hiroo Yamagata, Keigo Kobayashi, Jin Motohashi</strong><br /><br />Japan’s pavilion focused on

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Japan
In the Real World
Curator: Norihito Nakatani
Deputy Curators: Hiroo Yamagata, Keigo Kobayashi, Jin Motohashi

Japan’s pavilion focused on architecture from the 1970s, presenting work in a setting that resembled nothing so much as a thrift shop.

Photo © Architectural Record

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Japan
In the Real World
Curator: Norihito Nakatani
Deputy Curators: Hiroo Yamagata, Keigo Kobayashi, Jin Motohashi

The sign reads: “Ito’s ‘House Commodification Study Group,’ which produced minimal (not minimalist) houses ran parallel to the technological development of the prefabricated housing industry.”

Photo © Architectural Record

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Japan
In the Real World
Curator: Norihito Nakatani
Deputy Curators: Hiroo Yamagata, Keigo Kobayashi, Jin Motohashi

Osamu Ishiyama, Farmer’s House, 1975-86

Photo © Architectural Record

<p><strong>Morocco<br /><em>Fundamental(ism)s</em><br />Designers: Mikou Design Studio, Groupe 3, Stefano Boeri architetti, Fernando Menis arquitectos, X-TU architectes, BOM architecture, BAO + Ultra

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Morocco
Fundamental(ism)s
Designers: Mikou Design Studio, Groupe 3, Stefano Boeri architetti, Fernando Menis arquitectos, X-TU architectes, BOM architecture, BAO + Ultra Architettura, Linna Choi Tarik Oualalou, KILO
Curator: Tarik Oualalou

The first Moroccan pavilion at the Venice Archtecture Biennale presented images of historic examples of modernist building alonside speculative designs for desert habitations.

Photo © Architectural Record

<strong>Morocco<br /><em>Fundamental(ism)s</em><br />Designers: Mikou Design Studio, Groupe 3, Stefano Boeri architetti, Fernando Menis arquitectos, X-TU architectes, BOM architecture, BAO + Ultra Arc

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Morocco
Fundamental(ism)s
Designers: Mikou Design Studio, Groupe 3, Stefano Boeri architetti, Fernando Menis arquitectos, X-TU architectes, BOM architecture, BAO + Ultra Architettura, Linna Choi Tarik Oualalou, KILO
Curator: Tarik Oualalou

Mikou Design Studio presented a scheme for repurposing the topography left behind by the mining industry in Boucraa, a small town in the Sahara, to create inhabitable spaces.

Photo © Architectural Record

<strong>Turkey<br /><em>Places of Memory</em><br />Designers: Alper Derinbogaz, Metehan Özcan, Candas Sisman, Ali Taptik, Serkan Taycan<br />Curator: Murat Tabanlıoğlu</strong><br /><br

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Turkey
Places of Memory
Designers: Alper Derinbogaz, Metehan Özcan, Candas Sisman, Ali Taptik, Serkan Taycan
Curator: Murat Tabanlıoğlu

Turkey’s first pavilion in the architecture Biennale presented a range of work demonstrating the adaptation of modernism in that country, but the presentation centered on the Atatürk Cultural Center. The 1969-77 concert hall prominently located on Taksim Square in Istanbul was designed by the pavilion curator’s father, Hayati Tabanlıoğlu.

Photo © Architectural Record

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Turkey
Places of Memory
Designers: Alper Derinbogaz, Metehan Özcan, Candas Sisman, Ali Taptik, Serkan Taycan
Curator: Murat Tabanlıoğlu

Photo © Architectural Record

<strong>Great Britain<br /><em>A Clockwork Jerusalem</em><br />Curators: FAT Architecture and Crimson Architectural Historians</strong><br /><br />The British pavilion examined the legacy of social ho

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Great Britain
A Clockwork Jerusalem
Curators: FAT Architecture and Crimson Architectural Historians

The British pavilion examined the legacy of social housing by looking at specific projects and their representation in popular culture.

Photo © Architectural Record

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Great Britain
A Clockwork Jerusalem
Curators: FAT Architecture and Crimson Architectural Historians

The British pavilion examined the legacy of social housing by looking at specific projects and their representation in popular culture.

Photo © Architectural Record

<strong>Great Britain<br /><em>A Clockwork Jerusalem</em><br />Curators: FAT Architecture and Crimson Architectural Historians<br /><br /></strong>The British pavilion examined the legacy of social ho

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Great Britain
A Clockwork Jerusalem
Curators: FAT Architecture and Crimson Architectural Historians

The British pavilion examined the legacy of social housing by looking at specific projects and their representation in popular culture.

<strong>Republic of Kosovo<br /><em>Visibility (Imposed Modernity)</em><br />Curator: Gezim Pacarizi</strong><br /><br />The Kosovo pavilion presented a circular tower made from 692 traditional <em>sh

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Republic of Kosovo
Visibility (Imposed Modernity)
Curator: Gezim Pacarizi

The Kosovo pavilion presented a circular tower made from 692 traditional shkambi chairs.

<strong>Greece<br /><em>Tourism Landscapes: Remaking Greece</em><br />Designers Represented: S. & D. Antonakakis, Bernard Tschumi Architects, C. Crantonellis, C. Decavalla, Divercity, Doxiadis Associa

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Greece
Tourism Landscapes: Remaking Greece
Designers Represented: S. & D. Antonakakis, Bernard Tschumi Architects, C. Crantonellis, C. Decavalla, Divercity, Doxiadis Associates, D. Fatouros, Foster + Partners, W. Gropius/Tac, P. Karantinos, A. Konstantinidis, Mplusm, P. Nikiforidis & B. Cuomo, G. Nikoletopoulos, T. Papayannis Associates, D. Pikionis, Pleias Architects, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, P. Sakellarios, I. Triantafyllidis, E. Tuttle, N. Valsamakis, P. Vasiliadis, P. Vokos, E. Vourekas, T. Zenetos, E. Zenghelis/OMA, M. Aires Mateus, Angelidakis Studio, Antonas Office, Atelier Bow-Wow, Bertaki Loukopoulou Paniyiris Architects, Buerger Katsota Architects, Amid.Cero9, Flux Office, Hhf Architects, T. Issaias/P. Issaias/A. Vougia, Z. Kotionis, Ksestudio, Neri & Hu, I. Papageorgiou/So-Il, Tense Architecture Network, A. Zaera-Polo & M. Llaguno Architecture, Princeton
Curator: Yannis Aesopos

<strong>France<br /><em>Modernity: Promise or Menace?</em><br />Designers: Eugène Beaudouin, Vladimir Bodiansky, Maurice Cammas, Robert Camelot, Raymond Camus, Maurice Crevel, Jacques Lagrange, M

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

France
Modernity: Promise or Menace?
Designers: Eugène Beaudouin, Vladimir Bodiansky, Maurice Cammas, Robert Camelot, Raymond Camus, Maurice Crevel, Jacques Lagrange, Marcel Lods, Jean de Mailly, Eugène Mopin, Jean Prouvé, Charles Ricome, Jacques Tati, Louis-Bernard Zehrfuss
Curator: Jean Louis Cohen

The modern Villa Arpel, where “everything is connected,” was designed by French painter Jacques Legrange to play a starring role in Jacques Tati’s 1958 film Mon Oncle.

<strong>Venice Pavilion<br /><em>Sonnets in Babylon</em><br />Designer: Daniel Libeskind</strong><br /><br />Daniel Libeskind showed a series of new drawings on a curve of cascading backlit panels&#82

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Venice Pavilion
Sonnets in Babylon
Designer: Daniel Libeskind

Daniel Libeskind showed a series of new drawings on a curve of cascading backlit panels—accompanied by a groaning soundtrack—at the Venice Pavilion.

<strong>Venice Pavilion<br /><em>Sonnets in Babylon</em><br />Designer: Daniel Libeskind</strong>

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Venice Pavilion
Sonnets in Babylon
Designer: Daniel Libeskind

Venice Dispatch: Highlights from the National Pavilions

Among the national pavilions in the Giardini, the Architectural Association School in London commissioned 1:1 Dom-ino, a realization of the legendary, never-built Maison Dom-ino, designed in 1914 by Le Corbusier. Project architect Valentin Bontjes van Beek worked with Sreerag Palangat Veetil, Joshua Penk, Thomas Weaver, and engineer Juerg Stauffer to build the engineered-timber structure.