Venice –
Giardini: The 15th International
Architecture Biennale
The Dutch
Pavilion
BLUE: Architecture of Peacekeeping Missions
Commissioner - Het Nieuwe Instituut
Curator: Malkit Shoshan
The Netherlands. The United Nations has active
peacekeeping missions in hundreds of sites around the world. The military bases
are self-sustaining islands, shut off from their direct surroundings. The
extreme design of these compounds mirrors the power structures and systems of
the peacekeeping forces and makes no contribution to improving the lives of the
inhabitants of these regions. The urgent need to reach new spatial solutions
that can also have significance for local communities is an important
motivation for her research.
The Netherlands - Blue. The presentation centers on
the case study of Camp Castor in Gao, Mali, where the UN is carrying out a
peacekeeping mission. The color blue is used as a metaphor for the conflict,
uniting architecture and human rights. The peacekeeping mission is located in
the desert region of the Tuareg, known as ‘blue men’ because of their indigo
clothing, and is carried out by UN Blue Helmets. In this nomadic region the
borders are fluid and shift with the seasons; there is a state of permanent
crisis due to war, climate change, sickness and hunger. The color blue has also
guided designer Irma Boom who, together with Malkit Shoshan, has designed the
exhibition’s graphics.
Four Steps for Sharing Space
Exchange – Interface – Shared Space – Post Mission
A four-step process describes how a UN base can
gradually open up and share resources and knowledge with local
populations. The stages are linked with security regimes. The diagrams and models focus on three topics of exchange:
water, energy and food. The proposal is
based on conversations with military engineers, policy-makers, diplomats,
landscape designers, economists, anthropologists and local population.
Camp
Castor – Model
The
city of Goa is only a few hundred meters away, once inside the base, the city
simply disappears: it feels far away.
Most of the soldiers have never visited the city during their deployment.
