The Awards - Biennale Architecture
A special mention National Participation
Great Britain - Island
Commissioner: Sarah Mann- Architecture Design Fashion
British Council
Curators: Caruso St John Architects, Marcus Taylor
A
Special mention for National
Participation went to Great Britain
for the courageous proposal that uses emptiness to create a “freespace” for events and informal
appropriation.
British Pavilion
Island
“In past Biennales, the Pavilion has held curated exhibitions on
architectural themes. This year, we have taken a different approach. There will
be no exhibits; instead we have realized a structure that can be experienced
like a building. There are many ways to interpret the experience of visiting
Island and the state of the building suggests many themes; including
abandonment, reconstruction, sanctuary, Brexit, isolation, colonialism and
climate change. It is intended as a platform, in this case also literally, for
a new and optimistic beginning. It is forward looking whilst acknowledging the
past, whether good or bad.”
Adam Caruso, Peter St John and Marcus Taylor
2018 curators
British Pavilion
Island
Visitors
approaching the British Pavilion
will find the building covered with scaffolding supporting a wooden platform at
roof-level. A staircase running the length of one side of the building leads up
to an elevated piazza, a place to meet or to relax amongst the tree-tops of the
Giardini, open to the sky with views
across the Lagoon.
British Pavilion
Island
Tea
will be served at 4 pm each day, on the rooftop, with seats and umbrellas
offering comfort and shade. The peak of the Pavilion’s roof projects up through
the floor at the center of the space, suggesting both an island and a sunken
world beneath.
British Pavilion
Island
“But we see-
the clouds like furious ink
thick liquid sinks and
whips the wind
pitch shifted
rumble, screams from a swollen grin -
there's a big storm rolling in
Kate Tempest
artist, writer and musician
artist, writer and musician
From Brews – Let Them Eat Chaos
Both
spaces, the terrace and the inside of the Pavilion, will house poetry readings
and debates on architecture. A sort of public island and a haven for the
castaway and the exiled, a safe haven, far from the tempests evoked by two
poetic and balancing English voices:
those of Shakespeare and young poet
and rapper Kate Tempest.
