The Malaysia Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Biennale focuses on the idea of sufficiency, and its role in creating sustainable and modest architecture.
In a statement, one of the Pavilion curators, Lim Teng Ngiom, writes that “while sufficiency suggests a modest but adequate scale of living, it can be reduced to only the necessity required for survival extended on a personal or collective autonomy. On the precept of sustainability it can be measured by one’s carbon footprint, or in construction it can suggest minimum building footprint or optimum structure.”
To represent the idea of sufficiency, the curators chose to display works on collapsible pet cages, which have "just enough space for existence." Several of the pet cages are clamped together to form a suspended beam, creating a "fundamental component of architecture." Additional works are displayed on pet cages that are sitting on the floor.
Enjoy photos from the Pavilion and a statement from the curators after the break…
From the Official Catalog of 14th International Architecture Exhibition: Sufficiency / sə’fiSHənsē/, 1. The condition or quality of being sufficient, 2. An adequate amount or quantity, 3. A modest but adequate scale of living. The state of self-sufficiency, where only necessity is required for survival. Sufficiency leads to sustainability in an effort to reduce one’s carbon footprint- signaling an adventure into sufficient living, and the rise of the new Asian ecological civilization.
