From August 23-24, Italian architecture firm Spacelab’s State of Exception curatorial project will be featured at the Monditalia section of the 2014 Venice Biennale. State of Exception will involve 12 intellectuals, designers and bloggers in a two-day round table discussion on the themes of the project: conservation and the state of exception, looking both within and outside Italy. The innovative event also seeks to generate involvement and discussion beyond the walls of the Arsenale, and will feature an open call for images representing the event's core themes via Instagram and Twitter.
As one of the countries with the most significant historic and natural heritage in the world, Italy implemented bodies and strict regulations for its preservation over a century ago. “But conservation for conservation spawned two paradoxes: on the one hand the unruly entropic drift for anything that is not covered by the rules of preservation. On the other hand, autistic immobility within the enclaves of conservation, which don’t allow the freshness and openness to the differences that have always marked the history of Italian architecture,” Spacelab writes in a project description. Through State of Exception, Spacelab seeks “to promote ‘ad absurdum’ arguments regarding Italy's problematic relationship with its context and its historical legacy,” bringing attention to these issues both inside and outside Italy.
For more details on State of Exception and to find out how you can contribute images, read on after the break...
A key part of the event and effort to expand the discussion outside of Italy, is State of Exception's open call for images. Anyone can participate by posting an image via Twitter or Instagram with one of two hashtags: #stateofexception for images dealing with the exceptional nature of architecture design among its context and #comissionimpossible for images about utopic/paradoxical interventions/hackings on a building or a natural/artificial/historical context which is commonly considered impossible to manipulate.
As part of the exhibition, eight international architecture critics and writers will write essays on the state of exception and the role of norm in architecture. The event also features two days of panels, culminating with a final debate between Spacelab’s Luca Silenzi and AMO’s Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli. Finally, Jean Luc Godard's "Le Mepris" will be screened in loop Saturday 23th and Sunday 24th as an exclusive State of Exception collateral event.
For more details on the event make sure to visit State of Exception's website and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Spacelab is an Italian design studio specializing in architecture, landscape design, urban development and industrial design. Based in Fermo, central Italy, the office has worked internationally since its inception with award-winning international practices (Ove Arup and Partners International Ltd and CEBRA among many others) and produced a wide range of work: private and public buildings, infrastructure, offices, residential, showrooms, products, to urban master plans. The project was curated by Spacelab co-founders Luca Silenzi and Zoè Chantall Monterubbiano.
