Cleveland-based gallery SPACES has been selected to organize the US exhibition at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. As curators, Tizziana Baldenebro, the executive director of the gallery, has collaborated with Lauren Leving, a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, on the proposal. Together they plan to fill the space of the pavilion with works in plastic by architecture professors, designers, and artists. The exhibition, titled “Everlasting Plastics”, aims to examine the role of this material “both literally and as a cultural metaphor”.
From toys to camping coolers, plastic is deeply embedded in the culture of the United States, where polymers were perfected and exported. Our toxic chemical relationship with the material is now a global phenomenon, requiring new approaches for addressing a widespread dependency around the world. - Lauren Leving
SPACES, the non-profit alternative art organization, has announced that they will act as “commissioners” of the US exhibit, thus creating a platform to reframe attitudes towards the use of plastic, the once revolutionary material that is now deeply engrained in our built environment. The curators have invited a number of artists and designers to present works during the event, including Cleveland-based sculptor Lauren Yeager; Xavi Laida Aguirre, assistant professor at MIT; Ang Li, architect and assistant professor at Northeastern University in Boston; Chicago-based social practice artist Norman Teague; and designer Simon Anton, cofounder of the Detroit-based design collective, Thing Thing.
All five artists and designers invited are taking into consideration systems of waste, waste production, and their impact on communities, especially in the American Midwest, where the production of petroleum-based polymers is an important part of the industry. The site-specific interventions for the pavilion aim to explore plastic as a single, enduring material with infinite forms. The exhibition invites discussion and debate on the role of this material in the erosion of contemporary ecologies and economies, as well as its impact on the built environment.
As the exhibition centers on the significance of plastic in American society, it also considers its positive impact and the possible lifesaving uses of plastic. While opening the discussion about the ways that plastics both shape and erode contemporary ecologies and economies, the exhibition also seeks to highlight possible alternatives and necessary re-imaginings for the ways in which plastics are deployed.
The curators are also considering the limitations of exhibiting in Venice and are trying to make the exhibition more accessible to the US public. This includes organizing shows in statewide venues after the Biennale closes and opening the events for online participation. The exhibition will also be accompanied by a lecture series, student courses, and workshops that will draw parallels between Ohio's largest industries and the plastic waste accumulating on the banks of the Venetian Lagoon. "Everlasting Plastics" will be on view from Saturday 20 May to Sunday 26 November 2023, at the U.S. Pavilion, owned by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and operated by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.
For the 18th edition of the International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, curator Lesley Lokko has chosen the theme The Laboratory of the Future. Other countries have also announced their selected curators. Luxembourg has appointed Francelle Cane and Marija Marić for its pavilion, with a project focusing on understanding the earth’s resources and commons; Germany has chosen ARCH+ and Summacumfemmer Büro Juliane Greb as curators with a project focused on repair, and maintenance; while the UAE pavilion will be curated by Faysal Tabbarah, who chose to explore the potential of the dry landscape of his country.
More info on La Biennale di Venezia.
