The Danish Pavilion has announced Josephine Michau as the curator of the exhibition “Coastal Imaginaries” to represent Denmark at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition highlights nature-based design solutions to alleviate global challenges like rising sea levels and storm floods. The team behind the exhibition represents a collaboration between the landscape architectural firm Schønherr and researchers, artists, Danish trade organizations, and scientific institutions. The selected subject aligns with the biennale’s overarching theme of Laboratory of the Future, running from May 20th to November 26th, 2023, in the Giardini, at the Arsenale, and at various locations around Venice.
The pavilion aims to present visitors with some principles and strategies in which nature can be used for coastal protection and climate adaptation. Nature-based solutions can be found throughout history. They show a deep understanding of local conditions and present low-technology adaptation for living safely with water. Throughout the exhibition, a series of future scenarios presented through large-scale 3D dioramas, will show how the Copenhagen coastline could employ these design solutions to adapt to the challenges posed by climate change. In addition to protection, these nature-based interventions also hold the potential of becoming recreational areas for the people, habitats for local flora and fauna, carbon storage elements, and sources of food and materials.
Through the exhibition, curator Josephine Michau aims to show the public and industry professionals a catalog of nature-based solutions that respond to today's challenges of storm surges and flooding. These include mechanisms for landscape resilience, carbon sinks, cultivation areas, materials banks, biodiversity and new and safe natural spaces for recreation. The proposals focus on Copenhagen, a city celebrated for the quality of its urban environment and as the UNESCO 2023 World Capital of Architecture, yet under the constant threat posed by rising sea levels.
In connection to the exhibition, landscape architecture office Schønherr has developed a new strategy for the city, "Copenhagen Islands." It aims to update the 1947 urban development plan with a proposal to develop islets in a delta between seawater and rainwater. This research-based proposal would ensure a robust future scenario for the Greater Copenhagen by adapting the urban planning to respond to the city's underlying topography. A large-scale model of the re-imagined Copenhagen will be exhibited at the Danish Pavilion. As part of the larger initiatives to bring awareness to these issues, Arkitektens Forlag will publish a book, "Critical Coast," related to the exhibition and developed with human ecologist and writer Jeppe Sengupta Carstensen and architect Anna Aslaug Lund as primary editors.
The pavilion is also designed to cater to all senses. Scenographer and artist Christian Friedländer and sound designer Peter Albrechtsen will translate parts of the research into sensory experiences, bringing the coastal landscape closer to the visitors of the pavilion. The dramatically-staged coastal landscapes represented aim to showcase the relationship between wet and dry, water and land, nature and culture and their interdependence. For this exhibition, curator Josephine Michau brings together contributions from artists, architects, craftspeople, practitioners and researchers representing a wide range of skills and fields of specialization. The research group "Migrating sea level rise" will also present their three-year research project "Adapting Danish cities to rising sea levels- new solutions," examining inspiring international cases and Danish coastal landscapes.
We’re in the middle of the Anthropocene Age – that is, the age of mankind – where geologists have declared humanity to be a geological force on equal terms with volcanoes, meteor strikes and tectonic shifts. Humans are contributing to many of the crises we are facing today, including the biodiversity crisis, the climate crisis, the environmental crisis, and the food crisis. We have not only the opportunity, but also the duty, to take action and reverse this trend, and the architects who design our physical surroundings play a vital role in this. - Curator Josephine Michau.
Other national pavilions have also announced their curators and selected themes. The Georgian Pavilion, curated by the Tbilisi Architecture Biennial, explores the relationship between the flow of time and energy and the story of an artificially altered settlement in the Dusheti region of Georgia. Uzbekistan Pavilion has chosen Studio KO to curate an exhibition focused on the country’s rich architectural heritage and traditions, while Argentina’s pavilion looks at “The Future of Water” under the direction of Diego Arraigada. Besides the national pavilions, the Venice Architecture Biennale also includes the international exhibition, along with several other collateral events.
Editor's Note: This is an update of an article originally published on February 03, 2023.
