Japan's Pavilion has announced its exhibition “Architecture, a place to be loved – when architecture is seen as a living creature” curated by Maki Onishi, for the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Centered around our post-pandemic reality of faceless developments taking over cities globally, the intervention's main question explores how people can once more find amazement in architecture and joy in shared physical spaces.
“Architecture, a place to be loved” refers to the many forms of use which might indicate love was present in a given space. Furthermore, the display unfolds how architecture is about more than buildings; it is how people connect and relate to space and surroundings. It further expands on how these built environments can learn and be informed by our memories and stories, taking on forms and meaning flexibly. Architecture as a construct is seen in the Japanese Pavilion as a living, breathing creature that must be nurtured to develop with the rest of the world’s communities.
Under Onishi's curation, there will be participation from both architects and collaborators. Together with the architects, there will be a wide range of artists, such as textile designers, photographers, designers, and editors. All of them, including Onishi, will discuss the types of architecture that they value, work on projects, and do research in order to connect these to the displays. Moreover, each team member's specialty will be explored through the lens of the built environment. The pavilion encourages visitors to consider architecture a space in which to love and be loved.
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The aim of this exhibition is to bring our thoughts together and to join in thinking in more depth about the potential for place of mind architecture—architecture with a presence that gives the impression of having its own mind, being tolerant, warm, and drawing in large numbers of people to become involved with nature.
--Maki Onishi
Many other countries are exploring similar themes of ethereal languages, which the built environment can host, under Lesley Lokko’s overarching theme – The Laboratory of the Future. The British Pavilion, Dancing Before the Moon, focuses on intangible architecture, deconstructing the formality of infrastructure and focusing instead on people, communities, and rituals. Similarly, the French Pavilion, curated by Muoto, dives into themes of performance and experimentation, creating a place of celebration. From a different angle focalized on collaboration, the Korean Pavilion 2086: Together How? discovers how people can cooperate while withstanding the current and future environmental crisis until 2086.
