Baltic States to share a pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale

Curators of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will work as one team at the 15th international architecture biennale in Venice. The team will develop a joint pavilion to present work from all Baltic States.

Janis Dripe, architecture expert from Latvia’s Culture Ministry and a commissioner of the biennale from Latvia emphasizes: «The exhibition is planned as a social and artistic story about the spatial framework of life in our [Baltic] region. It is a story about the complicated road towards a free, informed and civil society through infrastructure we had used in the recent past, the infrastructure we use new or plan to use in the future. It is an inter-disciplinary portrayal of social values by using spatial landmarks.»

«Topical geopolitical processes encourage beginning new spatial practices that would unite the Baltic region and reinforce European space. Rail Baltica railway project, FSRU Independence gas ship and the spatial planning of the Baltic Sea is but some of the prime examples of new architecture,» – Latvia’s curators Dagnija Smilga and Niklavs Paegle say about the developing exhibition.

«The Baltic pavilion will be our attempt to understand the range of tools and conditions used by a wide spectrum of spatial sectors, industries and infrastructures to change the environment people are exposed to in Baltic States and beyond,» – explains Paegle.

The Baltic Pavilion will be located in Palasport Arsenale, Giobatta Gianquino. It is a sport hall of a period of brutalism. Based on architect Enrichetto Capuzzo’s project, this public building is an important part of Venice’s social events, has been since the 70s. This will be the first time this building will open its doors to house an international architecture exhibition.

The Venice Architecture Biennale will take place 28 May – 27 November.

The curator of the Venice Architecture Biennale is internationally well-known architect from Chile Alejandro Aravena. He promises to make this biennale more open to a wider audience by focusing on ways architecture can improve the environment and public quality of life.

This will be the seventh time Latvia will participate in the Venice Architecture Biennale.

BNN 

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