The Biennale a major contemporary art exhibition, which happens every two years in Venice. This year was the Biennale of Architecture, where well known architects and designers can showcase new projects, arranged in different pavilions, each with different themes. This year’s theme was called “Common Ground” and each Pavilion housed a different country’s take on the theme. It’s the kind of thing you can’t see in one day– probably not even in two days. And we only spend an afternoon there– barely skimming the surface of the amount of information it presented.
In a state of pure exhaustion (we walked everywhere for days, were hot and jetlagged), I told Greg that architecture was like leggos for adults (deep thoughts, I know.) Then we found this book on display at the Biennale.
A lot of the pavilions had emphasis on sustainable architecture.
While Greg wandered taking in as much information as he could, I watched this video maybe three times. It was a cool video, displayed on all four walls (and the ceiling) around you about a utopia of sorts where everyone pitches in, creating a sustainable, productive community. It was also air conditioned with seats.
One of the most impressive pavilions was the Russian pavilion, which gave you a tablet as you entered. With it, you took a picture of one of the hundreds of barcodes featured and it takes you to an interactive display on a certain subject right there on your personal tablet. All the barcodes were different subjects. And there were multiple rooms like this one.
It was great to go with Greg who has a deeper appreciation for structures than I do. There was so much information on display I wish we could have spent three days there. But alas, we were off to Croatia (coming soon).
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