En marge de l’architecture - Encounters beyond the discipline
16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia
2018 November, Venice, Italy
The fifth Exploration leads into the midst of the historic centre, where a temporary installation will offer the opportunity to screen a movie. Created by Laura Tinti, the installation “Dot dash Dot” is inspired by a distinct characteristic of Campo Santa Margherita: the remains of structural elements for a vegetable stand. A twodimensional support consisting of two dots and a line (as in Morse code) will create a multimedia short circuit within the chaos of the square. The short film shown inverts the situation: in “Ardeidae”, a group of Asian tourists gets lost in the unknown territories of the lagoon. The film by Corrado Chiatti, Chiara Faggionato and Daniele Tucci was the winner of the Lago Film Festival and the PerSo Film Festival and was awarded a Special Mention at the Arcipelago Film Fest Roma.
About Salon Suisse:
The Salon Suisse offers a series of lectures, talks and cultural events supplementing the exhibition at the Swiss Pavilion. Curated by architectural historian Marcel Bächtiger, cultural theorist Tim Kammasch and architect Stanislas Zimmermann with the support of local Salonnière Laura Tinti, this year’s programme is an invitation to a journey.
If architecture is an island within the archipelago of the artistic and scientific disciplines, then the Salon is a ship that has left the harbour. From foreign shores, we will look back at architecture and explore its cultural and social relevance today.
Global economic interdependencies affect the existence of every individual; the complexities of transnational power and decision-making undermine democracy and civic engagement; the dizzying pace of digitalisation is redefining human beings and their living environment. Inevitably, these phenomena also affect the self-concept of architecture and architects. The traditional role of architecture as built expression of society seems to become increasingly marginalised. Is “architecture” merely a dazzling disguise of realities that it can no longer influence nor shape? Do architects find themselves degraded to being vicarious agents of an anonymous real estate market? What social and cultural significance can the built environment have under these circumstances? And what would a culture that deserves being called ‘human’ look like architecturally?
In the long history of architecture, such moments have always proved most fruitful when the discourse opened up to ideas, insights and inventions from other disciplines. Today, it is time to set sail again. On our journey, we will encounter philosophers and anthropologists, writers, musicians and artists, comparatists and social researchers. By discussing their work and its link to architecture, the Salon Suisse will open new perspectives, not only on the potentials of architecture in the 21st century, but also on hidden connections that have always existed among the different disciplines.
At the Palazzo Trevisan, we will revive the Enlightenment idea of the “Salon” as a place for cultivated, informative conversations and convivial, sociable exchange. Each soirée is also a cultural event: a concert, a lecture or a performance; a tangible sensory experience that will initiate conversation between the audience and our guests, all of them present over the whole length of a salon.
