Working together, the exhibition architects, Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects, and curator Marianne Krogh, have created a total installation that completely transforms the Danish Pavilion and immerses it in nature’s cyclic system – with water as the core element. The site-specific exhibition caters to all the senses. The work comprises connected rooms where the water flows in, becomes part of the exhibition and sensory experience, and then leaves the pavilion again, through bodies, evaporation, photosynthesis, and absorption into the ground.
“We believe that, through our senses, we can begin to understand ourselves in a larger context. This is the first step toward taking responsibility, both in our approach to the planet and to each other,” says Marianne Krogh.
While exploring the various spaces of the exhibition, visitors can become part of the cyclic system by drinking a cup of tea brewed with leaves from the lemon verbena trees planted in the pavilion – trees which also absorb water from the extensive cyclic system.
The exhibition asks the question: How can we (re)create a new, meaningful relationship with the world as a place where we recognize the fundamental condition that we are connected – not just with each other, but with all living beings? The dependence between humans and Earth as the basis for a sustainable future for all is illustrated by linking the pavilion’s installation directly to the planet’s own cyclic system.
Danish Architecture Center has been appointed by the Ministry of Culture Denmark as commissioner of the official Danish exhibition at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. The project is sponsored by Realdania, the Ministry of Culture Denmark, and the Danish Arts Foundation’s Committee for Architecture Grants and Project Funding.
About the International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia
The 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia runs from May 22 through November 21, 2021.