Island – the British Pavilion at the Architecutre Exhibition in the Venice Biennale 2018|||
The British Pavilion at this year’s Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale will be a completely empty space.
No permanent exhibits will be held at the pavilion, instead a roster of architeture talks, performance, and poety readins will take over the space. Quite fitting as the brief this year is Freespace.
Island – as the space has been named – will also feature a new public space above the main exhibition area. The new raised piazza will offer visitors to the Giardini a place to hang out and enjoy unique views across the lagoon.
The pavillion is a collaboration between Caruso St John Architects and artist Marcus Taylor. According to the British Council, who commissioned the design, the peak of the pavillion underneath will protrude through the floor of the piazza, in shapes alluding to the theme of Island.
In their statement, the curators Adam Caruso, Peter St John and Marcus Taylor said: “There will be many ways to interpret the experience of visiting the 2018 British Pavilion. An island can be a place of both refuge and exile. The state of the building, which will be completely covered with scaffolding to support the new platform above, suggests many themes; including abandonment, reconstruction, sanctuary, Brexit, isolation, colonialism and climate change.”
