United Arab Emirates
The exhibition "Lest We Forget: Structures of Memory in the United Arab Emirates" explores the history of architectural and urban development in the UAE from the 1970s-1980s. This period of modernist architecture is often overshadowed by pre-oil or pre-federal vernacular structures and contemporary skyscrapers. The exhibition sheds light on the unique character of modernist architecture in the UAE and contextualizes it within an international framework. The goal is to encourage further documentation and preservation of this little-researched period of architecture.
Supermarket sweep… the Latvian pavilion which has been transformed into a minimart.
This contribution brings a little levity to the long trek through the halls of the Arsenale.
Choice as the basis of architectural process, the pop aesthetics emphasizing the languages of consumption as in Hamilton or Warhol: everything is structured by the dynamics of commerce.
Presented as a supermarket, its "products" feature the text from every national biennale exhibit from the last decade, boiled down to its essence through Al. It sticks a pin into the whole ball of hot air. Thank you for that.
Funny thing about designing one liners is they aren't good unless you follow them to the utter end with utmost seriousness lol. That's why I loved the Latvian pavilion this year!
Welcome to T/C Latvija, surely the most instagrammed installation of this edition of the Biennale
Latvia is reopening the archive boxes once again, reminding us (including the Biennial Presidency) of everything that has already been thought up and invented, and inviting us to place the most urgently needed products in the basket, to combine them with one another, and ultimately consume all the knowledge.
Fun, colourful and thought-provoking, it offers a tongue-in-cheek moment to the Arsenale sequence...
Latvia's participation in the Biennale Architettura 2023 is organized and supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia.
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