spanish pavilion at venice biennale takes shape as a venue for reflection by uncertainty

at 17th venice architecture biennale, pavilion of spain is an interactive means serving as a venue for reflection and adaption to the needs of a society in constant change. with ‘uncertainty’ as a slogan, a canarian team of four young architects — sofía piñero, domingo j. gonzález, andrzej gwizdala, and fernando herrera — was chosen for the curatorship of the spanish pavilion, presenting 34 projects. the pavilion invites visitors to participate in a range of questions emerging from the theme of the biennale ‘how will we live together?’.all images © imagen subliminal, unless stated otherwise

as the uncertainty team explains, the exhibition of the spanish pavilion, does not present a particular response to the question. they willingly sought to form an infinite chain of further topics that display one certainty. furthermore, the picked proposals that take place in the exhibition, are very heterogeneous with each other; the exhibition showcases projects that prioritize a creative process performed in a multidisciplinary way with a positive social impact.

the projects fuse architecture approaches with other fields, such as music, poetry, education, agriculture, cinema, dance, video games, or tourism. ‘uncertainty, as the antonym of certainty, appears as the opportunity to generate necessary thinking processes that respond to the realities of changing or unknown nature, those with limits that cannot be defined, or those which do not have any limits at all; therefore, influencing the nature of our certainties by eliminating their steadiness and forcing their evolution,’ says uncertainty.

taking shape as an uncertain platform in a continuous process, the exhibition is arranged into three sections. the experience starts with immersion in a heterogeneous cloud of portfolios, formed from thousands of sheets of paper. the space that frames the cloud includes an open process that reveals the continuous transformation of reality, inspiring visitors to explore the four side rooms and walk around a non-hierarchical landscape of abstract pieces
that represent the selected projects.

in the meantime, guests will cross a hall with an audiovisual projection mapping, where they will discover the sequence of interpretive operations used to select projects out of the cloud. during the tour, a play of lights, shadows, screens, and objects encourage the viewers to explore the boundaries between the diverse projects. the time interventions empower each project to emphasize the role of uncertainty as a generator of new opportunities.

‘the pavilion’s central room becomes a volume made out of hundreds of heterogeneous individuals floating in space who, regardless of their physical and conceptual distance, interact to build a single and recognizable body. it becomes a set of different architectures that, like the entire profession, do not lose its ability to define a common path despite being constantly transformed by its interactions with unexpected external forces,’ says the spanish team. ‘uncertainty urges us to open our certainties, by focusing on exploring their limits and showcasing the actions that allow different dimensions of reality to become open, dynamic, and adaptable processual elements.’image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom 

project info:

name: spanish pavilion

curators: uncertainty team

team: sofía piñero, domingo j. gonzález, andrzej gwizdala, and fernando herrera

management: ministry of transport, mobility and urban agenda, spanish agency for international development, cooperation (AECID), acción cultural española (AC/E)

experts: atxu amann, manuel blanco, belén butragueño, manuel feo, marta garcía, jorge gorostiza, mario hidrobo, francisco leiva, maría isabel navarro, n’undo, juan manuel palerm, gonzalo pardo, sergio pardo, javier fco. raposo, ángela ruiz, mariasun salgado, pedro torrijos

collaborators: david reyes, julia zasada, melián estudio, banda bisagra, grace morales, lavernia & cienfuegos