2 October 2011
Model for the ‘Migrating Lanscapes’ competition held by 5468796 Architecture and Jae-Sung Chon for the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. After my visit to the Biennale last year I was very upset at how Canada was represented and wrote a lot about my observations. This year the entrant has identified a topic of value that includes students across Canada to identify the current state of a Canadian Architecture, and define our unique cultural landscape. Hopefully our team will get to be a part in making a valuable comment on Canadian architecture. I won’t talk to much about the model until we hear back about the competition, so stay tuned.
The Competition brief and additional information can be found here
14 November 2011
More information on the Migrating Landscapes competition entry which we entered back in September. This photograph shows a model of the final layout - how the idea fits into the existing Canadian Pavilion in Venice.
It has just been announced that the BC entries have been shortlisted for the regional exhibition. It’s only a matter of time before they get to the east coast - fingers crossed.
More information here
Migrating Landscapes, BC blog can be found here
the link contains process photos during the construction of the landscape
13 December 2011
Migrating Landscapes
In 2010 I had the opportunity of attending the Architecture Biennale in Venice. After visiting the Canadian Pavilion, I became very critical of how Canada was being represented on the world stage. How is it that an entire nation can be represented by one individuals theoretical experiment. Around the same time Canadian band Arcade Fire won a grammy for album of the year leaving spectators in awe. The message behind their new album, titled “Suburbs”, could have easily provided a more critical discussion on the current urban situation in Canada.
For the 2012 Venice Biennale, Saskatchewan based Architecture firm 5468796 Architecture along with Jae-Sung Chon were selected to represent Canada. Their exhibition included a competition to invite students from across the country to discuss and define Canada’s cultural landscape.
Five classmates and I engaged in conversation, sharing our own personal migration stories to work towards a proposal. As the discussion developed we began to recognize a new potential. In a culture of cultures a variety of perspectives becomes a resource. A Country that once inhabited the frontier, a massive land rich with natural resource, had developed a new resource of knowledge. How could we make full use of this new resource to create a progressive nation. Our culture began as a culture of cultures, the frontier as its foundation - what will determine its next plateau?
Status: Awaiting Competition Results
8 January 2012
Biennale model shipping box on Flickr.
Shipping container crafted by Mark Whalen for the Migrating Landscapes model
