Striking demonstrations of unequal power: a review of the Venice Architecture Biennale

James Baldwin observed that some people wish to colonize the moon while others “dance before it like an old friend”.

His words were a specific inspiration for the British pavilion at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, but could be seen as informing the whole of this year’s event. The general theme is Laboratory of the Futurewith sub-themes of decarbonization and decolonization defined by architect, educator and novelist Lesley Lokko.

Of Scottish-Ghanaian descent, Lokko is the first person of African descent to organize the event and she has centered marginalized voices in architecture in the sections of the Biennale she directly organizes – the central pavilion and the ‘Arsenale. More than half of the participants here are from Africa or the African Diaspora, there is an equal gender balance and the average age is much younger than usual with most small outfits or solo. The architectural narrative is incomplete without these people and their work, argues Lokko. “Africa,” she notes, is the continent “with the youngest population in the world, the fastest urbanization…often at the expense of local ecosystems – so we are also at the forefront- guard against climate change”.

Central pavilion highlights include: Ibrahim Mahama’s parliament of ghosts, a revival of his 2019 Manchester International Festival installation that digs through colonial rubbish, using plastic seats and cupboards to construct a debating hall; Moving and uplifting documentary from Theaster Gates that traces 10 years of Black Artists Retreat in Chicago; and the 1970s Floodplain Transportation Hub cheerfully imagined by Olalekan Jeyifous — all Afros and monorails.

Those looking for a conventional architectural display of life-size models, drawings and scale models will be disappointed. David Adjaye’s room of large, beautiful models for projects ranging from a national cathedral for Ghana to a museum for a slave burial site in Barbados is an exception and shows the most successful black-led practice in the world. world in its deserved pomp.

Across the sites, however, there is a heavy reliance on film which, while in some cases absolutely the right medium, in others is too often a substitute for experiential materiality in the present – the effect can be to distance and flatten.

There are honorable exceptions to this. A contender for the Golden Lion is certainly the Nordic Pavilion’s exploration of nomadic Sami culture across the arctic lands of Norway, Sweden and Finland. Led by artist-architect Joar Nango’s Girjegumpi (compound word evoking a library and a mobile hut on sleds), it is both a literal library, a social space and an archive of crafts and techniques: sewing, painting, carpentry, reindeer and seal skins , shelters held together without the benefit of nails. It’s a cultural and convivial riddance, a fluid and very collaborative sculpture with scents of cut wood and leather. The Germany pavilion has also turned into an archive, becoming a salvage yard for recycled building materials from previous Biennales.

The British pavilion features handcrafted objects that defy the classical form of the building – of a type re-exported across the empire. The British Council appointed a curatorial team made up of young Britons from diverse backgrounds who in turn nominated artists celebrating diverse communities and the cosmopolitan and syncretic cultures of the UK. Visitors are greeted with two long pots hanging from the pavilion’s columned loggia – one a Trinidadian-style steel pot that can be played, the other a Cypriot cooking vessel – encapsulating the personal legacy of curator Jayden Ali . Inside, objects include Mac Collins’ exuberant, oversized and abstract piece celebrating British Caribbean pub dominoes with what looks like a giant blackened ash Pokémon figurine. The concept, says co-curator Joseph Henry, is playful and “additive rather than erasing”.

The great beasts of architecture are notably absent, the rich architectural practices which dominate the Biennale in certain editions. This offers welcome opportunities to those who do not have access to these privileged circles and their commensurate resources. It also means that some displays feel a bit more underpowered or under-presented than before (hence the reliance on film rather than expensive physical setups?). But that should be seen as his own commentary on power rather than criticism. Most participants do not benefit from financing from European commercial office builders.

These imbalances were made explicit in the hideous policy of the Italian government visa refusal decision to three of Lokko’s Ghanaian team members on the unsubstantiated grounds that they might stay longer: “Not all teams are equal,” Lokko remarked during his opening press conference.

Among the most powerful exhibits, three dealt with evidence: Alison Killing’s architectural survey of concentration camps in Xinjiang, China, capable of holding 1 million minority inmates at a time; Paulo Tavares’ tracing of ethnically cleansed indigenous village sites in Brazil in the 1960s; And The Nebelivka project, Forensic Architecture and David Wengrow’s installation analyzing the archaeological records of a 6,000-year-old Ukrainian city. It builds on the 2021 bestselling book by Wengrow and David Graeber The dawn of everything to demonstrate that the evolution of human civilization from hunter-gatherer to farmer to city-dweller does not inevitably mean racism, hierarchies, exploitation and autocratic governments. The material evidence shows that there were experienced alternatives. And there are still some.

The 18th Venice Architecture Biennale runs until November 26