chilean soilscapes for the chile pavilion at the 13th international architecture exhibition in venice image © designboom

 

CANCHA chilean soilscapes is the installation for the chile pavilion at the 2012 venice biennale. identifying their common ground as the ‘cancha’, areas of vast space available for use which are indivisible and sanctified. harvests are weighed and distributed or serve as an open field to play. at the entry, a neon sculpture of a salt crystal by artist ivan navarro and architect pedro oulido welcomes visitors. hidden by a black curtain, a second room measuring 12.9 cubic meters of salt floor, directly shipped to venice from the tarapaca salt flat in chile. similar to the country, the struggle to fill this large space with complexities of the nation was resolved with a series of 7 short film documentaries by cristobal palma which featuring the visions and work of ‘deserta’ by pedro alonso, ‘metropolitan promenade’ by alejandra aravena, ‘limitless chile’ by juan pablo corvalan – SUSUKA, ‘playground’ by genaro cuadros, ‘kancha’ by german del sol, ‘traversies of amereida’ by ivan ivelic and ‘performances of conquest’ by rodrigo tisi.

CANCHA chilean soilscapes at the architecture biennale 2012 aerial view of installation image © designboom

 

 

 

CANCHA chilean soilscapes at the architecture biennale 2012 visitors observe videos by cristobal palma image © designboom

 

 

 

CANCHA chilean soilscapes at the architecture biennale 2012 salt rock seating in the far corner image © designboom

 

 

 

CANCHA chilean soilscapes at the architecture biennale 2012 white salt crystla flooring and rock seats contrast the arsenale’s brick walls image © designboom

 

 

 

CANCHA chilean soilscapes at the architecture biennale 2012 salt rocks for visitor seating image © designboom

 

 

 

CANCHA chilean soilscapes at the architecture biennale 2012 view towards entrance to pavilion from salt rock seating image © designboom

 

 

 

CANCHA chilean soilscapes at the architecture biennale 2012 view of hanging installation from salt rock seating image © designboom

 

 

 

CANCHA chilean soilscapes at the architecture biennale 2012 diagram of videos and contributors image courtesy of CANCHA

 

credits:

name: cancha: chilean soilscapes alejandro aravena (elemental); germán del sol; pedro alonso; juan pablo corvalán (susuka); iván ivelic; genaro cuadros; rodrigo tisi commissioner: cristóbal molina baeza. curators: maría pilar pinchart saavedra, bernardo valdés echenique. venue: pavilion at isolotto, arsenale