’emergency exit’, the polish pavilion at the 12th international venice biennaleimage © maciej landsberg

‘emergency exit‘, this year’s polish pavilion at the 12th international architecture biennale in venice, italy, explores ‘urban portable holes’: the in-between spaces, places of uncertainty and doubt, of time-space discontinuity, such as abandoned or unfinished buildings, rooftops and tunnels. designed by warsaw-based artist agnieszka kurant and architect aleksandra wasilkowska, the title is an ironic reference to urban safety regulations that aim to control and eliminate risk and accidents.

constructed out of a composite of metal cages, the overall form draws parallels to decaying sports monuments, such as the ski jump in mokotów, warsaw. the material itself, bird cages, which are normally used to contain and prevent flight, becomes a platform for visitors to jump from into artificially generated clouds. this act symbolizes the ultimate freedom and escape from urbanism. by engaging and provoking the public directly, ’emergency exit’ becomes a social laboratory with the goal of inspiring and exciting the collective body.

polish pavilion at venice architecture biennale: emergency exit - 2image © maciej landsberg

by accepting that the city is a complex and unpredictable system composed of both real and imaginary spaces, it can be understood that invisible and intangible phenomena such as social actions can change the dynamic of a street, borough, or even the entire city. while the jobs of architects and planners are to anticipate the needs and transformations of the city, this is simply not possible with a rigid and deterministic master plan.

the polish pavilion is conceived as a portable to the unknown; a catalyst for different, contradictory emotions and needs. by becoming a hybrid machine for the transfer to other realities, people fill in the gaps with their own emotions, ideas and desires.

polish pavilion at venice architecture biennale: emergency exit - 3stairway leading up to the jumping platform image © maciej landsberg

polish pavilion at venice architecture biennale: emergency exit - 4 images © designboom

polish pavilion at venice architecture biennale: emergency exit - 5top of the form image © maciej landsbergpolish pavilion at venice architecture biennale: emergency exit - 6participants jumping into the artificial cloud image © maciej landsbergpolish pavilion at venice architecture biennale: emergency exit - 7 (left) jumper landing into the cloud image © maciej landsberg (right) feet of a jumper image © grzegorz papierski

video of THE JUMP

polish pavilion at venice architecture biennale: emergency exit - 8 name of the pavilion done in neonimage © maciej landsberg

full project credit and acknowledgment

pavilion commissioner: agnieszka morawińska curator: elias redstone assistant commissioner: joanna waśko artist: agnieszka kurant architect: aleksandra wasilkowska organiser: zachęta national gallery of art in warsaw supporter: ministry of culture and national heritage of the republic of poland special effects: artur etiop bartos ETIOP FX productions audio-video: eidotech video documentation: mirek szewczyk with special thanks to EBH polska installation engineer: monika bordurkiewicz construction: befstal cages: net-kar neons: neoneon lighting: lumiere essence malgorzata baj