at the entrance to the ‘abundant’ exhibition at the australian pavillion trees are wrapped in yellow rope, enticing guests inside. image © designboom

curated by architects neil durbach, wendy lewin, kerstin thompson, gary warner and graphic designer vince frost the ‘abundant’ exhibition aims to address a commonly held misconception that australian cities are bland, generic and indifferent or that australian architecture simply emulates international styles. the exhibition consists of two distinct yet interrelated installations – one showing past works and the other current approaches within australian architecture.

with reference to the biennale theme of ‘out there: architecture beyond building’ over 200 australian architecture firms were invited to create models that reflected their own projects, reframing them as new thoughts and investigations. individual models expressed various concepts and ideas of each practice.

the visual historic survey provides an overview of australia’s architectural production and spatial patterns of settlement. featuring eighty significant structures, from colonial constructions to recently completed projects, it suggest various threads that connect the past two hundred years of european settlement with today’s practice.

the submitted works, in their collective, testify to the vigour and productive energy that characterises contemporary architectural production in australia.

venice architecture biennale 08: australian pavilion - 2 general view of the ‘abundant’ exhibition image © designboom

venice architecture biennale 08: australian pavilion - 3 guests at the ‘abundant’ exhibition image © designboom venice architecture biennale 08: australian pavilion - 4 general view of the ‘abundant’ exhibition image © designboom

venice architecture biennale 08: australian pavilion - 5 ‘eagle talon house’ by peter stuchbury architecture image © designboom

venice architecture biennale 08: australian pavilion - 6 ‘mobius chiral’ at oldgulch in abu dhabi, UAE by architects dale jones- evans image © designboom

venice architecture biennale 08: australian pavilion - 7 research station, model by university of technology sydney student luke novotny image © designboom

venice architecture biennale 08: australian pavilion - 8 new holland folly by studio505 image © designboom

venice architecture biennale 08: australian pavilion - 9 ‘the abundant sky’ by BKK architects image © designboomvenice architecture biennale 08: australian pavilion - 10 front centre: ‘herd’ by chris tucker image © designboom

venice architecture biennale 08: australian pavilion - 11 abundant identity, logo and catalogue by vince frost of frost design

venice architecture biennale 08: australian pavilion - 12 vince frost image © designboommore: australian institute of architects : www.architecture.com.au vince frost: frost design

related: venice architecture preview 08: australian pavillion