venice biennale 2012: foster + partners gateway exhibition

‘gateway’ by lord norman foster with charles sandison and carlos carcas image © designboom

venice  2012 architecture biennale: day two – live!

located at the entrance of the corderia building at the arsenale, visitors are met by ‘gateway’ an exhibition by foster + partners, in collaboration with ivorypress, which introduces the 13th venice architecture biennale‘s theme  – ‘common ground’ has two broad interpretations examined throughout this year’s show; the history of architecture; and the public spaces of the city.

lord norman foster, together with artist charles sandison and film director carlos carcas have created an installation which is a collage of visuals and sound, depicting aspects of architectural culture verging presented in an encyclopaedic format of sorts. entered by descending two ramps, visitors are confronted with a black box room covered with projections by carcas along the walls depicting historic, anonical spaces of the western world; the new cities of asia and south america; places of upheaval and social change and the huge interiors of today – stadiums, museums, terminals – that architecture creates.

maps and geometric algorithms are seen projected onto the floor image © designboom

detail image © designboom

general view of ‘gateway’ with projections of architectural culture by carcase displayed on the walls image © designboom

in sandison’s video installation ‘impermanence’ still images sourced from a global network of architects, planners, photographers and critics have been edited and combined to form sequences that animate the walls, resulting in a moving mosaic that journeys through the world, illustrating broad interpretations of the biennale’s theme ‘common ground’. these images range from historical spaces of the western world to the booming new cities of asia and south america, as well as the favelas which are an inseparable part of these emerging urbanities. the pictures shown resonate with social change – order and disorder – from the arab spring to the london riots. woven into these sequences are the interior spaces of museums, stadiums,  terminals and other buildings.

animated white text flows across the floor of the space image © designboom

image © designboom

for the ‘the radiant city’ video, sandison has created the starting point in two distinct locations: firstly, in the empty forsts of finland where the artist has studied and documented over a number of years, ant colony behavior; secondly, in the city of singapore where he investigated how the interactions of colonialism, language, social space and systems of control have been expressed in a relatively modern multicultural society. virtual structures and inhabitants are represented as animated radiant white text flows within the space as computers run genetic algorithms based on ant behavior. the projected text uses writing systems of major language groups, creating a blueprint for an urban utopia that uses the sheer number crunching power of the modern computer cradled within the walls of venice.

image © designboom

image © designboom

video © designboom

video © designboom

video © designboom

the names of designers and architects move across the floorspace video © designboom

video © designboom

project info:

curator: norman foster concept & design: norman foster with ivorypress team production: elena ochoa foster and antonio sanz (ivorypress) katy harris and matthew foreman (foster + partners) film director & editor: carlos carcas art installation: charles sandison sponsors: the norman foster foundation and ivorypress hong kong and shanghai bank hq curator: norman foster concept & design: norman foster artists: norman foster, andreas gursky, ben johnson, john nye, marisa gonzalez production: elena ochoa foster and antonio sanz (ivorypress), spencer de grey and katy harris (foster + partners) lenders: andreas gursky, hsbc, the norman foster foundation, foster + partners sponsors: the norman foster foundation and ivorypress