The Uzbekistan National Pavilion will be curated by Studio KO at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale.
The exhibition “Unbuild Together” is Uzbekistan’s response to this year’s overall theme, Laboratory of the Future. It aspires to highlight the country’s rich architectural past as a possible tool and source of inspiration for creating a more sustainable future. Karl Fournier, Olivier Marty, Jean-Baptiste Carisé, and Sophia Bengebara will be among the curators.
“Unbuild Together” is a research-based project centered on the remains of the Qalas, an old form of fortress in Karakalpakstan and the Khorezm civilization’s legacy. Traditional bricks were employed to construct these constructions, a material that inspired the curatorial team. Studio KO will investigate the materiality of bricks, earth, and clay in collaboration with students and professors from Ajou University in Tashkent. The project will evolve through theoretical and experimental research and reinterpretation of brick manufacture, crafting techniques, and finish kinds.
Studio KO, based in Paris and Marrakech, draws inspiration for its works of architecture from the “intelligence of places,” their natural qualities, local culture, and workmanship. The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech in Morocco was chosen by ArchDaily as the winner of the Cultural Architecture category for the ArchDaily Building of the Year 2020 Awards.
Curator Lesley Lokko has announced the theme of Laboratory of the Future for this year’s edition of the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia as an invitation to investigate the African continent as the protagonist of the future. Other countries have also named curators. The Cleveland-based gallery SPACES has been chosen to organize the US exhibition, which will focus on the function of plastic both literally and metaphorically. Turkey was chosen as its curators with a project focusing on demolished buildings, while the jury unanimously chose the Down to Earth idea by Francelle Cane and Marija Mari to establish the Luxembourg Pavilion.
