Estonian Architecture Exhibition, Venetian Curator Competition, Italian Design Contest

Estonia at 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale

Venice Architecture Biennale in Italy – Curator Competition Winner News

20 Apr 2018

Estonian Pavilion at 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale

Estonian Pavilion ‘‘Weak Monument‘‘ at the 16th Venice Architecture – La Biennale di Venezia

Open: 26 May – 25 Nov 2018, Tuesday–Sunday, 10:00–18:00
Entrance: free
Location: Church of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice (Fondamenta San Gioacchino)
Website: www.weakmonument.com

The Estonian Centre of Architecture presents the exhibition Weak Monument in the Pavilion of Estonia at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (May 26th – November 25th, 2018), entitled Freespace, and curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara.

Estonian Pavilion curators Laura Linsi, Roland Reemaa and Tadeáš Říha, explore the spectrum between the explicit representation of the monument and the implicit politics of everyday architectures: from the triumphal column to the pavement beneath it, through all that is in between.

The title itself – Weak Monument – is an oxymoron, a rhetorical device that offers fresh perspectives on how to recognize politics in any built form.

EXHIBITION
Weak Monument invites visitors to expand their understanding of how, where and why architecture can be recognized as political. The former church of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice is overtaken by a pavement and a wall. A suburban interlocking pavement covers its coloured marbles, while a monument-like concrete wall divides the exhibition space in two. The everyday and the exceptional structures are forced to occupy the same baroque interior. A scene is formed, which invites the visitor to step onto, and through it.

The Estonian Pavilion will be located at the edge of Via Garibaldi, between the Biennale venues of Giardini and Arsenale, the Pavilion of Estonia – Weak Monument will transform the rooms of the former baroque church of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice (Fondamenta San Gioacchino, Venezia) that offer remnants of a monumental yet decadent spatial symmetry and hierarchy.

19 Jun 2017

Estonian Centre of Architecture at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale

Estonia exposition at La Biennale di Venezia Architecture Exhibition 2017

“Weak Monument” wins the curator call for Estonia at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale

June 19th 2017 – Today, Estonian Centre of Architecture announced the winner of the International Curator Competition for the Estonian exposition at the 2018 La Biennale di Venezia Architecture Exhibition.

Photos: Evert Palmets

The members of the winning team are Laura Linsi, Roland Reemaa and Tadeáš Říha with the proposal titled “Weak Monument”. The curators of the project are young architects trained in Tallinn, Prague and Delft, with Linsi and Riha currently practicing in London and Reemaa teaching in Delft. 13 proposals were submitted to the international competition with 5 moving on to the second, public presentation stage which took place last Thursday in Tallinn.

“Weak Monument” stands out by its thoroughly prepared theoretical framework. The curators see architectural environment as a layered and historically continuous system, promising to focus the exposition on projects from recent and more distant past, researching the concept of ‘weak monument’ via examples from Estonia and elsewhere.

The proposal deals with an important concept of architecture theory – the idea of “weak architecture”, inspired by the example of Estonian architect Leonhard Lapin’s 1970s concept project Anti-International Monument, says member of the jury and head of the Museum of Estonian Architecture Triin Ojari: “Weak Monument” is a project by architects of a new, very young generation looking to interpret the heritage of Modernist architecture and its significance in present day, researching the role of an architect today, and stating that weakness, creative ambivalence and incompleteness in projects should not be something to be ashamed of, but it could rather be a strength. Why not also a strength for Estonian architecture today and tomorrow.”

According to one of the team members Laura Linsi, the theme was reached through common interests during studies, discussing the possible roles of the architect within the increasingly constrained practice: “The graduation project entitled “Weak Architecture” by Tadeáš Říha was taken as a starting point. From here we can investigate the role of a monument within the historical, contemporary and future societies. The goal of the pavilion is to juxtapose two different concepts.

The monument being an architectural device, which employs memory through form and aims to halt time. Weakness, instead, signifies flexibility to change and adapt. The proposal seeks new roles and possibilities for the practice of architecture between these two poles, respond to the overall theme for the Venice biennale and position Estonia into the international discourse.”

The jury of the competition: Raul Järg (architect, Chairman of the Jury, Chairman of ECA, Commissioner of the Estonian exposition at the International Architecture Exhibition in Venice); Toomas Tammis (architect, member of UEA, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture of the Estonian Academy of Arts); Maria Arusoo (art historian and curator, representative of the Estonian Society of Art Historians and Curators, Director of the Centre for Contemporary Art Estonia); Johan Tali (architect, member of UEA, co-curator of the Estonian exposition in 2016); Veronika Valk (architect); Peeter Pere (architect, member of UEA); Triin Ojari (representative of the Estonian Society of Art Historians and Curators, director of Museum of Estonian Architecture).

Estonia has participated in the architecture biennale since year 2000, in 2016 the country teamed up with neighbouring Latvia and Lithuania for a project called Baltic Pavilion, exploring shared geopolitical histories and its impact on landscape in the age of anthropocene. More info about previous pavilions here:
www.arhitektuurikeskus.ee/venice

Estonian Centre of Architecture (ECA) is a non-profit organisation focussing on developing architectural culture in Estonia and promoting contemporary Estonian architecture abroad. The competition and the Estonian exhibition at the 16th Biennale di Venezia Architecture Exhibition are organised by the Estonian Centre of Architecture in co-operation with the Union of Estonian Architects and with support from Estonian Ministry of Culture and Estonian Cultural Endowment.

In addition to being in charge of the Estonian exhibition in Venice, the Centre also organises Tallinn Architecture Biennial TAB, other architecture events in Tallinn and networking events abroad.

Estonia at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale images / information from Estonian Centre of Architecture

5 Jun 2017

Estonian Centre of Architecture Proposals for Venice Biennale

Estonia exposition at La Biennale di Venezia Architecture Exhibition

Five proposals selected for the 2nd stage of curator call for the Estonian exposition at the 2018 Venice architecture biennale

June 5th 2017 – Estonian Centre of Architecture is happy to announce that five proposals have been selected by the jury of the curatorial call for the 2nd stage of the competition for the Estonian exposition at 16th Biennale di Venezia Architecture Exhibition.

2016 Baltic Pavilion:

photograph : David Grandorge

The first stage of the two-stage public international curator competition closed on the 31st of May, 2017, bringing 13 entries. The selected 5 proposals – Byzantine, Weak Monument, Koondumine, Tegija and Post-Digital Practices – will be publicly presented on June 15th in Tallinn and the winner of the competition will be publicly announced on the 19th of June.

2000 Estonian exposition Simulactum City:

photo : Arne Maasik