Reportage

"Living with" is revealed through a video report tracing the history of the project, from its conception to its presentation to the public, with commentary by the exhibition curators, architects Dominique Jakob, Brendan MacFarlane, Éric Daniel-Lacombe and Martin Duplantier.

Architecture in response to new challenges

In a world marked by ecological, climatic and social upheavals, how can we live differently and build with constraints? On the occasion of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, "Vivre avec / Living with" is an exhibition that questions the place of architecture in the face of contemporary mutations. Conceived by Dominique Jakob and Brendan MacFarlane, in association with Martin Duplantier and Éric Daniel-Lacombe, the exhibition is exceptionally established outside the walls of the French Pavilion, which is currently undergoing renovation.

An experimental pavilion in the heart of the Giardini

While the French Pavilion is closed for works, the "Vivre avec / Living with" project invests its immediate surroundings. Between the Pavilion under renovation and the canal, this new temporary space has been conceived as an open, inclusive shelter.

The pavilion itself embodies the concept of "Vivre avec / Living with": living with its environment, its landscape, its milieu. The curatorial team drew inspiration from the building under construction, the garden and the canal. The construction site has become an integral part of the architectural, scenographic and sensory experience offered to visitors.

Thanks to the extraordinary location outside the walls, the pavilion, usually facing away from the canal, will for the first time open out towards the water - a primordial element of the Venetian landscape and infrastructure - offering a microclimate sheltered from the sun.

A vivid illustration of the contemporary world challenged to turn towards nature and change our attitude towards what surrounds us - towards acceptance, responsibility, mutualism, but also towards a focus on local knowledge.

Six themes

Having decided to integrate the restoration of the existing building into the project, the curators wanted this to become the first part of our proposed scenographic content. The starting point and first theme will therefore be to work with the existing, using the building itself as an in situ exhibition piece. From there, visitors will discover six major themes as they enter the temporary space and bypass the existing building:

• Living with... the existing;
• Living with... proximities;
• Living with... the damaged;
• Living with... vulnerabilities;
• Living with... nature and the living;
• Living with... intelligences brought together.

An eco-responsible approach

In order to minimize the project's carbon footprint, the architects are proposing a scenography realized in situ in Venice, thus avoiding the transport of models and also proposing to use a selection of reusable or recyclable materials and will be zero waste. All elements of the ephemeral pavilion and scenography are re-usable.

All about the project

livingwith.institutfrancais.com