Once a year, in the vast and unforgiving Black Rock Desert of Nevada, a city arises. Thousands of people unite to form a temporary metropolis with a collective spirit. Burning Man 2023 removes all restrictions on expressing oneself, allowing forms to be unexpected. This year, Burning Man Festival’s theme was Anamilia, transforming The Black Rock Desert into a blank canvas for creation, a playground for self-discovery, and a haven for radical self-expression.
The topic "ANIMALIA," encouraged participants to set off on a voyage that blurred the line between reality and fantasy. ANIMALIA pays tribute to the animal kingdom's diversity, from the animals that live in the transitional areas of the desert to the mythical and fictitious animals that appear in our dreams. Inspired by the sea, the sand, the sky, and the imaginative, this year’s installations and pavilions range from a fish installation representing fresh waters to a living knit work pavilion that takes form with textiles, to a geometric structure showcasing a cube’s potential.
Most biennales and architecture events, especially the recent ones, have influenced and shaped the dialogue of the ones that followed. In fact, during a conversation earlier this year with Lesley Lokko, the curator of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, she explained and affirmed that “all exhibitions […] take sustenance from those that came before”, further noting that “if I look back at the dozen or so Architecture Exhibitions over the past twenty years, each one has contributed in some way to the discourse of the next.”
Burning Man, the annual festival taking place in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, has opened on August 27th, with thousands of festivalgoers gathering to create the Black Rock City, a ‘temporary metropolis’ complete with numerous installations, artworks, and pavilions that celebrate “community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance.” This year, however, the festival experience has been different, as heavy rains inundated the desert and festival site, creating thick, ankle-deep mud. The roads to and from the festival have been closed as large vehicles risk remaining stuck in the mud. While some people have left the site by walking out, the majority of the 70,000 campers remain stranded, as reported by CNN.
At the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Karin Sander, and Philip Ursprung curated the Swiss Pavilion “Neighbors”. In her interview with Louisiana Channel, Karin Sander talks about expanding the understanding of the pavilion, reimagining the connected role of architecture and art, and explaining her artistic process. “Neighbors” was focused on spatial proximity between the Swiss Pavilion and its Venezuelan neighbor. Sander highlights also the conversation between the two structures, that became possible after the removal of a separating wall.
The 10th edition of Passages Insolites is taking place from June 22 until October 9, 2023, bringing together artists from around the world. The public art circuit is presented by the City of Quebec and created by EXMURO arts public to showcase a retrospective artistic path through the city, recalling the event’s previous editions. The public art event takes place every summer in Quebec City in in the Place Royale, Petit Champlain and Old Port districts. This year, the event presents works of art from 40 artists, headlined by Felice Varini, who presents a monumental three-dimensional work at Place-Royale.
After a three-year break, Hello Wood’s builder festival returns to welcome students, architects, and young professionals from all across the world to join the 10-day builder camp to test their wooden construction abilities, learn to collaborate, and participate actively in on-site design and construction. For the first time in Hello Wood’s 13-year history, this year’s workshop takes place at a new location, in the crater of an abandoned basalt quarry on Haláp Mountain in Hungary. The workshop also aligns with and supports Veszprém’s title of 2023 European Capital of Culture, which also includes over a hundred other villages and towns across the Bakony-Balaton region. The event took place between July 6 and 15, ending in a two-day music festival open to all.
Developed by GXN for the 2023 UIA World Congress of Architects in Copenhagen, The (P)RECAST Pavilion explores the possibility of reusing precast concrete elements from existing buildings to promote circularity and reduced carbon emissions in the construction industry. The pavilion showcases salvaged concrete elements alongside 200-year-old timber beams, highlighting their aesthetic and structural value. Following the same motivation but through a different approach, MEE Studio has developed The Regenerative Cabin. Located in Copenhagen, the structure explores the applied use of regenerative biogenic materials to reduce the carbon emissions associated with the building materials.
Courtesy of Aranya Theater Festival, MAD Architects Qi Ziying
Ma Yansong revealed The City of Time, a performance space and the location of a 300-hour artist residency created for the Aranya Theater Festival in China. Following the metaphor of avian migration, the Migratory Birds 300 is an artist residency program that brings together 300 creators from diverse fields and backgrounds. From June 12 to June 25, Ma Yansong’s architectural intervention will host a wide array of artistic expressions, including shows, installations, sculptures, performance art, paintings, and videos, including 131 group works and 194 individual projects.
The Naomi Milgrom Foundation has revealed the design of its tenth MPavilion, designed by Pritzker Prize-winner Tadao Ando, set to open during Australian summer, on November 16, 2023. Reflecting the architect’s architectural approach, the design unveiled the “use of striking geometric interventions in nature and […] concrete.” Once ready, the intervention will become the architect’s first commission in Australia. Created as a new gathering place situated within Melbourne's cultural and botanical garden precinct, MPavilion 10 responds directly to the park's surroundings by emphasizing spatial purity and utilizing the geometric shapes of circles and squares.
Temporary pavilions and installations, such as those used in events, exhibitions, or festivals, present themselves as a great challenge when addressing the circular economy in architecture due to their ephemeral condition. It seems contradictory to address resource management and try to extract the maximum value from the materials and minimize waste and pollution while designing a structure that is meant to be used for a limited period of time. However, there are several strategies to rethink the way we are designing these structures in order to promote circularity.
Tadao Ando. Image Courtesy of Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
The Naomi Milgrom Foundation announced Tadao Ando as the winner of the commission to design the MPavilion 10 in Queen Victoria Gardens in Melbourne. This will be Ando’s first project in Australia, as he will be taking part in the country’s foremost annual architecture commission and design festival. Now in its 10th edition, the MPavilion gives complete freedom to the designers to create their concepts and realize their vision, hoping to encourage new and unique design languages to further develop this vital site in the cultural and community life of Melbourne. Details of Tadao Ando’s design will be revealed in May, and the pavilion is scheduled to open to the public on November 16, 2023.
When streets lay empty, sidewalks untouched, and shutters hung heavy, the city seems lost of life. When businesses close, offices go remote and economic activity declines, the mechanisms that operate a city are idle. Vacant space and land are often perceived as “failed”, reflecting urban decline and economic blight. Emptiness, however, holds hope for possibilities and change. When urban voids are at the brink of transformation, what happens in the meanwhile?
Biennales, exhibitions, and architecture focused festivals provide a platform for opening debates, conducting research, and driving innovation, but they can also contribute to the incremental changes that shape the image and the character of a city. Through temporary installations and experiments, this type of events have the opportunity to open lines on inquiry into the quality of urban spaces, inviting visitors and residents to slow down, break away from their daily routine and interrogate their local environments. The effects might not be immediate, but by cumulating these impressions and moments of contemplation, architecture and design festivals can have a long-lasting impact on the cities that welcome them.
CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, together with architect Italo Rota and urbanist Richard Burdett, unveiled the master plan for Rome’s bid to host the World Expo in 2030. The project proposes a joint effort from every participating country to contribute to a solar farm that could power the exhibition site and help decarbonize the surrounding neighborhoods. The Expo is proposed to take place in Tor Vergata, a vast area in Rome and home to the eponymous university and a densely inhabited residential district. All the pavilions are designed to be fully reusable, as the area is proposed to be transformed into an innovation district after the event in the hope of revitalizing the somewhat neglected neighborhood. The master plan was developed with several partners, including ARUP for sustainability, infrastructure, and costing, LAND for landscape design, and Systematica for mobility strategy.
Nevada's annual Burning Man has retured to the Black Rock Desert, after a three-year physical attendance hiatus due to the pandemic. From August 28 until September 5th, this year's festival explored the theme of "Walking Dreams", celebrating the dreamers who channel the power of dreams and imagination, both in literal and figurative ways. Similar to every year, the pavilions that were installed in the desert explored the theme in creative and unexpected ways.
This year, many of the installations approached themes of ecology and sustainability. Some of the installations were built with reused materials, including an interactive light sculpture made from plastic recovered from the ocean. Every year, the Burning Manfestival issues a number of grants, funded from revenues from ticket sales, for the purpose of partially funding specific art projects.
First Place - Federico Fiorino. Image Courtesy of The Outsider magazine and the City Municipality of Maribor
The Outsider magazine and the City Municipality of Maribor have announced the winners of the international competition “Floating Pavilion on the Drava River.” The purpose of the competition was to obtain an innovative design for a floating pavilion that would have two main functions: a space for smaller events during the Lent Festival and a space for contemplation by the river. The City Municipality of Maribor will invite the winning candidate to participate in the implementation of the project.
The 21st Serpentine Pavilion, Black Chapel, designed by Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates opens today, on June 10, 2022. On display until the 16th of October 2022, the project is realized with the architectural support of Adjaye Associates with Goldman Sachs’ patronage. In 2021, the Pavilion events program was planned to reflect Gates’ concept of interlinking architecture and music, particularly emphasizing artistic explorations of monastic sounds and hymns. The pavilion will act as a platform for Serpentine’s live program throughout the summer, offering the public space of reflection, connection, and joy.
Syrian architects Marwa Al-Sabouni and Ghassan Jansiz bring an Arabic-inspired architectural element to the seafront of Hove as part of this year’s Brighton Festival. The temporary pavilion is built in the shape of the traditional arcade called The Riwaq. Conceived as a place that brings people together, the installation will host free cultural and community events, all organized as part of England’s largest annual multi-arts festival. Established in 1967, the Brighton Festival celebrates music, theatre, dance, art, film, literature, debate, and outdoor events in various locations across Brighton, Hove, and East Sussex.
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