To Gather: The Architecture of Relationships
22 October 2021,
5-6pm SGT, 10-11am BST!
In Dialogue: Commissioning & Curating International Exhibitions is a hybrid participatory dialogue led in collaboration by the teams behind the Singapore and the British Pavilions at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale 2021. This dialogue examines the role that international cultural exhibitions can play in advancing discourse and practice regarding social and environmental transformation and managing multi-stakeholder partnerships.
This event is presented as part of Singapore's Archifest 2021 and supported by the Royal Institute of British Architects (International and Singapore). This event is conceptualised in our effort to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals especially in strengthening means of implementation and revitalising global partnership for sustainable development.
Please register HERE .
to gather: The Architecture of Relationships examines the different ways in which we, residents of Singapore, share space — in our city, with one another, and with the rest of nature.
The exhibition grew out of a desire to pull together stories on the ground. More than 80% of Singapore’s population live in housing developed by the government. Given this context, the relationships within and between communities living in public housing neighbourhoods are the bedrock upon which many collective actions in this exhibition are built. These efforts, in turn, transform and reinvigorate the spatial environments they reference.
The 2021 Singapore Pavilion features sixteen projects that represent the cross-section of local cultures and society. Singapore is highly urbanised and amenable. Against this cosmopolitan backdrop, spatial typologies such as hawker centres, community centres and housing development void decks are constant fixtures in facilitating and nurturing practices of sociability in the city.
Co-commissioned by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore and DesignSingapore Council, the exhibition is curated by the Department of Architecture at the National University of Singapore.
The exhibition is connected by four main themes, which frame the various modes and scales of gathering.
Communing Relationships:
We explore the preservation of collective histories. How do memories inspire new ways of coming together in present times?
Framing Relationships:
Centred around built structures, this section illustrates how different communities and individuals live and work together in a single space.
Uncovering Relationships:
We emphasise embodied and multi-sensorial interactions amongst people and with our surroundings.
Imagining Relationships:
We visualise the speculative future based on our conjoined relationship with digital technology.
The curatorial team from the Department of Architecture (National University of Singapore) is interested in bringing these modes of conviviality and inclusivity into the context of an exhibition. Hashim Sarkis, the Director of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia poses a prescient and important question: how will we live together? This question opens up a plethora of possibilities. The Singapore Pavilion addresses this through a community-led focus, and the built spaces that facilitate these gatherings. The hawker centre and the living/dining room of a public housing flat emerged as natural frames through which we could introduce uniquely Singaporean modes of gathering and coexistence.
Participants: Atelier HOKO / Both Sides, Now: Drama Box, ArtsWok Collaborative and Forest & Whale / DP Architects / Hyphen Architects + Brian Khoo + Mary Ann Ng / Lai Chee Kien / Lighting Planners Associates / Michael Budig and Oliver Heckmann, Singapore University of Technology and Design / Millennial Nomad Space / MKPL Architects / NUS-Tsinghua Design Research Initiative: Sharing Cities / Red Bean Architects / salad dressing / Studio DO: Pulau / Studio Lapis + Eugene Tan + Jerome Ng Xinhao / Surbana Jurong / WOHA
-- Exhibition tour by lead Curator, Ho Puay-Peng
-- Exhibition trailer
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