zlgdesign: venice architecture biennale

venice architecture biennale

The vessel (final draft)

Malacca surprisingly enough draws many parallels to Venice. The water body surrounding the peninsula of old Malaya has brought about the congruence of cultures to come together and manifest in the voices of today's artisans, craftsmen and architects - a tapestry that is now the modern architectural feat that is both Malacca and Venice. Our Straits of Malacca echoes the Grand Canal in trade, history and spiritual growth in the realms of culture, finance and the arts.

The Rialto Bridge mirrors its wonderful cousin - the wooden bridge in old Malacca. During the Portuguese occupation days, royal warriors once fought here. This modern day world class tourist destination was famously known as a point of many contentious and vigorous trades. Similarly the arsenals of Venice, once a defence mechanism at the now famously visited Arsenale – is a station and laboratory for tremendous artistic expressions, ideas and the ‘raison d'être’ for this architectural exposition in Venice. An event that commands creative individuals to issue their contemporary voices, Malacca similarly echoes this in its own history of Dutch, British and Portuguese influence which spurred into Malaysia's multicultural and multilingual identity. Traveller and trader alike, the Venice of Asia begets today's fine art and modern expressions in both a cultural and intellectual sense. We see this as the common ground of any form of architecture. Both Malacca and Venice are similar in nature in their respective diverse history and critical cultural contribution to their nations.

The evolution of maritime architecture in both historical cities resonates in the marine and wooden materials selected for the Malaysian installation – a structure to anchor, protect and capture the individuality of 30 Malaysians. Ruskin's diary written in 1840s Venice, reminds us of the fundamentals and foundations of architecture through his essay ‘The Seven Lamps of Architecture’. Our core theme of Voices verbalises the four of the ‘Lamps’ – Sacrifice in presence at the Biennale, Truth in the choice of natural materials – wood, Life in the craftsmanship of the exhibit and Memory of the relationship and common ground Malacca and Venice share. It is through our Noah’s Ark that we express our desire to collectively cultivate and regard creativity at any place and time. The vessel represents the travelling echo of voices – sailing across boundaries and differences, from one vessel to another through intellectual waters to propose knowledge, intelligence and philosophical truths for those who seek to embrace and enjoy.

Our voices are captured in a small but unified floating vessel, elevated to give way for water to pass below and the journey continues as Venice receives our ideas through the exchange of voices. Through trade and exchange of past and present, we find Sir David Chipperfield's quest for common ground.

written by mei-zhi neoh for huatlim for the creative team

willard wigan

"Though my sculptures are quite small, it's important for people to realize that I am life-size. Of course, at times, when I'm working on a piece, I might come to believe that I myself am microscopic. That's how involved in my work I become. My tiny world becomes everything to me.

Let me tell you, it's very difficult. Every movement I make is so small. I have to control my breathing and heartbeat - it's not easy! I usually work at night and have to make sure the dog isn't around.

Be original! Be creative! Be individual and make your mark"

helen keller

In February 1882, when Helen was nineteen months old, she fell ill. To this day the nature of her ailment remains a mystery. It thus became apparent that Helen’s illness had left her both blind and deaf.

Helen’s progress from then on was astonishing. Her ability to learn was far in advance of anything that anybody had seen before in someone without sight or hearing.

When Helen graduated from Radcliffe College in June 1904, she became the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

In 1913 a series of Helen's political views and writings on socialism called “Out of the Dark” was published, this was to change her public image most immensely.

Anne Sullivan taught Helen the meanings of words and helped her discover the world around her. They may not have been directly responsible for the development of our modern day internet technologies and teaching methods for the blind and deaf and mute but we know however that it was Helen and Anne that have shown us that these disabilities need not be the end of the world, less if we have modern day technologies to overcome them.

martin luther king

"I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

In 1964 Martin Luther King Jr became the youngest person to receive the Nobel peace prize. His speech, "I have a dream" made him one of the greatest orators in American history. His philosophy of non violent actions to fight racism and discrimination of civil rights did nothing to prevent his assassination on 4th April 1968, he was shot in the cheek in his motel room after he delivered his last known speech, "I've been to the Mountaintop." A crowd of 300,000 attended King's funeral. He was only 39.

winston churchill

Churchill was born with a speech impediment which he consistently worked to overcome, depressive periods he called black dog days. After many years, he finally overcame this hindrance, a remarkable personal achievement. Trainee speech therapists are often shown videotapes of Churchill's mannerisms at the time of his struggles. This diagnosis is confirmed by many authors writing in the 1930s and 1940s, there is even a story about how he was refused a job, the prospective employer suggested he gave up work of any kind. Churchill's impediment may have been cluttering which would fit more with his lack of attention to unimportant details and his very secure ego. Weiss suggests that he may have "excelled because of, rather than in spite of, his cluttering."

barnum brown

Barnum Brown started out his illustrious career as a young man collecting bones almost to his first day at the museum where he met the Director of Paleantology. He inspired researchers and collectors to this day of his tireless field work and methodology. His perseverance saw him on long days of up to a year in the field, eventually leading him to discover the bones of the most feared of dinosaurs, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, this was as early as 1910. Brown was quite a colorful character. During World War I and II, he picked up odd jobs acting as a corporate spy for oil companies, during his many trips abroad. During his time in Canada, Brown was frequently photographed wearing a large fur coat at dig sites, and a hat.

frida kahlo

Kahlo produced only about 200 paintings—primarily still lifes and portraits of herself, family and friends. Haunting, sensual and stunningly original, these uncompromisingly figurative works fused elements of surrealism, fantasy and folklore into powerful narratives. As Janet Landay, curator of exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and one of the organizers of a 1993 exhibition of Kahlo's work, points out, "Kahlo made personal women's experiences serious subjects for art, but because of their intense emotional content, her paintings transcend gender boundaries. Intimate and powerful, they demand that viewers—men and women—be moved by them."

jackson pollock

No living artist, painter, or painting or form of art has inspired so many generations of expressionist artists, automatic painters and designers as Pollock's 1949 No.8. Jackson invented the Drip Painting technique, now widely copied and imitated but never to evoke the same quality of experience and awe as the original. Pollock's own incredible energy and passion, and his uncontrollable action painting has been one of the modern of many admired styles. Its extraordinary historical impact on the world art market from the 60's to today has brought about aesthetic awareness to very ordinary people and their appreciation of modern art. It is this extraordinary, yet totally accessible form that has continued to inspire me, and I find it not so surprising how Pollock's work has remained utterly modern and relevant to people of all walk of life, to this day

hemingway

At the age of 17 Hemingway published his first literary work. He died aged 61, of self inflicted gun shot wounds. He was the greatest of writers. His book The Old Man and the Sea, written in 1952, sold 5 million copies in a flash, later o win him the Pulitzer Prize the following year. It was after this point that Hemingway found himself spending most of his life in Europe and Africa, wherein some of his best novels were written. it is thought his best book was written at the time he was leaving Cuba, A Moveable Feast, considered to be his most beautifully written prose.

camille claudel

Sculptor, born in La Fère-en-Tardenois, N France, the sister of the poet Paul Claudel. She became the student, model, and mistress of August Rodin, producing works which, while close to his, nonetheless show great individuality. After a fiery relationship, Claudel and Rodin parted company in 1898, but she continued to sculpt and achieved great renown around the beginning of the 20th-c. However, the break with Rodin affected her mental stability, and from 1913 until her death she was confined to various institutions.

charles baudelaire

In December 1868 the third edition of Les Fleurs du mal — volume 1 of the poet's complete works — went on sale in Paris. Along with an introduction by the poet Théophile Gautier, this new edition contained all the poems of the 1861 edition, eleven poems from Les Épaves, plus a few others. (It lacked, however, the six poems censored from the first edition, since these were still illegal to print in France.) This 1868 edition was the only one authorized by Baudelaire's estate until his work fell into the public domain in 1917. However, though Banville and Asselineau certainly meant well in assembling and editing the work, scholars today generally disagree with some of the choices made by the two friends, in particular with several of the poems they chose to include and with the way in which these poems altered the "secret architecture" of the 1861 edition.