The 17th International Architecture Exhibition will run from May 22 to Nov. 21 this year. Revolving around the theme, "Primitive Migration from/to Taiwan," Taiwan's exhibition at the biennale in Venice will explore and bring to light the boundaries between humanity, the environment and nature, echoing the exhibition's overarching theme of coexistence between humanity and nature.
The 17th International Architecture Exhibition's Taiwan Pavilion is organized by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA) under the Ministry of Culture.
The biennale was postponed for a year due to the pandemic which broke out last year. With the theme "How will we live together," the exhibition echoes the even more urgent need for architecture to bridge the gap between humanity and its surrounding environment in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.
On April 27, MOC held a pre-exhibition press conference, inviting the main curators of the exhibition, Divooe Zein (曾志偉), director of Divooe Zein Architects (自然洋行建築團隊) and Frank Huang (黃偉倫), founder of Double-Grass International Co. (草字頭國際), to share their curatorial philosophies. Deputy Minister of Culture Lee Ching-hwi (李靜慧) and NTMoFA Director Liang Yung-fei (梁永斐) were also present.
The Taiwan Pavilion is set up at the Palazzo delle Prigioni, a tourist attraction which was a prison in ancient times, at the transportation hub of Venice.
Frank Huang indicated that the title "Primitive Migration from/to Taiwan" was Divooe Zein’s idea, and they considered that it is in line with the research they have done in the past few years to identify the boundaries between human and nature and to relate to the discussions and review regarding architecture and natural species.
The miniature models of Taiwan's existing architectural projects presented at the Taiwan Pavilion reflect the themes of questioning, cooperation and interaction, echoing the biennale's overall theme of coexistence between humanity and nature. The Taiwan exhibition also features designs incorporating audio-visual works and scent to allow visitors to appreciate through the five senses a unique curatorial concept.
After a year of postponement, the NTMoFA restarted the shipping of exhibited items to Italy in early March this year, and these items are expected to arrive in Venice in early May. A virtual exhibition will take place in conjunction with the physical exhibition upon its official opening on May 22.