The Third and Last Salon Suisse of Biennale 2021

Within the third and last Salon Suisse in November 2021, curated by Evelyn Steiner, bodily alterations and optimization measures „like body hacking or anti-ageing procedures“ were „assessed and adapted to architectural discourse“. Consistent with its broad approach, it dealt „with a multitude of disciplines and themes, including psychoanalysis, medical anthropology, neurosciences, literature, interior design, transhumanism, fluid spaces, habitation and migration, borderscapes, mood-sensitive houses, and many more“ (Booklet Salon Suisse). At the event on November 18 („Jethro Knights, Armor Guyver, and Mutant X: How transhumanists challenge architecture“), Oliver Bendel gave a presentation on the topic „Human and animal enhancement in the context of architecture“, followed by a discussion with Mike Schaffner (a Swiss cyborg) and Georg Vrachliotis (an architect from TU Delft). On November 19 the event’s title was „Anti-ageing architecture: Can buildings help you to live forever?“. After the film documentary „Children who won’t die“ the curator discussed with Irene Sunwoo. „Beyond the binary: Fluid Spaces for a fluid Generation“ on November 20 was the title of a discussion with Jos Boys and Joel Sanders, framed by a performance by Nathalie Rebholz.

Fig.: At the entrance of Palazzo Trevisan (Photo: Samuele Cherubini, © Pro Helvetia)

La Biennale di Venezia in the Year 2021

The 17th International Architecture Exhibition – the whole series, the art part included, is known under the name La Biennale di Venezia – ran from 22 May to 21 November 2021, curated by scholar and architect Hashim Sarkis. Its motto was „How will we live together?“. „We need a new spatial contract. In the context of widening political divides and growing economic inequalities, we call on architects to imagine spaces in which we can generously live together“, Sarkis said to the organizers (s. Website Biennale). „Hashim Sarkis has been Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) since 2015. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a PhD in Architecture from Harvard University.“ (Website Biennale) Biennial themes ranged from architecture’s responses to climate change to proposals for living on other planets to the interactions between smart cities or smart houses and cyborgs. Ethical issues were repeatedly addressed.

Fig.: La Biennale di Venezia