Switzerland : I didn’t get the humour in it, if there was any.
France : for its affordable “hedonism” and nothing more (le pur plaisir de ne rien inventer).
Finland : one of the nicest pavilions, with well presented (even not too bad) projects. A fatal combination of good potential + irrelevant result.
There are, sadly some even worse pavilions.
With the exception of a few remarkable shows at the Padiglione Italia (Italian Pavilion), I wasn’t thrilled by the Biennale. The generous amount of colourful visuals, playful devices, sculptural rooftops, little huts and pretension has quickly driven me into a state of bored architectural disgust. Maybe it’s just the indigestion effect.
We are all aware of how difficult it is to show architecture but this is not a reason for tiring the visitor with the display of excessive and often meaningless gesticulations or boring him with selections of domestic projects of poor theoretical interest, in an attempt at sobriety.
The anachronistic concept of a national pavilion would become more exciting if transformed in a space/place for hosting trans-national views, experiences and projects.
I was not shocked by the absence of Architecture, but disappointed by the absence of intelligence and by the reluctance of many to keep to the theme, despite its undeniable interest. Some urgent, fundamental questions were raised; I do hope we’ll try to answer them.
