Curated by Kozo Kadowaki and titled «Co-ownership of Action: Trajectories of Elements» the Pavilion presented a whole typical Tokyo house but not in one piece.

The Venice Biennale is undoubtedly one of the most historic and important institutions of architecture and design. The concept of Biennale Architettura 2021 was «How We Live Together», a universal question with no obvious answer that has vastly troubled humanity during the pandemic. Functional furniture, installations and architectural projects using innovative materials were presented, centring around the following concepts: human, house, society, borders, planet. This year, as always, the national Pavilions spiked great interest: different cultures and mindsets responded - each in its own way- to the issues of cohabitation and survival.

One of the national entries that responded in the most unexpected way to this year’s concept was Japan. Curated by Kozo Kadowaki and titled «Co-ownership of Action: Trajectories of Elements» the Pavilion presented a whole typical Tokyo house but not in one piece. In order to be shipped to Venice, the house was dismantled and its compartments were documented one by one, sketched and 3D modelled to be put back together in the Japanese pavilion from Venetian architects and artisans that collaborated with the curator remotely. This process proves that design is, among other things, a collaborative practice. It’s a collaboration between people with different backgrounds and between fields, each contributing its unique value to the whole.

How was the experience of visiting the Japanese Pavillion?

While visiting the Biennale we were impressed by the facade of the Pavilion. A whole wooden roof was installed in front of the entrance and the phrase «This roof was once on a house in Japan» was written on it, giving us a preview of what we would be viewing inside. Within the pavilion, we were first faced with photographic material of the development of this Japanese house: from its initial construction in 1954 to its last architectural additions in 1982 and its abandonment in 2019. Based on this sequence of time and space we were presented with the materials constructing the house: wooden pillars, doors, floors, thin room-dividers, furniture and posters. Each object receives historic value through its exhibition as a unique and indivisible part of the space. This is also underlined by the various photographs depicting the family that coexisted with these elements. Moreover, the curator chose to emphasise the fact that as the years go by, the transition from handmade objects to mass-produced ones becomes evident, something that still has a dramatic impact on Japanese design.

After exiting the Pavilion, we were directed to the underground garden, where we were faced with a completely different philosophy. There, parts of the original house were repurposed after being combined with contemporary materials. Thus, new seats and flat surfaces were created, available to the visitors for use, expressing the need for reuse and recycling in the field of design. Besides, that was also the concept of the rest of the Pavilion’s facades that presented whole parts of the house in their actual size and position with the help of additional materials replacing the parts that got lost during the shipping.

The organising of this exhibition, within quarantine conditions and with transport restrictions, demonstrates just how adjustable human beings are and by extension design. The revitalisation of an object’s character can happen even though its transfer, rendering a typical and anonymous object important in a stranger location because of its unique nature.

Visit the official site of the Japanese entry to Biennale Architettura 2021: https://www.vba2020.jp/

Images: Vassilis Xipharas