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biennials.ch
15th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia
28 May - 27 Nov 2016
Swiss Pavilion
«Incidental Space» A project by Christian Kerez at the Swiss Pavilion
«Incidental Space»
A project by Christian Kerez

Commissioners: Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia – Marianne Burki, Head of Visual Arts; Sandi Paucic, Project Manager for Swiss contributions to the Biennale Architettura 2016
Deputy Commissioner: Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia – Rachele Giudici Legittimo, Project Coordinator for Swiss contributions to the Biennale Architettura 2016
Exhibitor: Christian Kerez
Curator: Sandra Oehy

Press conference: Thursday, 26 May 2016, 3pm
Opening: Friday, 27 May 2016, 4pm
Exhibition: 28 May to 27 November 2016

The Biennale Architettura is more than just a venue where the status quo of architectural production is put on display and celebrated. It is a state of exception and its spatial distance from the location from where one usually works allows us to critically interrogate architecture’s everyday conditions. Although, technologically speaking, more is possible today than ever before, architectural freedom has been greatly limited by a monumental level of regulation. In this context, the project «Incidental Space» by the architect Christian Kerez is intended as fundamental research. As part of the Swiss contribution to the Biennale Architettura 2016, its aim is to investigate the possibilities — technically, as much as in our imagination — of how to think, build and experience architecture
differently.
 
At the beginning of this discussion, Kerez declared architectonic space as a postulate: architecture can be presented through the medium of architecture itself. It is from this point of departure that Kerez builds a space as an architectonic project in Bruno Giacometti’s Swiss Pavilion. This space is an experience that takes place in a particular location and proves its legitimacy there. It stands as an assertion, a thesis of itself, and does not refer beyond itself to another space or movement.
 
The project sounds out the borders of what is presently architecturally possible: how can one use the medium of architecture to think about an abstract and simultaneously complex architectonic space? How can one illustrate and produce such a space?
 
In the process of form finding, questions on the necessity of a design distant from artistic authority emerge. Through the coupling and sequencing of craftsmanship and digital processes, utilizing various technical translation assistants, a detail-rich architectonic space appears, which reveals the greatest complexity possible. The space exists simultaneously in various conditions of aggregation of a cloud of data, all of which are of equal value and reciprocally condition each other. As there is no portrait presented, it is not visually simple to decode. It overwhelms the viewer through a multiplicity of possible readings, producing, in its material presence, a moment of resistance that stimulates reflection.

KONZEPT «INCIDENTAL SPACE», 03.11.2016 from Schweizer Baumuster-Centrale on Vimeo.



Additional information on the project:
https://www.espazium.ch/enigmatic-space
 

KONZEPT «INCIDENTAL SPACE», 03.11.2016 from Schweizer Baumuster-Centrale on Vimeo.

In collaboration with:
ETH Zurich
ETH Zurich Department of Architecture

Main sponsor:
Holcim (Schweiz) AG​

With the support of:
MartyDesignHaus​
NCCR Digital Fabrication

Project realization partner:
Adunic AG

Development and production in collaboration with:
ETH Zurich Departement of Architecture:
Benjamin Dillenburger – Assistant Professor for Digital Building Technologies
Joseph Schwartz – Chair of Structural Design
Karin Sander – Chair of Architecture and Art
Ludger Hovestadt – Chair of Computer-Aided Architectural Design
Christian Kerez – Chair of Architecture and Design
Alessandro Tellini – Raplap D-Arch ETHZ
ETH Zurich Department of Computer Science:
Daniele Panozzo and Olga Sorkine-Hornung – Interactive Geometry Lab

Christenguss AG Switzerland
Neuco AG
Bürgin 3D Creations Switzerland
GOM International AG
S. Müller Holzbau AG
Dr. Schwartz Consulting AG
Christian Kerez Berlin AG
Dennert Poraver GmbH
Christian Fuchs Organic Form Productions
Fibre Technologies International Ltd

Project architects:
Joni Kacani, Lea Grunder, Nicolò Krättli, Melina Mezari, Poltak Pandjaitan, Dimitrios Katsis, Adi Grüninger, Gianna Ledermann, Jann Erhard, Victoria Fard

Graphic design and visual communication:
Ludovic Balland Typography Cabinet

Media partner:
ARCH+
espazium – Edizioni per la cultura della costruzione