Already the start image of this blog poses the most interesting question of this Biennial:

"How many masterpieces does a city need?"

If you walk around the Architecture Biennial of this year you find some interesting projects but mostly done by artists and not architects or should the old discussion on the borderline between art, architecture and let's say design be addressed again?

In this case I would like to leave this discussion aside as it has been led so many times that it starts to bore most of us and in truth there has never been found any satisfying answer.

So let's just go back to my suggestions what to see at this year's Biennial in Venice.

The top two pavilions for me are Canada (as always one of the best and dedicated to a fabolous Canadian artist named Philip Beesley. I have seen a similar concept at the Ars Electronica Website that has been featured a couple of years ago but Philip has worked with the space in the pavilion so brilliantly that I have invited him to do a show at para_SITE Gallery next year in September. Link: www.hylozoicground.com

My other favorite pavilion is the Austrialian pavilion which features four different architecture collectives however also with a rather artistic approach and what I liked best was the way they attracted you towards the pavilion. Bordering the alley leading towards the pavilion the trees were holding orange wooden cubes that seamed the way towards the pavilion. The pavilion itself was dominated by orange lines that inside glowed in the dark. The videos were 3-D and showed city scapes and the other one an underwater skyline like exerted out of a science fiction novel.

Check out the pictures for more.

The other pavilions were not really interesting except for the pavilion that features different international contributions.

But travel to Venice yourself to make up your own mind if you can. Every review has a personal view of the things that are seen and as everybody is different the likes and dislikes will be different. And afterall Venice is a beautiful city to spend some quality time and relax in a nice ambience.

Our video portrait on the Biennial will be up in a couple of days for an even closer insight and especially for those that cannot manage to go in person.

All the best,

Daniela Haberz