If the purpose of architectural installations is to explore ideas, experiment with new materials and test new forms, then the installation “Somewhere Other” currently on show in Venice has well and truly achieved its brief. John Wardle Architects was one of only two Australian architecture studios (along with Room 11) selected to show as part of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale of Architecture and worked with a range of collaborators on this work.
The exhibition theme this year, across both this exhibition and the whole biennale, is “Freespace”, through which curators Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Irish studio Grafton Architects raise questions about how people relate to buildings and vice versa, what is private and what is public space, and what is the architect’s role in this equation.
In response to this theme, Wardle and his team, along with a number of collaborators, including artist Natasha John-Messenger, have explored a particular theme within architecture – that of portals and how they are used to frame our perspective.
The installation object itself takes the form of a structure clad in spotted gum by Jacaranda Industries with steel framing by Derek John. Its unusual form presents opportunities for a series of interactions, inviting the visitor to look through five different portals.
What they see is designed to evoke questions about perspective, reflection and the relationship of Melbourne/Australia and Venice/Italy. One – called “The Venetian Portal” – features an oversized orange Murano glass object by Venetian master glassblower Leonardo Cimolin suspended adjacent to a chrome indentation, offering a distorted perspective.
Another evokes the mask, combining elements of the classic Venetian mask with that of Australian bushranger Ned Kelly’s iron helmet. Other portals play on reflections through mirrors, while others again offer the opportunity to watch the slow-moving, ethereal films of Coco and Maximilian. In doing so, the installation speaks of place, identity, perspective and self-reflection, while offering an architectural examination of how we interact with objects, openings and spaces.
In the exhibition catalogue published by URO, Rory Hyde writes: “John Wardle Architects’ proposal for the biennale establishes a portal between Venice and Australia. It is a paradoxical thing, part telescope, and part gateway, simultaneously reaching upward, while being pulled out into a long cantilevered tube.”
The resulting effect is a multi-layered, experiential installation whose detailing as an object is exquisitely done, while its ideas are provocative and offer important touch points for architects to consider – how do we view the world and what does it mean?
The Venice Architecture Biennale ends 25 November.
More about John Wardle
