Brazilian proposal – from national applications – and Architectural platform DAAR — in the part of the main exposition — were distracted golden lions best pavilion and best project respectively at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, which opened on Saturday under the title “Workshop of the Future” and was dedicated to tackling climate change, decolonization and global African architectural production. Nigerian artist, designer and architect Demas Nwoko also received the Golden Lion for all his work.

Created by Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares, the Brazilian pavilion called “Terra” with earth floors and plinths made of pressed clay was recognized by the Biennial Awards Committee as “a scientific presentation and architectural intervention focused on the philosophy and imagination of indigenous peoples and peoples.” black people in search of ways to make amends.”

DAAR (Alessandro Petty and Sadi Hilal) presents the deconstructed façade of a 1940 Fascist architectural style building in Sicily, exploring ways to subvert the colonial character of Fascist architecture. The committee awarded the architectural duo “for their longstanding commitment to intense political engagement in the architectural and educational practices of decolonization in Palestine and Europe.”

In addition, Lesley Loko, curator of the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, considers the event an “agent of change.” As she emphasizes in her editorial note, “especially in architecture, the dominant voice is historically unique and exclusive, while its reach and power ignore the broad strata of humanity (…), as if we hear and speak only one language. language. Thus, the “history” of architecture is incomplete. Not wrong, but incomplete. In this light, exhibitions are of great importance.”

In Venice, Greece is represented by the “Water Objects” exhibition curated by Kostis Panigiris, Professor of Architecture at the University of Thessaly, and Andreas Nikolovgenis, Associate Professor of the relevant department at the University of Ioannina. The Greek Pavilion represents the dams and reservoirs that, through a broad program of water retention projects, tried to transform Greece back in the interwar period. As Kostis Panigiris stated at the opening of the pavilion, “the reservoirs are part of the country’s heroic and at the same time pernicious effort to sustain life and emancipate its inhabitants over the past 100 years”, and the exhibition itself presents dams, water and all their impact on the environment and people as “great, proud, public architecture”. The aim of the project “is to participate in the discussion about the search for a new model, a new paradigm, a new identity for Greece, which in some way renews its stereotypical image.”

So, what was the deal with the Greek participation? “I think he did very well,” Kostis Panigiris tells K. “The Biennale and the awards have focused on issues of activism around ecology and decolonization. Without having time to read the report in detail, I think we had a more architectural proposal in these matters. We heard a lot of positive feedback about how we kept a calm and ‘architectural’ attitude while everyone had the feeling that it was a ‘peaceful’ participation with a very special theme.”

The 18th Venice Architecture Biennale runs until 26 November.