Lebanese Pavilion by Warde redefines silence
For the 17thLa Biennale di Venezia, the Lebanese Pavilion explores a dark thought of the human consciousness: silence. Hala Warde curates different art forms that undertakes how we coexist, and particularly how we deal with the spaces of silence.
For the 17thLa Biennale di Venezia, the Lebanese Pavilion explores a dark thought of the human consciousness: silence. Hala Warde curates different art forms that undertakes how we coexist, and particularly how we deal with the spaces of silence. Magazzino del Sale will welcome the exhibition rightfully titled “A Roof for Silence” from May 22nd to November 21st 2021.
The Lebanese Pavilion held a public competition to choose the next curator. Hala Warde, a Lebanese architect and founder of HW Architecture, was picked during October of 2019. One of Warde’s most notable works is creating the Louvre Abu Dhabi along with Jean Nouvel.
A Roof for Silence seeks to showcase paintings, architectures, photos, videos and songs that will make you experience emptiness and silence. Warde gathered works of Alain Fleischer, Paul Virilio, Fouad Elkoury, Sound Walk Collective and Etel Adnan. Lebanese and international artists lineup demonstrate a traditional and contemporary approach to the architectural representation of emptiness. Warde’s inspiration was 16 ancient olive trees in her home country, which housed numbers of animals pecies and hosted the villagers’ celebrations under its shadows.
There are four stages to the Lebanese Pavilion. First, Virilio’s “Antiforms” explores the spaces of in-between with paintings he defines as a “revelationary” installation, with black and white photography of Lebanese olive trees by photographer Fouad Elkoury. Next, you will follow a trail of glass shattered on the ground, reflecting the catastrophic aftermath of 4th of August blast. Then you will travel in time and space with Fleischer’s video of the 16 trees that were recorded during nighttime. In the background Soundwalk Collective translates the feeling of void through music.
Last but not least, you will feast on the piece de resistance by Etel Adnan: sixteen canvases present Adnan's poems « Olivéa: Hommage à la déesse de l'Olivier ».
The project sheds light on the 4th of August Beirut Blast which destroyed prominent parts of Beirut’s cultural heritage. La Biennale di Venezia is helping Beirut Heritage Initiative by giving them a voice through their worldwide platform, andi s raising awareness about the restoration of Beirut’s historical buildings. The National Museum of Lebanon will host the Lebanese Pavilion. The exhibition is mobile and will land in Paris, at the Palais de Tokyo.
This manifesto for anew wave of architecture formulates a “musical score, resonating disciplines, shapes and periods to provoke the sensory experience of a thought, articulated around the notions of emptiness and silence, as temporal and spatial conditions of architecture”. In her words, Warde describes the Lebanese Pavilion 2021 as an affirmation of “the need for empty space and for life that might inhabit it as a form of silence”. What a fascinating perspective on silence!
- date publishedJune 9, 2021
- categoryFindings
- original sourceArch Daily↗
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