Photo: Rasmus Hjortshøj
Coastal Imaginaries
Exhibition
May 20 - November 26, 2023
Venue
Architecture Biennale
Venice, Italy
Under the heading Coastal Imaginaries, the Danish pavilion, curated by Josephine Michau, will shine a spotlight on nature-based design solutions in the struggle against global challenges like rising sea levels and storm floods.
The pavilion’s team represents a collaboration between landscape architectural firm Schønherr and leading researchers, artists, Danish trade organizations and scientific institutions.
With curator Josephine Michau, the pavilion’s content has been created in collaboration with the landscape architecture studio Schønherr as well as leading researchers, artists, Danish industry organizations and scientific institutions.
“We’re in the middle of the Anthropocene Age – that is, the age of mankind – where geologists have declared humanity to be a geological force on equal terms with volcanoes, meteor strikes and tectonic shifts. Humans are contributing to many of the crises we are facing today, including the biodiversity crisis, the climate crisis, the environmental crisis, and the food crisis. We not only have the opportunity, but also the duty, to take action and reverse this trend, and the architects who design our physical surroundings play a vital role in this,” says the Curator Josephine Michau.
Coastal Landscapes of the Future
Photo: Anna Aslaug Lund
Visitors to the Danish pavilion will gain insight into concrete principles for how nature can be utilized for coastal protection and climate adaptation, as well as how these principles can be applied in various locations around the world. They will experience a dramatic narrative that shows, through future scenarios, how the Copenhagen coastline might evolve if we employ nature-based solutions.
“We need ideas that are based on hope and optimism for the future and that embrace a new view of nature and a new world view in the shaping of the coastal landscape. And yet, in order to find the landscapes of the future, all we have to do is travel back in time. Examples of nature-based design can be found all over the planet, throughout history, and in a wide range of local adaptation traditions for living with water. They are always anchored in a deep understanding of the context of the specific location in which they are used,” explains Michau.
In the two historical buildings that house the Danish pavilion, Carl Brummer’s from 1932 and Peter Koch’s from 1958, visitors will be able to explore the exhibition of sustainable solutions to how we can adapt to the rising sea levels and ever more frequent storm floods caused by climate change, which will dramatically change our coastal landscapes this century.
In addition to their coast-protection elements, the solutions also have the potential to serve as recreational areas for people and habitats for other species, as carbon storage, and as sources of food and materials.
“Danish architecture has a great deal to contribute when it comes to solving the challenges society faces today. This year’s Danish Pavilion submission spotlights climate change, which is one of our generation’s biggest societal challenges. I hope the Danish submission can inspire other countries to use nature to mitigate the consequences of climate change.”
– Jakob Engel-Schmidt, Denmark’s Minister for Culture.
About Josephine Michau
Josephine Michau has a master’s degree in business administration and philosophy and is co-founder and CEO of Copenhagen Architecture Festival (CAFx). Since 2014, CAFx has communicated architecture and urbanism to the public through a program of 100-200 annual activities. In 2015 the festival received a prize from the Danish Architecture Association for its ability “…to think about the communication of architecture, highlight its qualities and diversity, and create relevant debate”
In 2019, Josephine Michau received the Henning Larsen Foundation Award for “…her tireless and fascinating commitment to understanding, communicating and engaging people in the landscape of architecture in our lives…”
In the context of CAFx she has initiated and co-authored several articles, publications and film productions + conducted yearly workshops on film and architecture since 2016.
– “The Danish exhibition will inspire hope by pointing to solutions and engaging visitors in a way that touches their hearts and minds; where the senses, intellect and community form a symbiotic bond,” says Josephine Michau.
Photo: Rasmus Hjortshøj
Photo: Rasmus Hjortshøj
Complex Challenges Require an Interdisciplinary Approach
The exhibition’s content is being developed in collaboration with landscape architectural firm Schønherr and a number of Denmark’s leading researchers and students from various Danish institutions, including architect and landscape architect Anna Aslaug Lund – representing the research project Mitigating Sea Level Rise, which is being conducted as a partnership between the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the Aarhus School of Architecture (ARCH) and the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) – as well as architect and Associate Professor David Garcia and students in the Architecture and Extreme Environments graduate master program at the Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, Conservation.
Internationally recognized scenographer and artist Christian Friedländer, and Peter Albrechtsen, sound designer, will be translating parts of the research into sensory and spatial experiences, making the coastal landscapes of the future more tangible for visitors to the pavilion.
About the Danish Pavilion
The Ministry of Culture owns the Danish Pavilion in Venice, which is used for the architecture and art biennales. The Ministry of Culture has appointed the Danish Architecture Center as commissioner for the official Danish contribution to the 18th International Architecture Biennale in Venice.
The project is carried out with support from, among others, Realdania, The Ministry of Culture and the Danish Art Foundation’s Architecture Committee.
The Architecture Biennale opens in Venice on 20 May 2023 and can be seen until 26 November 2023.
Foto: Hampus Berndtson
Photo: La Biennale di Venezia
Chief curator for the Biennale Architettura 2023
The Scottish-Ghanaian architect Lesley Lokko is the chief curator for the entire Biennale Architecture. Lesley Lokko has a vision that the Biennale should contribute to creating new narratives and languages for architecture that can lift the crisis out of despair.