A proposal by a team from Carleton University's Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism is one of four to be shortlisted to curate the Canadian Pavilion at the 2020 Venice Biennale in Architecture.
The Biennale is one of the most prestigious international platforms for architecture in the world. It draws more than 350,000 visitors worldwide to engage in critical conversations about contemporary architecture.
"We are delighted to be shortlisted to curate the Canadian pavilion at the Biennale and are very grateful to the Canada Council for the Arts for being considered, along with three other outstanding teams," said Ozayr Saloojee, professor in the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism. "It's incredible to have this opportunity to represent Canada, Carleton and our international, interdisciplinary team of scholars, designers, students and communities at the Biennale. We are looking forward to creating a compelling, provocative and engaging presentation centred on Canada's inland waters."
The team is comprised of a remarkable and interdisciplinary advising and collaborative team from around the world. The core team consists of professors Johan Voordouw, Saloojee and PhD student Émélie Desrochers-Turgeon in the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism, Zoe Todd professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, David Hugill, professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies and Karen Lutsky, professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Minnesota.
The proposal entitled, Fluid Boundaries: Ethical Imaginaries of Inland Waters, explores the liquid boundaries and thresholds of Canada. The team aims to foster a critical position on Canada's responsibilities to inland bodies of water, Indigenous nations, human and non-human agencies and the legal governance entanglements that shape Canada's collective experiences as an idea and place. The exhibition would position interactive liquid landscape models with speculative drawings and texts that elicit an ethical imagery on how these waterscapes should be maintained, experienced and challenged.
The Fluid Boundaries team will submit a final proposal in January 2019, followed by an interview with the Canada Council Jury a short while later. The winning project, to be announced in February 2019, will serve as Canada's official entry to the 2020 Venice Biennale in Architecture and will be housed in the newly restored Canadian Pavilion on the Biennale grounds in Venice, from May until November 2020.
