In 2019, the team behind the Philippine Pavilion exhibition at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale collaborated on the exhibition Structures of Mutual Support curated by Framework Collaborative. The exhibition explores how the Filipino concept of mutual support, “bayanihan,” can shape architecture anew by transforming the process from merely building to fulfilling a community’s dream by involving its people from planning, designing, and constructing a structure that holds their shared needs, desires, and values.
For this project, volunteer residents from the GK Enchanted Farm attended a series of workshops in Angat, Bulacan led by Framework Collaborative’s architects Sudarshan V. Khadka, Jr. and Alexander Eriksson Furunes to derive a common language to build something they all want: a LIBRARY within the village.
By February 2020, the structure was packed, shipped and stored in Venice, while the team in the Philippines remotely prepared for the opening in August 2020.
Last May 18, 2020, the organizers of the Venice Biennale, through its president Roberto Cicutto and curator Hashim Sarkis, announced the postponement of the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale to 2021. The news was welcomed by the curators, the commissioner, and the Philippine Pavilion team that believed that postponement was the most responsible and sensitive decision.
As the Philippine Pavilion awaits the 2021 opening of the exhibition, we will continue posting information on the current Philippine Pavilion Exhibition including documentaries, webinars, essays that further explore the concepts and conversations raised by the Structures of Mutual Support.
For the initial post, we’d like to share the photo essay that documents the process of the Philippine Pavilion exhibition Structures of Mutual Support.
Photos courtesy of the Philippine Arts at the Venice Biennale
