The Tank Saga: Part 2

The story continues, but its not a happy scene.

When the tank was cleaned out this week by Filippo, two fish were discovered. One (named Gilbert the Gobi, top) is in perfect health. We had previously thought he was a catfish, but in the intervening two weeks he has grown significantly and seems to be thriving in his recreated saltmarsh environment at the British Pavilion. The other fish, which we have been observing with concern for some time, is a passerin and is being nibbled alive by the crabs who also share this ecosystem - Ruskin and his comrades. (We aren't sure of the translation of passerin in English) Crabs seemingly become more territorial and  often turn cannibalistic when placed within an enclosed environment, regardless of how healthy the system is. Patsy the Passerin's tail is now a raw pink in colour, and is almost completely gone, ruining her sandy camouflage and compromising her swimming capabilities. Sadly it looks like her days are numbered. If she does make it to the end of the Biennale then she will probably form some other creature's dinner when returned to the lagoon.

We also found our pregnant crab dead, lying beside the outlet tank beneath the lagoon. We think she may have been a victim of the drain/pump/filtration process - or an unhappy case of suicide. It was a sad moment to realise that the Legacy of the Lagoon would not be through its crablets. 

On the front desk.

blog sign, 'done.book', lagoon flowers

We thought we would share some of the many funny comments that are written in the visitors book. 

1. (three stars)

2. 'keep it real, keep it simple, cause' its worth it'

3. (sad face + sad face = crying face)

4. 'very boring indeed'

5. 'not bad'

6. ' The girl who's eyes met me on the 'Apple' I can not look at- I have left a little bit of my heart here' - 

7. ' At last something serious and interesting.'

8. 'Bloody lovely stuff.'

9. 'Yes we can.' - Not sure when Obama visited the British Pavilion?

Things are heating up in the pavilion, with the Biennale closing on Sunday. We are all getting prepared for a grand send off... [watch this space]

Alison Crawshaw: muf Architect

Also on Saturday, Alison Crawshaw from muf gave a talk on the stadium and the other projects surrounding muf Architecture / Art with relation to the 2012 Olympics.

London Met: David Kohn's unit

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On Saturday we welcomed a Part 2 group from London Met. They had previously visited Spazio Legno - a Gondola building company based in Giudecca; who created the 1:10 scale Stadium of Close Looking.

A big part of their trip was an in-depth sketching study and tour following Ruskin's Stone's of Venice. 

Due to the mist over Venice, we heard they had some problems flying home. We hope you're all back safe.

Looking closely at the Close Lookers

The Stadium of Close Looking is a 1:10 model of the 2012 London Olympic Stadium refashioned as a drawing salon, similar to that of The Slade Drawing Room at the Royal College of Art. Its plywood timber structure has been constructed locally by Spazio Legno on the island of Giudecca, and its legacy will see it reinstalled in a school or another creative space in Venice. This mirrors the intended Legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, which promises to provide opportunities and facilities for five east London boroughs after the Games are over.

The rungs of our Stadium of Close Looking hold objects salvaged from building sites in London - bits of brick, stone and ceramic - as well as natural materials collected in Venice, such as leaves, seeds and shells. Drawing boards, paper and pencils are scattered throughout, encouraging the visitors to look in detail at their enviroment in much the same way that Ruskin obsessively observed, sketched, drew and re-drew, the stones of Venice's architectural fabric.

Each day we collect a vast number of sketches; some are technically excellent, others are less successful but nonetheless energetically attempted. Others still are fantastical renderings of some dream world or visions of Venice outside the Giardini, to accompany the many philosophical musings, cartoons, signatures, scribbles and amusingly detailed anatomical diagrams.

Here is a collection of our recent finds (censored!)

[The Penguin Pool at London Zoo by Tecton/Lubetkin must not be inappropriately altered in any way. It is a unique sculptural achievement of reinforced concrete and it does not matter if the penguins refuse to mate]

An interview with Liza Fior / muf Architecture/Art

The Crab Sitcom

The crabs have become our little pets in the pavilion. We have spotted a total of six now but there may be more. There are also two catfish (although we noticed today the biggest one which is the size of a hand may have been the crab's lunch at some point. There was another catfish but that was definitely part of the crabs lunch.) Each day we keep a diary for Venice in Peril on the 'action' and to record the development of the environment as a natural habitat within the tank.
Only four of our crabs have names: Ruskin, Wolfgang, Donatella (after our landlady, not the designer) and Pizza. The other two newbies have yet to be identified.

We'd like to say thank you to Matt from the previous group for his commentary on the crab's emotions in the Tank diary. His diary entries describing the crab's moods provided a lot of entertainment;
'Ruskin looks happy, and excited'

It is literally like a soap opera with these guys!

Puddle Cleaning

A short announcement

One of our crabs (official name to be confirmed) is expecting a small litter. Last week we noticed her crawling around with a large orange sack attached to her side- Filippo, our tank expert, later confirmed she is indeed expecting.

(In this shot you can see Wolfgang having a chow down on a fish.)

Day off Diary: Claire's rainy day in the Arsenale

On my day off, I took the opportunity to visit the Arsenale, the Biennale's sister location to the Giardini. The atmoshphere of the space could not be more of a contrast to Napoleon's Giardini gardens, where international pavilions are scattered amongst towering trees. Instead the 12th century ship yard produce an exhibition space with the capacity to exert a grand imposing energy.

Below- (1) An Te Liu's Cloud, is a collection of many air purifying devices, where visitors can wind up a spiral walkway, into and then above the cloud, before descending back through it. The exhibit questions our need to live in a highly sterile and technical enviroment. (2) An exciting space where snake like hose pipes and screaming children with umbrella's, can be seen through the split second of a strobe light. I feel both these exhibits use the space their advantage rather than being dictated by its constraints.  

Development work was also key to many exhibitions. It gave a humanist element to the architecture produced, by revealing the thought process, rather than simply the resolved final design.  

Wolfgang Scheppe and the German Architectural Association

Wolfgang Scheppe gave a talk in 'The Stadium of Close Looking' about the 'Done.Book'- the book resulting from his contributing work to the exhibition. 

Day off Diary: Jess the Culture Vulture

I decided to stay closer to home than James and chose to wander around Venice seeing some of the cultural sights. First stop was the Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna and the Musee d'Arte Orientale. I'd stumbled upon them earlier in our stay but couldn't actually remember where they were, so I set out on a bit of an adventure to hunt them both down. To keep myself occupied I decided to go on a graffiti trail and took a few shots of some of the local street art.

Inside the Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Modern featured a number of sculptures and paintings which had been acquired during the turn of the 20th Century from the Art Biennale. With artists such as Kandinsky, Matisse, Klimt, Klee and Chagall. The star of the exhibition was Rodin's The Thinker (not the original as that is in the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, France.) Even so, it was great to see! 

I then headed over to the Arsenale for the second half of the Venice Biennale (first being the Giardini). I didn't really pay much attention to the content or the detail (after almost four hours of walking, my attention span was waning). I viewed the exhibition from the point of view of a curator and I thought it was brilliant! The inspiring exhibition designs of each space were something which I thought were individual, unique and contemporary. Providing an engaging and interesting platform for architecture. Something which is incredibly hard to exhibit. (Short of having a whole building inside a gallery/museum, the only other option is exhibiting the architectural models which can be at times fairly stilted and uninspiring.)

The Biennale has been curated and directed by Kazuyo Sejima and titled 'People Meet in Architecture'. The exhibition design has really raised the bar for other curators on how they will exhibit architecture in the future. I'm pretty excited to see where this will lead!

Mapping Workshop

On Saturday 30th October, we had lecturers from the Built Environment Research Institute, University of Ulster, present a lecture on the mapping of Protestant and Catholic communities in Belfast. 


Alona Martinez Perez, Claudio Trillo, Gabriella de Vita, Carmelina Bebliaqua

Day off Diary: James' Trip to Tomba Brion

For my day off I decided to take the advice of an old tutor and embark on a six hour round trip to see Carlo Scarpa's Brion Cemetery (1972).

I had heard so many good things about Carlo Scarpa but had never experienced one of his creations before this so I met the trip with a certain amount of aprehension. Hoping that he would not just turn out to be some artisan painter and decorator with a fetish for concrete.  

Luckily, it was awe inspiring. The detailing was incredible, from the finish of the monolithic concrete to the screws in the bronze chapel desk. It was well worth risking the stomach churning trip I endured on the vaporetto in rough water. And even the hour long bus ride from Castelfranco, accompanied by a crowd of rowdy school children. (who could of been handing out numerous insults to this unaware, lone traveller somewhere in rural Italy)  

If you would like to go, here's how I got there: vaporetto - S.Lucia/Ferrovia, 30 mins from Giardini. Train - Castelfranco, 1.5hrs. bus - S. Vito di'Altivole, 1hr.