The Australian Institute of Architects will present its ninth exhibition at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, from 20 May to 26 November.
Titled "Unsettling Queenstown," the exhibition will be a "multifaceted and multi-sensory installation," exploring the themes of decolonization and decarbonization through the construction of a "Queenstown".
"There are Queenstowns all over the former British Empire," the Institute said, referencing Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. "It is a place both local and global." Led by creative directors Anthony Coupe, Julian Worrall, Emily Peach, Ali Gumillya Baker, and Sarah Rhodes, the exhibition design is inspired by the pervasiveness of the British imperial hangover, with the ubiquity of Queenstowns as "an emblem for decolonial struggle all over the world."
"Weaving between real and fictional Queenstowns, the exhibition will explore and question the relations between people and the environment under the logics of colonialism and resource extraction, through the lens of a place in which these are brought into sharp focus," an Institute spokesperson said.
"Unsettling Queenstown" responds to the theme for the 18th Biennale, "The Laboratory of the Future", chosen by curator Lesley Lokko. The architectural response features depictions of a colonial copper-mining town on Tasmania as well as Queenstown in Port Adelaide, depicted and reimagined through video and voice. A ghostly fragment of colonial architecture - a scale model of the town's Empire Hotel - is suspended above the installation, accompanied by immersive sound and images.
The exhibition will explore the overwriting of Aboriginal Country, whereby British names and symbols were stamped over Indigenous lands. The pavilion serves to provide an act of "demapping," revealing hidden stories of pre-colonial Country.
"'Unsettling Queenstown' unites decolonial theory and praxis, weaving elements from real places and gleanings from current architectural intelligence ins earch of ingredients to contribute to Venice's Laboratory of the Future," the creative directors said.
The exhibition is to be installed in the Denton Corker Marshall-designed Pavilion of Australia in the Giardini. A ribbon cutting ceremony for "Unsettling Queenstown" will take place on 18 May.
