The Venice Biennale Gets Fleeced
This year’s tenth annual architecture exhibition is invaded by a fuzzy,
oversized, and sustainable sweater.
By Dana Mayer
Posted June 19, 2006
Leave it to Canada to find an alternative use for your outdoor gear. For
their selected entry to the 2006 architecture exhibition at the Venice
Biennale , architects Stephanie Robb and Bill Pechet of Vancouver-based
Pechet and Robb Studio will debut SweaterLodge. The aptly-named project
is a large-scale, inhabitable installation made of polar fleece.
The four-story SweaterLodge is composed of 350 square-meters of bright
orange fabric (Polartec Classic 200 fleece), made from more than 3,150
recycled 2-liter plastic soda bottles. The fleece will coat the
octagonal-shaped Canadian pavilion. “We wanted to do something that
would be memorable, and fun, and a bit witty, mostly because
architectural exhibitions quite often rely on models, photos, and
drawings of built work that is elsewhere, so you’re getting a second
generation representation of an architectural experience, ” says Robb.
“We felt that we would rather give the attendees and viewers something
different, something that would be an immediate experience.”
Within the warm tangerine glow of the SweaterLodge, there will be a row
of three stationary bicycles, each one doubling as a digital video
projector. As visitors pedal, vignettes showing wilderness scenes mixed
with scenes of modern urban life are projected onto the inside of the
sweater. The vignettes were shot by Heidi Nesbitt, a colleague of Pechet
and Robb, as she rode her bike around Vancouver with a camcorder
attached to the front.
cont'd.....
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2186