During the last decade, it was recognizable a dislike for the public work as it was seen as unnecessary and nefarious expense by the neo-liberal guidelines that guided Western Europe. Public construction was connotative to the crisis growth itself, originated by the financial speculation that those same politics bravely protected. The public work, namely the construction of cultural, educational, sports and infrastructural equipment is set into an idea of civilizational evolution and the growth of social opportunities equivalence, simultaneously rebuilding and rehabilitating the city shape, qualitative and culturally renewing public space. It is utterly relevant to organize an exhibition of the most recent view of “Portuguese Public Architecture”, showing its quality and excellence enriched by an impressive generational continuity whose meaning fits the idea of “Free Space”, the nuclear theme for the 2018th Biennale Architettura in Venice. This statement message of the subject public revaluation and construction of the “Public Building” is materialized through a conventional rooted architecture exhibition (using drawings, models and architectural pictures) displaying a selection of 12 build works from the working generations.
project:
public without rhetoric
venice architecture biennale, freespace
portuguese pavilion
location:
palazzo giustinian lolin, venice, italy
date:
2017-2018
building area:
160 m2
exhibition design and curatorship:
nuno brandão costa, sérgio mah
production:
rita leite
curators:
shelley mcnamara and yvonne farrell
local office:
joão moreira e silvia bortolinni
graphic design:
atelier pedro falcão
commissioner:
DGArtes
sponsors:
jofebar
osvaldo matos
maat / fundação edp
photographs:
andré cepeda