A curated library addressing the notions of home and dwelling

The Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) presents the project [Home at Arsenale] in the Pavilion of Slovenia at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Commissioner Matevž Čelik, director of MAO, appointed as curators for the presentation in Arsenale the internationally acclaimed architects and educators Aljoša Dekleva and Tina Gregorič.

[Home at Arsenale] responds to Biennale Architettura 2016 curator Alejandro Aravena’s title ‘Reporting from the front’ by addressing the topics of home and dwelling as current critical social and environmental issues. The curators conceived a 1:1 spatial structure, an abstract home performing as a curated library that operates as a platform for exploring the concepts of home and dwelling during the Biennale Architettura 2016 and beyond. Aljoša Dekleva and Tina Gregorič propose:

‘Since the dawn of civilization, structures for dwelling have constructed the predominant part of our built environment, and have served to fulfil our most basic needs. Yet, they should aim beyond securing mere survival to provide the conditions necessary for a meaningful life.

Definitions of home have been continuously questioned and challenged within diverse historical and cultural settings. Today’s information-driven society is characterized by accentuated and proliferated mobility, ranging from the seeking of permanent relocation to various commuting scenarios. Accordingly, the notion of home requires readdressing. What defines home today, when so many can be almost anywhere and connected to anything, anytime? Despite this growing virtual connectivity the concept of home might still need a tangible spatial or social reality. Our personal experience with moving home provoked the initial question: Is home where the library is, or is the library where home is?

The project [Home at Arsenale] proposes the concept of home as a public curated library that opens up a platform for multiple responses on the topics of home and dwelling within the current spatial and social conditions. Challenging the private/public dichotomy within the dwelling domain the project suggests a transformation of private home into possible temporary-public home environment.

The installation inhabits and reacts to the given space in Arsenale with a spatial structure containing a curated collection of books and objects of domesticity suggestive of the domestic realm. A full-scale spatial structure, generated by a site-specific system of wooden bookshelves, performs simultaneously as curated library and as abstract compact home encouraging visitors to inhabit and experience it.

Invited architects, artists, critics and curators from various backgrounds are participating with their selection of some 10 books addressing the notions of home and dwelling and to share their experience and expertise ‘from their fronts’ in order to build the curated library of collective knowledge for the benefit of exhibition visitors. Additionally, the participants are invited to become temporary residents of [Home at Arsenale] for one hour to one day and to host live events that question what defines home today through interviews, talks or workshops, in order to intensify the interaction with the public. Ultimately the [Home at Arsenale], with around 300 books, will relocate to the Museum of Architecture and Design in Ljubljana, to be continually available for public use.’

The installation [Home at Arsenale] reflects the curators’ approach to thinking and making architecture, underlining its social position, material manifestation and architectural legacy, where the user experience and participation are the central objectives.

[Home at Arsenale] – a curated library addressing the notions of home and dwelling from [Home at Arsenale] on Vimeo.

About the curators:
Aljoša Dekleva and Tina Gregorič run the architectural practice dekleva gregoric architects, based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Their work focuses on domestic typologies, public structures and urban strategies using an approach of ‘research by design’ and ‘design by research’. Through commissioned and self-initiated projects they aim to challenge the obvious. Both studied at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana and later at the Architectural Association (AA) in London. Aljoša Dekleva runs an experimental teaching programme at the AA Visiting School and Tina Gregorič is professor of architecture at TU Wien in Austria.

commissioner Matevž Čelik
curators Aljoša Dekleva / Tina Gregorič

commissioner’s assistant Nikola Pongrac
curatorial assistant Silvia Susanna

exhibitors / participants
Stephen Bates / SERGISON BATES architects / UK
Matija Bevk, Vasa J. Perović / BEVK PEROVIĆ architects / Slovenia
Tatiana Bilbao / TATIANA BILBAO ESTUDIO, architect / Mexico
Jan Boelen / Z33, curator / Belgium
Dominique Boudet / architecture critic / France
Arno Brandlhuber / BRANDLHUBER+, architect / Germany
Aljoša Dekleva, Tina Gregorič / DEKLEVA GREGORIČ architects / Slovenia
Sofia von Ellrichshausen, Mauricio Pezo / PEZO VON ELLRICHSHAUSEN, artists and architects / Chile
Jesko Fezer / IFAU und JESKO FEZER, architect / Germany
Konstantin Grcic / KGID, designer / Germany
Juan Herreros / ESTUDIO HERREROS, architect / Spain
Tomaž Krištof / STUDIO KRIŠTOF, architect / Slovenia
Jan Liesegang / RAUMLABORBERLIN, architect / Germany
Hrvoje Njirić / NJIRIC+ arhitekti / Croatia
Michael Obrist / FELD72, architect / Austria / Italy
Rok Oman, Špela Videčnik / OFIS architects / Slovenia
Marjetica Potrč / artist and architect / Slovenia / Germany
Pascale and Christian Pottgiesser / CHRISTIAN POT TGIESSER ARCHITECTURESPOSSIBLES (CPAP), architects / France
Alice Rawsthorn / design critic / UK
Emmanuel Rubio / literary and architecture critic / France
Jurij Sadar, Boštjan Vuga / SADAR+VUGA, architects / Slovenia
Irénée Scalbert / architecture critic / UK / France
Brett Steele / AA, architect and architectural editor / UK
Yui Tezuka, Takaharu Tezuka / TEZUKA architects / Japan
TYIN tegnestue / architects / Norway
Aleš Vodopivec / architect / Slovenia
Maruša Zorec / ARREA, architect / Slovenia

project  Dekleva Gregorič architects
project team Aljoša Dekleva / Tina Gregorič / Silvia Susanna / Lea Kovič / Martina Marčan / Naia Sinde / Vid Zabel
graphic design and visual identity Ajda Schmidt

technical support Branko Filipič with Jernej Čopi, Domen Japelj, Filip Kocjančič, Rok Malešič – RPS / Jože Komidar and Miha Šraj – Gredin Les / Matjaž Mavsar – Arcadia / Luka Pavlovčič – Konzola

supported by Republic of Slovenia / Ministry of Culture
produced by Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana
sponsored by Arcadia Lightwear / esse-ci / Rps / Rex Kralj / Mladinska knjiga / Oloop / Murksli Custom Boards

Opening

26 May at 1 pm
Entry to the opening only with official accreditation by La Biennale di Venezia!

Location

La Biennale di Venezia
Biennale Architettura 2016

Arsenale, Venice, Italy

Opening Hours

TUE, WEN, THU, SUN
10.00 – 18.00
FRI, SAT (until 24 Sep)
10.00 – 20.00
MON
closed
(except 30 May, 5 Sep, 31 Oct, 21 Nov)

Events

12. 8. at 19.00: Yui and Takaharu Tezuka: The Architecture with Your Own Sky
28. 10. at 16.30: Home by dekleva gregorič architects
29. 10. at 16.30: Emmanuel Rubio: E&G Phone Home – 28 days in China
29. 10. at 17.15: Pascale and Christian Pottgiesser: Common Ault Home
12. 11. at 15.30: Hrvoje Njiric & Vasa Perovic: Housing in books and projects
13. 11. at 12.00: Jan Boelen: Atelier à habiter
15. 11. at 15.00: Maruša Zorec and the students: Inhabit [Home at Arsenale]
20. 11. at 14.00: Michael Obrist: Is “Home” just a four letter word?
20. 11. at 16.00: Tomaž Krištof and the students: New on the Top of the Old: Apartments for whistleblowers

Info

Website of the pavilion>>

Browse the Library>>

For the media>>

infobio(at)mao.si
+386 (0)1 548 42 70

Organization

MAO
dekleva gregorič architects