In brief
Water is an element of both symbolic and real meaning in architecture, which according to the curator Marianne Krogh was used in order to provide an experience beyond space and architecture. Krog in an art historian and curator, known for her work in the visual arts and also with Olafur Eliasson.
For the Danish Pavilion Krogh collaborated with Lundgaard & Tranberg architects and the final format was the outcome of many discussions: “Instead of using the exhibition as a kind of shell for objects inside, we said no, let’s use the pavilion as the object of the architecture. Then we will stage, we will do different things around it in order to enhance certain experiences. But the exhibition is the pavilion.”
As an element water is a metaphor for a constant movement, which simultaneously unites people to nature and which forms a material flow between countries and continents. Marianne Krog’s curatorial project was underpinned by workshops organised around the theme of connectednessand influenced by Bruno Latour’s writings, in particular the concept of ‘critical zone’, where the conflict of interests between the separation of nature and culture can be seen at the heart of a world facing climate change.
“We thought the first thing to move forward is to describe the world, we need to show, how we are organised, how do we do things. And when we show that, then there is a platform to start to discuss it and maybe find alternative ways. But we can’t discuss anything that we don’t know. This was a choice that we made to show all these systems.” Krog said