Venice Biennale bid for Albanian Pavilion 2025 - shortlisted
arifaj andi; cekodhima silvester; hajdarmataj ariela; lelaj olsi; myzyri adonel; qirko xhoni
Our fascination with everyday objects has always guided us into a sincere dialogue within our practice. A few years ago, we did a project of an extension for a house in Kënetë, Durres. An area which was previously a dried swamp, later became the host of a suburban sprawl of self made houses. The grid like parcels on plan resembles a very organized development, but on foot, it is a constellation of endless possibilities on how to make a house. Naively, we began collecting architectural solutions of projects built without architects. Contrary to our thinking of the house as a whole, we separated all the elements into singularities, but the process/system that brings them together still remained unclear. Later on we got to work on other self made houses around the country. A mixed feeling of pride and inability is heartfelt when talking to the owners, as their dreams are materialized onto these buildings. They would talk about the house or future ideas as symbols of necessity and undefined spaces. A reality of adaptability and confusion. For the new projects with architects, the houses have to be legalized, adding drawings to our collection, but the richness goes beyond plans and sections. This was the moment when we realized these houses are about the images of referenced and unreferenced worlds. Architects themselves unconsciously repeat their metal images in future projects, thinking of a new creation as something original, unwilling to accept this condition of references. We craft worlds we have seen so far, dreaming of new ones.
Imagens is an effort to contextualize the questions of Biennale Architettura 2025. As the curator of the 19th edition explains - the title Intelligens is linked to the modern term “intelligence,” but it also evokes a wider set of associated meanings. In fact, the final syllable, “gens” , is Latin for “people”. Our proposal brings images of the people as a reflection of our collective identity. As the Exhibition will cast architects in the role of mutagens, we aim to create the possibility for everyone to make their dream come true. The house is the true meaning of our world.
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