E-stonian virtual pavilion at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale
an interactive web environment that allows you to affect the physical pavilion in real time
We are three young Estonian architects with an international background, fueled by curiosity about understanding the contemporary urban environment. We have been doing preparations for the next national pavilion of Estonia at the 14th La Biennale di Venezia International Architecture Exhibition for more than a year by now. We have been doing research with the students from the Estonian Academy of Arts and IT-College. We have been collaborating with a range of Estonian and international urban specialists. We have been researching the traditional fundamentals of historical public spaces and the most contemporary phenomena of the public spaces characteristic of an information age. Now we also want to collaborate with YOU!
In the information society the physical and digital public space are becoming one consistent environment. Estonia is a nation state where digitizing has changed not only daily information interchange but is also taking place on the level of state services. The key to organizing contemporary public space of an e-country lies in participatory open digital platforms - this kickstarter campaign could be seen as a prime example of it). In addition to the Estonian pavilion opening in the Arsenale exhibition halls in Venice, on June 5th, we also want to open the virtual pavilion of E-stonia on the Internet. Their parallel existence is essential to demonstrate the interdependence of the digital and physical in contemporary urban space at the Biennale. In order to accomplish an interactive web environment that allows you to affect the physical pavilion in real time on the internet, we need your help!
Striving for showcasing Estonian digital society in Venice, we are facing a set of challenges:
- we have to acquire a high-speed internet connection on a sinking island
- we have to program servers and a data-exchange system (with the help of mad scientist programmers from Warp (warpl.lv))
- we have to design a real-time virtual interface that can communicate the digital-physical interaction worldwide
Interspace in Venice, here will take place the interaction between physical and digital
Interspace test installation in the Estonian Museum of Architecture
The digital behaviours that we daily practice while using networked technologies are at the core of this system. While tackling this topic, the importance lies in each individual - it is our collective immediate acting in public that helps us pin out the forces shaping our more and more digitized collective spaces. Please share this call for help via social media in Facebook, Twitter etc., but do keep in mind the real space we dwell in and the next time you meet your friend somewhere – please do pass on a word about our project.
We have put out a series of prizes suitable for all the charitable and curious who relate to our goals and wish to find the curators’ postcard in their mailbox, read more about the topic, visit the work-in-progress preview or get mentioned in the exhibition room…
Subsequently, a bit of extra information about our favourite ones:
- The book “Interspace”. The official catalogue of the Estonian pavilion will be published as a collection of essays on the problematics of contemporary public space. Authors of the essays are Carl-Dag Lige, Johan Tali, Johanna Jõekalda, Toomas Tammis, Leonhard Lapin, Mario Carpo, Marjan Colletti, Mark Foster Gage, Mart Kalm, Roemer Van Toorn , Ranulph Glanville, Siim Tuksam, Walter Nicolino ja Ülar Mark.
- Graphic prints. These are artworks designed by the curators of the exhibition in a visual language that plays with the level of resolution of the images. You might have recognized it in the video! In addition to the ones based on the content of the exhibition we will also gladly make unique digital prints that are based on your personal images.
- Different ways to come in contact with the project and the designers either in Tallinn during the exclusive preview or in Venice during the pavilion opening.
Feel free to contact us directly for futher information! (vabaruumou@gmail.com)
The active campaign lasts only for 2 weeks so please do not hesitate to act on it! The project will launch with the opening of the physical pavilion in Venice on June 5th and lasts throughout the duration of the Biennale until November 23rd (2014).
The organizer of the Estonian exhibition is the Estonian Center of Architecture.
music: Shift Tides – Palau (andruss edit)
video: Linda Loovteenused, Anton Toomere and Siim Tuksam
Additional information:
Venice Biennale at Estonian Center of Architecture webpage
Thank you!
Johanna Jõekalda
Johan Tali
Siim Tuksam
Curators of the Estonian exhibition at 14. La Biennale di Venezia International architecture exhibition
The Authors of Interspace
