“It’s the Individuals Who Maintain Buildings Alive”: In Dialog with SO?, Curators for the Pavilion of Türkiye on the 2023 Venice Biennale

Throughout their go to to the 18th Worldwide Structure Exhibition in Venice, ArchDaily had the chance to interact in a dialog with Sevince Bayrak and Oral Göktaş, founders of the Istanbul-based studio SO? Structure and Concepts, curators for the Pavilion of Türkiye. Their exhibition, titled Ghost Tales: Service Bag Principle of Structure, explores the standing and hidden potential of deserted buildings throughout Türkiye to find extra hopeful proposals for the long run. The conversations opened with an exploration of the standing of those forgotten constructions and their hidden potential, main into the intentions behind the exhibition in Venice and the curator’s message for the broader viewers.

The idea behind the exhibition was born in 2021 when the SO? architects had been engaged on a undertaking to remodel a former swimming pool right into a public occasions corridor, prompting them to think about the position of deserted constructions and the probabilities for reconversion. In keeping with the curators, this concept is particularly related within the context of Türkiye, the place buildings are constructed for financial and political causes, resulting in a lot of them remaining unused and discarded.

These embody a shocking number of applications and typologies, from hospitals and faculties to purchasing malls, residential developments, and even amusement parks, one in every of which had solely been in use for 10 days earlier than being abandoned. By means of this exhibition, the curators hope to focus on the presence of those constructions, usually ignored for many years, and to immediate individuals to suppose imaginatively about how these buildings might higher serve their wants.

The dialogue all the time revolves round: ‘is it lovely or ugly, is it good, is it one of the best it might be?’ As an alternative, we attempt to see deserted buildings as assets, not categorize them in accordance with their type. If you happen to perceive them as assets, the concept of the transformation turns into a lot simpler, with any added pressures. – Oral Göktaş

Previous to the exhibition in December 2022, the SO? group organized an open name to compile documentation of those deserted constructions. The thought behind this initiative was to keep up the identical ethos, to not create one thing new, like new picture collection, however to analysis and discover the prevailing supplies. The open name was additionally a possibility to broaden the dialog to grasp numerous factors of view and the various methods by which all individuals relate to those buildings.

Over 900 pictures and a number of other movies had been collected, which at the moment are displayed and projected on the floating cloud-like set up on the ceiling of the pavilion. Beneath them, the workbenches supply instruments, methods, strategies, and dialogue of the attainable way forward for the constructions, exhibiting guests a glimpse into the potential transformations. A manifesto and a e-book additionally discover the idea behind the exhibition in additional element.

We’d be completely happy if the guests might depart this exhibition with a sense of hope and a sense of energy, with the conviction that they’ll do one thing to maintain these buildings alive and remod
el them from the ghosts of the cities into full of life organisms for the town. – Sevince Bayrak

The theme of abandonment and untapped assets has been a recurring one throughout this version of the Venice Structure Biennale, with a number of nationwide pavilions exploring their international locations’ potential for redevelopment. The Bulgarian Pavilion explores college abandonment and concrete decline; Germany has chosen ARCH+ and Summacumfemmer Büro Juliane Greb as curators with a undertaking targeted on restore and upkeep, whereas the UAE pavilion, curated by Faysal Tabbarah, selected to discover the potential of the dry panorama of his nation. Whereas onsite in Venice, ArchDaily mentioned with a few of the curators of the nationwide pavilions, together with a dialog about “Earth as Ancestral and Future Know-how” with the curators of the Brazilian Pavilion, and a dialogue on the position of Sámi structure with Joar Nango, James Taylor-Foster and Carlos Mínguez Carrasco, who organized the exhibition for the Nordic Pavilion.

We invite you to take a look at ArchDaily’s complete protection of the Venice Structure Biennale 2023.