Innovation and research are the themes that define the work of the seven teams and the seven installations that articulate Spainlab, the exhibition at the Spanish Venice Biennale Pavilion curated by the architects Anton Garcia-Abril and Débora Mesa of Ensamble Estudio.
Each of the seven participants will display his or her unique take on scientific processes used in achieving a certain balance between abstract concepts and their actual implementation, transcending the finished product so as to open a new window to the reasons and emotions that made them possible in the first place.
Spainlab stems out of a clear strategy: proving that the true value of Spanish architecture does not lie as much in the final image it materializes, but showing instead that its real future demands support and attention to personal investigative processes. None of the seven installations tries to display certainties; on the contrary, all of them are but an excuse for each team to keep investigating, test its ideas, build prototypes of their work in progress and share their liveliest body of work.
The images, works and sketches resulting from this research will be displayed in the pavilion at their rawest, as if they were set in an unfinished space or in an architects’ studio. This atmosphere of constant creativity will enable several different, sometimes conflicting, approaches to architecture. They all share a Common Ground –the theme of this year’s Biennale-, which is their commitment to our time and culture.
Despite their seemingly disparate careers, there are several defining characteristics to them all: All of them are working internationally and their attitude towards their discipline operates beyond styles and trends, which is often risky. They transcend the mere construction of buildings towards the creation of private but tangible universes to best serve the society they live in.