The Unfolding Pavilion Investigates the Public Openness of the Giardini della Biennale in Venice

The Unfolding Pavilion Investigates the Public Openness of the Giardini della Biennale in Venice

The Unfolding Pavilion is a recurring exhibition and editorial project by Daniel Tudor Munteanu and Davide Tommaso Ferrando that aims to highlight previously inaccessible but architecturally significant spaces. Now in its fourth edition, the exhibition is dedicated to the Giardini della Biennale, the Venetian garden that became the main location for one of the most important architecture exhibitions worldwide, the Venice Biennale. Through a series of site-specific interventions and photographs by Laurian Ghinițoiu, the Unfolding Pavilion #OPENGIARDINI set out to explore the paradoxical state of this public space that is not publicly accessible.

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The Giardini della Biennale, previously known as Giardini Pubblici, was commissioned by Napoleon in 1807 to provide a much-needed green space for the densely built city of Venice. A large portion of the city fabric, including two Renaissance churches, had to be demolished to make space for the public gardens designed by local architect Giannantonio Selva. Beginning with the first International Art Exhibition in 1895, permanent gallery spaces were built in the park. Since then, the vast majority of the park has been fenced off, removed from public use, and given to the Biennale. Later in 1932, the perimeter of the gated enclave was extended to include a plot of land on the island of Sant’ Elena.

As it stands now, one third of Giardini’s total surface is open to the public, and the rest is accessible only during the visiting hours of the Art and Architecture Biennales. Despite this, the site granted to the Biennale is public land, lent for free by the City of Venezia in exchange for upkeep and security. A complex system of gates, walls, fences, CCTV cameras, barbed wires, and armed guards comprise the Giardini’s urban front.

The Unfolding Pavilion #OPENGIARDINI argues that this site could be partially returned to the general public during the months when the pavilions are closed and empty between the exhibitions. In reaction to this situation, the exhibition highlights these impermeable limits imposed on the public territory, hoping to ignite discussions about the Giardini della Biennale’s current and future uses.

The Unfolding Pavilion exhibition opened on May 19^th, 2023, at Lando Arch of Sant’Antonio di Castello opposite the Giardini’s main entrance, on the occasion of the vernissage of the 18^th International Architecture Exhibition at the Biennale di Venetia. Previous editions of the Unfolding Pavilion explored Ignazio Gardella’s Casa alle Zattere, Gino Valle’s Giudecca Social Housing, and the lost replica of John Hejduk’s House for the Inhabitant Who Refused to Participate. The Biennale, curated by Lesley Lokko, opened this year with several themes being addressed in various ways, including the critical analysis of borders, the question of resources, and the move toward decolonization.