“T/C Latvija: The Most Instagrammable Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale”

The Venice Architecture Biennale is the most ambitious and prestigious architecture biennale in the world, which has been held in the intervening years of the Venice Art Biennale since 1980. Latvia has been participating in it since 2002; this year, celebrating the tenth anniversary of participation, the Latvian pavilion has been created as an attractive supermarket under the name “T/C Latvija”. The team of the “Dei Arh” architectural office offers every viewer a look into this phenomenon of modern architecture and consumer society.

“We wanted to celebrate Latvia’s participation in this important event and put together all the ideas that have existed over the years and how countries have shown themselves, what we have been among those countries. Because we also have the annual Latvian pavilion on the shelves and we are catching up with the big countries , and smaller pavilions, and we are definitely part of the biennale,” explained the author of the concept of the Latvian pavilion, Ints Menželis.

On the other hand, the curator of the Latvian pavilion, Uldis Jaunzems-Pētersons, noted: “Elle Decor called it the most Instagrammable pavilion, but yes, it definitely stands out with its color, lightness, and seriousness. What is positive is people’s opinions. One of the goals was to discover that multi-layeredness, and people are the ones who bring that out. Everyone we talk to sees from their own point of view and sometimes gives us a different vision of what we’ve done.”

“That pavilion is divided into ten biennales. Each guiding theme, for example, ‘Next’, ‘Metamorph’, ‘Live Together’, ‘Fundamentals’ – these are all the main themes of the previous years’ biennale, and we have arranged their products chronologically under each biennale,” pointed out Ints Menželis. “And the best part is that we meet these great, world-class architects who have been curators, and they are happy because they also know all the little products that are imprinted in the memory, and it’s an interesting discussion. That’s our idea to create Conversations.”

The commissioner of the Latvian pavilion, architect Jānis Dripe, has just returned from the 18th international architecture exhibition of the Venice Biennale, who emphasized: “It is a pleasure that Latvia is at the Venice Biennale, it is the world’s largest architecture festival every other year. 64 member states, this year 89 offices or authors are involved. But there is a kind of special twist – for the first time the great curator Leslija Loko represents Africa. The presence of the African continent is essential, and the story is about decolonization, about decarbonization, about our environment, and in this aspect the Latvian pavilion with its idea “T/C Latvia” records very well. We can be pleased – the famous and long-standing Italian architecture magazine “Domus” has ranked the Latvian pavilion among the Top 10 pavilions in Venice. We have been noticed, this is a great recognition, and it is a great satisfaction. And this initially maybe the provocative theme – “T/C Latvija” – has worked. 506 ideas, which our colleagues have encoded on the shelves of this supermarket with the help of artificial intelligence, are bearing fruit. It is positive, affirming, appealing to everyone individually and all together.”

The architecture biennale awards presented on May 20, the “Golden Lion” for the best country participation was awarded to the Brazilian pavilion.

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