The Danish contribution to the Biennale, put forward by
Josephine Michau, aims to raise awareness of the dilemma between having buildings and homes near the coast and the serious effects of climate change on our coastal landscapes.
“In the past century, the temperature of the global ocean has increased more rapidly than at any given time in the past 11,000 years. Even in the miraculous scenario of global warming being successfully limited to 1.5° C, future generations will still encounter critical rises in sea level which will threaten lives, jeopardize access to water, food, and health care, decimate jobs, and disrupt entire economies.”
Josephine Michau
Water Strategy, Danish coastline. "Coastal Imaginaries", Danish Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2023.
A further contribution to Coastal Imaginaries is made by a group of ten researchers from the University of Copenhagen, the Aarhus School of Architecture, and the Technical University of Denmark. The group, which is made up of architects, landscape architects, planners, and engineers, has been collaborating for the past three years on a project exploring the climate adaptation of urban coastal zones. Their primary contribution to Coastal Imaginaries consists of the latest insights from this research, and they have also acted as consultants for the design proposal put forward by Schenherr as well as the diorama by Christian Friedländer. These dialogues have served to further inspire and inform the group's research.
The solutions offer landscape resilience mechanisms, carbon sinks, cultivation areas, material banks, biodiversity, and new natural spaces for socialization and recreation.
The Pluit Purification Project by Laurits Genz and Deile Zaradechet. Photograph by Laurits Genz.
The pavilion presents a vademecum of possible solutions that offer landscape resilience mechanisms, carbon sinks, cultivation areas, material banks, biodiversity, and new natural spaces for socialization and recreation.
The exhibition has different participations, among which it is worth highlighting: "Copenhagen Islands" from the Danish landscape architecture studio Schønherr, ideas, in the form of drawings and models, from the research group "Sea Level Rise Mitigation" and its project "Danske byers tilpasning til havvandsstigning - nye løsningsrum" (Adaptation of Danish cities to sea level rise: new solutions). Christian Friedländer,
Coastal Imaginaries' exhibition designer in the Danish pavilion, is also presenting his own
Mermaid Bay theater installation as part of the exhibition.
