Spanish Pavilion opened at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – Biennale Architettura 2023, with the exhibition FOODSCAPES curated by Eduardo Castillo-Vinuesa and Manuel Ocaña.

Spain plays a strategic role as a laboratory for a more sustainable future, in keeping with the theme of the Venice Biennale, with regard to food systems and the architectures that build them, both for the variety of its agri-food production and for the exhibition of the country to the climate crisis.
The curatorial team bring together more than thirty architects, filmmakers and researchers at FOODSCAPES to critically examine the role of architecture in the production, distribution and consumption of food.

By investigating its diverse landscapes and infrastructures, the exhibition highlights the interconnectedness of food production and consumption processes, and their impact on society, the economy and the environment, while addressing global issues.

FOODSCAPES a research-based proposal, consists of three main parts: an audiovisual project of five short films; a file in the form of a recipe book; and a public collaborative research program in collaboration with TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and produced at Ocean Space, with support from the European Climate Foundation.


Inauguration of the Spanish Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023. Photograph by Claudio Franzini.

Part 1: An audiovisual project of five short films
FOODSCAPES presents an audiovisual feast made up of five short films, each one delving into a different layer of the agrologistics process. Crafted by interdisciplinary teams of architects and filmmakers, these episodes are both self-conclusive and interdependent, creating a non-linear narrative that can be experienced in any order.


Poster of "CONSUMPTION - Chop, Chop, Chop", a film by MAIO (María Charneco, Alfredo Lérida, Guillermo López, Anna Puigjaner) + Agnes Essonti Luque for FOODSCAPES.

Part 2: A file in the form of a recipe book
Produced by an eclectic group of architecture studios, edited by the Black Almanac food research platform and illustrated with images by photographer Pedro Pegenaute, each recipe presents a “typical” Spanish dish that acts as a catalyst from which to explore, trace and document. The architectures and territories that make it possible, revealing in the process the wide range of urgent issues that are manifested in these places.


Biomethanization Plant, Pinto. Photograph by Pedro Pegenaute.

Part 3: Public collaborative research program
In collaboration with TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and produced at Ocean Space, with the support of the European Climate Foundation, a weekly public program of interviews, conversations, round tables, film screenings, banquets, performances and other activities related to FOODSCAPES will activate the Pavilion throughout the biennial.  
 
METALOCUS is live reporting from the Venice Architecture Biennale, which takes place from 20 May to 26 November 2023. See METALOCUS Guide LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA for all the latest information you need to know to attend and know the best events and pavilions in LA BIENNALE.

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Curatorial Team
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Collaborators
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TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, and with the support of The European Climate Foundation + Fundación Arquia.
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Commissioner
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Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (MITMA).
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain, Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).
Spain’s Public Agency for Cultural Action (AC/E).
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Dates
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May 20 to November 26, 2023.
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Location
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At the 18th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia. Spanish Pavilion in Giardini, Venice, Italy.
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Photography
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Pedro Pegenaute, Claudio Franzini.
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Eduardo Castillo-Vinuesa is an antidisciplinary architect, curator, and researcher based in Madrid, Spain. He is Associate Professor of Projects at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid ETSAM-UPM, where he is an active member of the research group ProLab and the educational innovation group Dispositivos Aglutinadores de Proyecto.

From 2017 to 2022 he was a member of the sub-directorate team of "Architecture", the centenary magazine of the Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM). Since 2021 he has been the Artistic Director of Medialab Matadero, an institutional platform managed by the Madrid City Council that brings together artists, designers, researchers, thinkers, scientists, engineers, architects, public policy makers and many other agents to collaboratively address issues of social, technological and ecological relevance. Castillo-Vinuesa was also part of the first cohort of "The Terraforming," a design-research initiative of the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design that explores the ecosystem implications of the Anthropocene for urbanism on a planetary scale.
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Manuel Ocaña. Born in Salamanca (Spain) in 1966, being transferred to in the same year to Madrid. Architect from Madrid Technical School of Architecture  (ETSAM), where he graduated in 1992, founded the practice Manuel Ocaña Architects in Madrid in 2000.

In addition to working as an architect, he has also worked as a road manager for a pop group from the 90s, as well as a steelworker, carpenter, and photographer. He has been an associate professor of architectural projects and a member of the Master Habilitation Committee at the Technical University of Madrid, where he has published books such as “Madrid Monumental: Exorcity”. He has also taught and served on juries at the European University, IE University, the School of Architecture at the University of Alicante, and PUCP in Lima, Peru. He has published his texts and projects in national and international architecture magazines. The Foundation of the Official College of Architects of Madrid has published a monograph on his work entitled "Risky Business", and the Coam-EA Cultural Foundation (Ediciones De Arquitectura) a compilation in the monograph "eXcepto 18".

Among his projects, the Santa Rita Geriatric Center in Ciudadela stands out, an assisted housing building configured on one floor with 60 rooms arranged in a clover shape that face a system of gardens, Ocaña de España, a controversial housing development with a dramatic scenography in Ocaña, Toledo, and the headquarters of Casa Mediterráneo in the former Benalúa station in Alicante (2010-2013). Ocaña also represented Spain at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia.
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Published on: June 11, 2023
Cite: "Spanish Pavilion vs FOODSCAPES, at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/spanish-pavilion-vs-foodscapes-venice-architecture-biennale-2023> ISSN 1139-6415
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