Future-Facing Themes

Since the exhibition was first conceived, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world to a standstill. Countless well-laid plans were uprooted. Amongst the many impacts to the cultural calendar came the postponement of the 17th Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition.

Over September and October 2020, conversations with our exhibitors and international experts have yielded several braided strands of speculation and reflection. This video explores emerging themes, of Health and Density, Sharing and Solidarity, and Presence and Distance, surfacing how the pandemic has subtly reconfigured the use of some of Singapore’s typical spaces.

This video is screened in the ‘Living Room’ section of the Pavilion, a space for reflection and contemplation of the past year and its impact on the nature of gatherings. 

Images and Photography
Kampung Kakis¹
Studio DO: Pulau / Lee Kah Hui
Ernest Goh / Ayer Ayer Project²
Stillusion Photography
Open Narrative
Patrick Bingham-Hall
DP Architects
Both Sides, Now
Gin Tay
Sim Yi Shien

Videography
Open Narrative
Desire Lines

¹ KampungKakis is a neighbourhood buddy system that matches a neighbour-in-need with a volunteer buddy, by needs, proximity and language. Kampung means village and Kakis means buddies. SmilesSalamSG, an initiative started by one of our super volunteers, which holds bi-monthly pop-up grocery stores at various locations across Singapore to provide free groceries to residents in the neighbourhood. Our mission is to foster a stronger bond in our communities in Singapore and bring back the Kampung Spirit!
 
²Ayer Ayer is an ecologically-engaged initiative that reaches out to communities through visual and experiential projects through participatory artworks and citizen science. The group’s current focus on ocean plastic pollution in the regional waterways of Singapore has led to the creation of public art, research and education projects that have reached multiple public and private organisations. Ayer Ayer’s design and engineering projects are also developing plastic waste recycling methods in a closed-loop system. Ayer Ayer has since set up art studios and research outposts in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.