David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


10 August 2011

ANACHROTECTURE NOW : An Other Australia Pavilion for Venice Biennale

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AUSTRALIA [SIC] wants to update it's Official Anachrotecture at the Venice Biennale.

It is proposed there be a new Australia(n) Pavilion to replace the present one, designed by Philip Cox and opened in 1988.

From Day One, the presentecture was regarded by some as unsatisfactory, as Australia unFelix unSettled unKnown.
O Antipodean Pavilion of Restless Desire
O Objecture of Self Craving

There is much discussion about who should be permitted to enter the proposed Official Competition for A Nuther One.
( Click here for Ray Edgar's article "Top talent edged out" in yesterday's Melbourne AGE. )

Some are calling for a Sectional Open Competition (i.e. Open to ARCHITECTS ONLY. Click here for that. )

Others are calling for an anonymous, fully open Open Competition. Others (aware that "A politician always wins") are calling for an Open Judgement. Others are merely calling COOEEEEEE!

Whatever is chosen as the Chosen One, you can bet from Day One it too will be regarded as... unsatisfactory. ("We have nothing to unlearn but ignorance itself.")

bLOGOS/HA HA has been researching National Pavilions at International Expositions, from the first Venice Exposition in 1896 onwards. (To see a selection of these click here. ) To us, they all look OK - they are what they are - and they all look funny. All in and out of time. All anachronistic anachrotecture.

Future designs so far proffered appear to us no more or less anachronistic than those of past and present.

The Australia allotment at Venice is beside a waterway.



Here is how it is described at this website : [2008.04.22] Ideas Competition for a New Australian Pavilion at Venice Biennale
THE CURRENT AUSTRALIAN PAVILION
The current Australian Pavilion was designed by Sydney architect Philip Cox and opened in 1988. There was pressure at the time to build quickly or lose the opportunity to the last position available in the Giardini della Biennale. It was prefabricated, and within a month of the planning permit being issued it was open for the Arthur Boyd exhibition. The pavilion was always viewed as temporary. It has long been criticised for it being a very difficult space to curate.

“They forget the whole project was virtually gifted to the Australia Council. We donated our services and we got BHP to provide the steel and Transfield to also provide materials. And on the record and to be perfectly frank, it gives me the f—ing shits considering we all worked so hard for nothing to put it there.” Philip Cox
Here next, with a comparable waterway setting and boat people passing, is Ernest Coffin's depiction of the Australia Pavilion at the British Empire Exhibition, Wembley, England 1924.



One of the 30 painteds exhibited in that pavilion ( see them here ) offered any alert regardist a surprise meta-critique.



James R Jackson's The holiday (1916) depicts two early Australian umbratects abroad, arriving by boat and settling themselves under their own satisfactory umbrellatecture, on an embankment not dissimilar to that outside the Official Pavilion.

This scene and the sly wit of its inclusion in the Motherland Official Oversight of 1924 would later be taken as inspiration by Melbourne's BLACK BATS.



So to Pavilion Australia Future Past . The 2008 Ideas Competition for a New Australian Pavilion at Venice Biennale was promoted by Di Stasio and staged as an exhibition at Heide Museum of Modern Art.


Theatre of the Architors of Regard _ click image to enlarge
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...

LOGOS/HA HA
Here is the "Professional Winner" of that competition - Davide Marchetti, Rome. (There was also a "Pre-Professional Winner". Conclusion: the overall winner is The Profession.)





So, an architect from Rome is chosen by The Profession as the Ideas Competition winner for Pavilion Australia at Venice.
Here's the Pantheon, Rome. Go figure?!

Pantheon with light and regardists_400
image courtesy : Theatre of the Architors of Regard

And instead of the tomb of Raphael...


image courtesy : Theatre of the Architors of Regard
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...

LOGOS/HA HA