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Architecture Landscape / Landscape Architecture

Resume

Year

2018

Client

Peter Rich Architects

Project

Exhibition

Categories

Curatorial Direction Exhibition concept and framing Exhibition title — Landscape Architecture | Architecture Landscape Selection of 15 drawings across 8 projects from Rich's 45-year body of work Curatorial statement and response to the Freespace theme All wall texts, captions and public-facing language Spatial & Exhibition Design Hanging structure brief and spatial concept Direction of timber-and-steel mobile structure design Panel size, format and translucency specification Lighting direction — backlit translucent panels Installation oversight across Johannesburg fabrication and Venice installation Production & Logistics Production coordination across Johannesburg and Venice Fabrication brief to Peter Rich Architects Print production — 15 panels at 1.5m x 2.5m each Shipping and installation logistics Communications & Documentation Press materials and media outreach Exhibition documentation Catalogue and archival record

Credits

Curator: Garreth van Niekerk Architect & Subject: Peter Rich — Peter Rich Architects, Johannesburg Biennale Curators: Yvonne Farrell & Shelley McNamara — Grafton Architects, Dublin Exhibition Graphics & Design: Orlando Mobile Structure Design: Peter Rich Architects Structure Construction & Installation: Fox and Firefly Production Support: Ruairidh Macleod — Peter Rich Architects Funders & Sponsors: Biennale Foundation · Corobrik · PPC · Lamy Venue: La Biennale di Venezia — Arsenale, Venice Platform: 16th International Architecture Exhibition, FREESPACE, 26 May — 25 November 2018

A solo exhibition of drawings by South African architect Peter Rich, curated by Beheld co-founder Garreth van Niekerk for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale — one of 71 participants worldwide selected around the theme of Free Space. Fifteen drawings of eight projects suspended from the 13th-century Arsenale rafters. Work that took four days to install, three weeks to build, and 45 years to make.

Input

A body of work spanning 45 years — hand-drawn, deeply intuitive, almost entirely undocumented in an international context. An architect whose drawings were the work, not just plans for it. An invitation from the Venice Architecture Biennale curators to respond to the theme of Free Space.

Output

Fifteen large-scale drawings of eight selected projects — including the Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre, the Alexandra Heritage Centre and Stone House in China — printed on translucent canvas panels 1.5m by 2.5m each, suspended from a timber-and-steel mobile structure attached to the old Arsenale rafters, lit from behind to make each panel glow. Seen by tens of thousands of visitors from around the world. Described by Azure Magazine as demonstrating "an organic fluidity of landscape and built form."

Two men in dress shirts stand against a striped background. One adjusts his tie, both look thoughtful and focused, conveying a professional tone.

A young man in a white shirt and tie sits on the floor, surrounded by scattered papers. He looks down at a document, appearing focused and pensive.

Young man in a formal outfit with a striped shirt, grey tie, and black coat. The tone is serious and professional, emphasizing subdued elegance.

"Through my drawings they wanted me to show how I enter through the subconscious, and through the dream state my drawings end up becoming real. This is why I called the exhibition Landscape Architecture, Architecture Landscape — because there's a point when the two fuse."

Peter Rich