For the second edition of the Biennale d'Architecture d'Orléans, six guest curators have been invited to tell tales of solitude from around the world, in places where architecture is still a form of engagement with reality and a “promise” for freedom:
Des rêves vus de près [Dreams Seen Up Close] looks back on the resistance of the Brazilian group Arquitetura Nova confronting the Brazilian dictatorship (1964–1985) ;
Mes réalisations parleront pour moi [My Creations Will Speak for Me] offers an interpretation of the Algerian œuvre of the french architect Fernand Pouillon ;
L'étrangère sur terre [This land's unknown] brings together Arabic artists and architects whose work contributes to Arabic movements of emancipation from authoritarian discourses and systems;
De la solitude à la désolation [From Solitude to Desolation] delivers an uncompromising analysis of contemporary Mexico; and the collective installation
L'architecture comme animal mutant [The Architectural Beast] is a system of hybridization in which all architectural creatures free themselves of their creator.
The event affirms its position as a collections biennial. The MAXXI collection therefore takes pride of place, while a monograph entitled
Homo Faber: un récit [Homo Faber: a Narrative] presents the work of one of the star architects of the Frac Centre-Val de Loire collection: Günter Günschel.
Between these landscapes, works by artists and architects (including John Hejduk,
Absalon, Karen Lohrmann & Stefano de Martino, John Cage, Takk, Santiago Borja, Ahmed Mater, Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine, Lacaton & Vassal, and Julie Nioche) constitute an open-ended primer on the notion—at once feared and desired—of “solitude”.
With AAU Anastas,
Rand Abdul Jabbar,
Absalon,
Yóllotl Alvarado & Tania Ximena,
Atelier Manferdini,
BairBalliet,
Ila Bêka & Louise Lemoine,
Daphné Bengoa,
André Bloc,
Santiago Borja,
John Cage,
Bertrand Cavalier,
Nidhal Chamekh,
Paloma Contreras Lomas,
Abraham Cruzvillegas,
Design Earth,
Hernan Diaz Alonso,
f-architecture collaborative,
Miguel Fernández de Castro,
Bernard Gachet,
Griffin Enright,
Günter Günschel,
Zaha Hadid,
Susan Hefuna,
John Hejduk,
Anne Huffschmid &
Jan-Holger Hennies,
Damjan Jovanovic,
Alberto Kalach,
Ferda Kolatan,
Lacaton & Vassal,
Karen Lohrmann & Stefano de Martino,
Jumana Manna,
Fabian Marcaccio,
Chris Marker,
Ahmed Mater,
Lucy McRae,
MTL Collective,
Julie Nioche,
Objectile,
Driss Ouadahi,
P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S,
Florencia Pita & Co,
Ricardo Porro,
Fernand Pouillon,
Casey Rehm,
Ruy Klein,
Beniamino Servino,
Servo LA-Stockholm,
Sigil Collective,
Takk,
Pascale Marthine Tayou,
Testa & Weiser,
Laure Tixier & Hervé Rousseau,
Usina_Ctah,
Tom Wiscombe,
Ezra Wube,
Liam Young,
Ala Younis.
