DS+R Presents Two Site-Specific Installations at the Venice Biennale

For the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Diller Scofidio + Renfro presents installations at the U.S. Pavilion as part of “Dimensions of Citizenship” and at the Arsenale as part of “Freespace."

Now on view at the US Pavilion, In Plain Sight reveals anomalies and the consequent perils at the core of this binary world view. Visitors are shown places in the world with many people and no lights, and those with bright lights and no people, and are suspended between day and night and light and darkness - exposed to the political and social realities of being invisible in plain sight. The exhibition has been designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Laura Kurgan, Robert Gerard Pietrusko with Columbia Center for Spatial Research.

Within the Arsenale, Post-Occupancy: The Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center responds to the Freespace theme by presenting the building’s alternative attitude to flexibility, one that emphasizes spatial variety over one-size-fits-all adaptability. Here, unlike traditional medical education buildings, the goal is not to standardize and optimize every square meter of usable space, but rather to contribute to a feeling of wellbeing. A two-channel video installation captures this productive inefficiency as a day in the life of a student, a side by side observation of the Study Cascade “sharing and engaging with people long after the architect has left the scene.” More information the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center can be found here.