Peter Cody and Mary Laheen, both architects and lecturers at UCD Architecture, are part of a team of five architects commissioned by Culture Ireland to represent Ireland at La Biennale di Venezia this year.
Friday, 10 February, 2023
The Architecture Biennale exhibition is held in the city of Venice every two years, it is the premier international showcase for contemporary architectural culture in the world. The theme for the 2023 Biennale, set by curator Lesley Lokko, a Ghanaian- Scottish architect is ‘Laboratory of the Future’. Sub-themes include ‘decarbonisation and decolonisation'. It is expected to be a ground-breaking biennale with the participation of many African architects in an European forum.
In keeping with the theme, the installation of the proposed Irish pavilion ‘In Search of Hy-Brasil’ derives from an intense engagement with the islands of Ireland and is a direct provocation to all of us to reimagine the vast combined territory of land and ocean we call our home.
Geographically remote and mainly peripheral to contemporary discourse, our islands are by necessity robust, resilient and inventive places. They have long been a significant crucible for language, music and song bound up with lived experience and support a rich and unique biodiversity. Resource management and the practice of maintaining sustainable environments are the inevitable result of centuries of caring for environment and people, working creatively with less, while building and nurturing a rich and complex ecology.
As well as Culture Ireland the project is supported by the Arts Council, UCD, UL, CCAE, and others.