Kirkor is delighted to announce that we have joined with some of our esteemed colleagues in the architectural community to sponsor the 2012 Canadian entry for Migrating Landscapes, the Venice Biennale in Architecture.
A rendering of the exhibition installation.
The Venice Biennale is the most important and prestigious contemporary architecture exhibition in the world: it has been described as the ‘Olympics of Architecture’. This year’s concept, im/migration, explores the many experiences of recent Canadians as they settle into their new country. The national competition was open to Canadian architects aged 45 and under who were asked to present a video in which they discuss a personal memory of ‘im/migration’ and create a model for a dwelling that responds to this memory.
Maritimes Regional Winners and People’s Choice. Photo: John Smith.
Saskatchewan Regional Winners and People’s Choice.
A series of seven regional exhibitions in Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax is currently underway and will be followed by a final exhibition of the national winners in Winnipeg in the spring, which will then travel to the Canadian pavilion at the Venice Biennale from August to November 2012. The exhibition in Toronto will be on view through February 24 at Brookfield Place.
Quebec Regional Exhibition Opening. Photo: Kyle Burrows.
The idea of this year’s exhibition appeals to us at Kirkor because we are a very international office. We enjoy working with young architects from everywhere who bring in their fresh ideas. The regional exhibitions and particularly the final one will be an excellent chance to see how young Canadian architects are being affected by migratory issues. Being from Winnipeg myself (where I moved to at a young age from Asia for study), where there is a large pool of creative talent, I can appreciate that the organizers – Johanna Hurme and Sasa Radulovic from 5468796 Architecture Inc. and Jae-Sung Chon from the U of Manitoba Faculty of Architecture – are Winnipegers too.
-Simon
