The Pool: The Australian Exhibition at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale
Client: Australian Institute of Architects
Location: Venice, Italy
Year: 2015-2016
Delivering a slice of Australia in Venice
In April 2015, Left Bank Co. Director Michelle Tabet was selected along with Aileen Sage Architects, as the Creative Directors for Australia’s exhibition at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. Their innovative exhibition concept, The Pool, used the architectural icon as a collaborative lens to explore Australian architecture, culture and identity.
A pool featured at the heart of the exhibition space and created an immersive multi-sensory experience that transported visitors poolside. The exhibition brought to Venice a suggestion of a particular Australian architectural experience that was augmented and expanded through the use of light, scent, sound, reflection and perspective to create a series of perceptual illusions.
The Creative Directors were the youngest and the first all-female team chosen to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale, and they worked with some of Australia’s best creatives to deliver The Pool. Collaborators include renowned lighting and set designer Nick Schlieper, industrial designer Elliat Rich and Alice Springs-based Centre for Appropriate Technology (CAT), fashion label Romance Was Born and artist Del Kathryn Barton, sound artist Bree van Reyk, parfumier Elise Pioch with artists Lyn and Tony, and graphic designer Stephen Goddard from Project Two.
The Left Bank Co. team worked closely with the Creative Directors and the Australian Institute of Architects to develop and deliver all facets of this complex project: from early concept development, to in-depth research to inform and develop the companion publication, to coordinating and delivering the physical exhibition and opening-week events in Venice.
The internationally acclaimed exhibition ran in Venice from May to November 2016 and became the most successful of any of Australia’s appearances at the architecture Biennale, with over 108,000 visitors, and reviews in the New York Times, Monocle, Dezeen, and The Australian.
Upon their return to Australia, the creative directors undertook a national speaker tour sponsored by Brickworks, and the exhibition was adopted by the National Gallery of Victoria as a major exhibition within the NGV Design Studio.
Find out more about The Pool here, and more about the Venice Biennale here. Find out more about the exhibition catalogue here.