Je t’adore, The British Pavilion, designed/directed by the art/architecture collective muf, who happen to have their hands in all of London these days, particularly anything involving East London regeneration with a view towards the 2012 Olympics.
Je t’adore, The British Pavilion, designed/directed by the art/architecture collective muf, who happen to have their hands in all of London these days, particularly anything involving East London regeneration with a view towards the 2012 Olympics. They took as their starting point Ruskin and the influence that Stones of Venice had on the British import of Venice by architects and town planners.

“'I have had indirect influence on nearly every cheap villa-builder between this and Bromley; and there is scarcely a public-house near the Crystal Palace but sells its gin and bitters under pseudo-Venetian capitals copied from the Church of Madonna of Health or of Miracles. And one of my principal notions for leaving my present home is that it is surrounded everywhere by the accursed Frankenstein monsters of, indirectly, my own making.” (Ruskin)

muf turned around and asked, “What lessons should Britain be learning from Venice?” Their response, Villa Frankenstein, is a witty and engaging set of explorations. They built a detailed cross-section of the 2012 Olympic stadium out of all local Venetian materials, and turning it into a theatre for studying details. Little branches and other objects collected from the local area sit along side drawings boards -- and drawing classes will be given every day for the following month. An interesting study of the local area of Castello Basso, where the Giardini sits (apparently The British Pavilion occupies the highest land mass in the whole of Venice), a collaboration with the artist Wolfgang Sheike and the production of the “Done Book,” for every page of Ruskin’s notebooks where he scrawled “done,” meaning his research on the given topic had been exhausted. They built a fragment of the Venice Lagoon ...





But the best lesson they’re learning from Venice is how to play. With only five playgrounds in Venice, the children just take over the streets exploring. muf brought in artist Lottie Child, who is working with Venetian children in her Street Training workshops, to understand how they experience Venice and occupy space. Hoping to join her on a walk tomorrow ...

So well done, muf. These are just scratchy notes, but possibly an interview with muf lead Liza Fior to come ...