The general atmosphere at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, Reporting from the Front, is one of excitement, of subversion. The Fifteenth edition of the Biennale explicitly calls for instances where architecture is an “instrument of self-government, of humanist civilization, and a demonstration of the ability of humans to become masters of their own destinies.” In that spirit, the usual suspects of a Biennale move to the sidelines, giving way to those working on the ground to prove that architecture can make a difference.

Cool Capital, the South Africa Pavilion at the Arsenale, brings Pretoria to the limelight by challenging the historical interaction between citizens and public space. “Pretoria has a huge political baggage and negative connotation”, curator Pieter Mathews explains, adding that “guerrilla interventions want to look at the city with new eyes; take whatever is good from the past and use it.” The Pavilion features selected works from the Cool Capital platform—the first un-curated, DIY, guerrilla biennale—in a marvelously ad-hoc manner. The Pavilion repurposed partitions from the 2015 Art Biennale, slotted in with an installation of gifted work and temporary materials. Mathews explains that “creativity is not about money[, but] about looking at what you’ve got and reimagining it.”

↑ Cool Capital at the Venice Biennale. Photo by Laura Amaya.

In that sense, the work displayed in South Africa Pavilion democratizes creativity. It opens the city to those willing to reinvent it, and invites citizens to take ownership of the space that is theirs. Three-minute videos showcase examples of guerrilla interventions across Pretoria. Some projects leave a legacy while others are more ephemeral, yet all share the premise of minimum intervention for maximum impact. Moving away from Pretoria, Cool Capital has also started to “sculpture-bomb Venice,” in the spirit of guerrilla architecture. With a mischievous smile, Mathews confesses: “We’re doing a guerrilla Biennale at the Biennale. We’re ahead of the game.” Check out the #SAADJIES (“seeds”) tag on Instagram to follow and participate in defining the Capital of Cool.

Sarajevo Now! is located across the water from the Arsenale's main venue, in Arsenale Nord. A Collateral Event of the Biennale, its location is described by Nina Baier-Bischofberger, of Baier Bischofberger Architects, as resulting from political conflicts over representing a common national heritage. Yet shuttling across the water on the guest boat feels exclusive. Commissioned by the Matica of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Collateral Event features a retrospective look at Urban-Think Tank’s (UTT) work based on their Si/No exhibit, which toured Zurich and Munich earlier this year. A corridor demarcated with yellow tape on the floor divides the exhibit: the right-hand side displays UTT’s work throughout the years, and the left-hand side brings it together to reimagine The People’s Museum for the city today, Sarajevo Now.

Hubert Klumpner describes the idea for the Sarajevo Museum like this: “the museum synthesizes what exists already instead of existing as an autonomous form.” The proposal reimagines the museum typology to make it a place for the people, a place to understand the culture and history of Sarajevo. Everything on the site makes up part of the museum collection—even the building itself, wrapped in a scaffolding shell. “In case you haven’t noticed, the Museum is at the frontline of gunfire—of metaphorical gunfire. It’s at the frontline of architecture and society and culture and politics!” says Alfredo Brillembourg with his buoyant enthusiasm, at the Event’s opening. The audience bursts into applause and the music starts. The DJ keeps going long after Arsenalehas closed down across the water, attracting a large crowd late into the night. Sarajevo Now is the alternative Biennale; it’s where the party is at.