Atelier Bow-Wow co-founder Momoyo Kaijima teamed up with Laurent Stalder (ETH Zurich Professor of Theory of Architecture, Director of the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture) and Yu Iseki (Curator at Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito) to curate the Japan Pavilion for the 2018 Venice Biennale, now open at The Giardini. Titled “Architectural Ethnography”, the exhibition is derived from an ongoing project that Kaijima started working on in the late '90s.

The exhibition takes the form of a “guidebook” that features 42 architectural drawings from the last 20 years — created by university design studios, architecture firms, and contemporary art practices across the globe — that depict the realities of everyday city-living. 

Ranging from design specifications and spatial-activity charts, to maps of urban hybrids and large studies of rural farming and fishing villages in the aftermath of natural disasters, the collection of drawings aims to question the nature of architecture and its role in society. 

“Life obviously exceeds architecture. What does this mean for architecture? How can the myriad situations that both feed into and result from the design of a building be effectively mapped? How does one address architectural drawings, not just as simple notational systems but as instruments to document, discuss, and evaluate architecture? How can they work to explore people’s actual usages, needs, and aspirations, and moreover to give shape to individualized life forms in today’s globalized society?,” the curatorial team writes in their statement. “...[The drawings] all reflect the search for a new approach in drawing — of, for, among, around — society, which we term ‘Architectural Ethnography’.”

Find more photos in the gallery below.