The debate table is a symbol of the meeting and discussion spaces, and its design is generated from the geometry of the floor on which it is established. This table as well as the chairs, which were designed for the stage, welcomed numerous agents of the city's design and the transformation of the territory.
Description of project by depA architects
The exhibition, present at the Palazzo Giustinian Lolin and part of the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, gives news of Portuguese architecture in the temporal arch of democracy through seven processes marked by material destruction, social displacement or popular participation. All of these have had a sound media coverage amplified by the press – used here as a barometer of public action and involvement in the various processes. In Conflict promotes, through the exhibition and also through a series of debates, a thought about the role of architecture as an artistic, public, political and ethical discipline, in the hope of contributing to the project of a common future.
On the main floor of the Palazzo, the exhibition, which welcomes the seven architectural processes, supports a specular reading of the content based on the use of the mirror, as a device that creates a heterotopic space between the apparent fatality of the real and the will of the utopia of the debate they present. The mirror does not seek to neutralize the existing atmosphere of the palace rooms. Rather, it establishes a kaleidoscopic relationship, which breaks the spatial configuration and subverts the reading of the salons – characterized by paintings, fabrics, wallpapers and original mirrors – inventing space where it does not exist. It is therefore the mirror, the “polished” side of the device, which initially presents each project and also serves as a backdrop for the three-dimensional piece that rests on the plinth in front of it. Finally, on its reverse side, there is additional information, printed either on unpolished plate - invoking the large printing plates of the press which is itself one of the bases of the exposed material - sometimes on posters, reinforcing the analogue and manual tone that covers the entire exhibition project.
At the main entrance, the androne giving access to the Grand Canal, several televisions broadcasts an audiovisual installation, edited from archival television material and a selection of documentaries and short films dedicated to the seven processes. The regi set, which once again invokes the press, is another kaleidoscopic scenario that helps to frame the limit of the debate table.
At last, the debate table itself completes the exhibition scenography. Designed from the geometry of the floor of the space where it is located, and within the materiality of the remaining exhibition set, it is a symbol of meeting and discussion spaces, places of public conflict where architecture is included. The table, such as the dome and chair also specially designed for the exhibition, hosted a series of conversations that brought together agents of the transformation of the territory and the design of cities.
