On the occasion of the first, ever, inclusion of the Accademia di Belle Arti - Venice’s Art School - within the Venice Biennale circuit, UNA / UNLESS presents the project for a temporary pavilion designed to host “swell of spæc(i)es”, a major commission by LAS Art Foundation of artist Josèfa Ntjam, which will be a Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. The pavilion and exhibition, marking the first exhibition to be presented outside of Berlin by the itinerant foundation, will be open to the public between the 20th April and the 24th November 2024.
Mirroring the identity of UNA / UNLESS as interdisciplinary studio that operates both as architecture office and agency for change, the pavilion draws its inspiration at once from the historical context of the renaissance building of the Accademia, and from the utopian dimension inherent in Ntjam’s work.
The Pavilion is situated within the courtyard of what was once the Ospedale degli Incurabili: a “square” surrounded by doric colonnades that has witness in the past centuries the appearance and disappearance of a wooden chapel (built in 1523) and a church by Jacopo Sansovino, erected in 1565 and demolished in 1831, after the Ospedale degli Incurabili was repurposed to host a civic hospital and military barracks. Now, at the heart of the Venetian Accademia di Belle Arti, that was once housed on the ground floor of the Gallerie dell’Accademia museum until the Grandi Gallerie project of 1999 saw its relocation in this prestigious venue, the courtyard assumes the function of a space devoted to artistic experimentations.
Conceived with this spirit, the Pavilion is a triangular blue prism that appears to have fallen from outer space, or else from the celestial virtual realms projected by Josefa Ntjam in “swell of spæc(i)es”. While its abstract presence might seem at first alien, its inherent symmetry and its reflective surface which allows for an optical illusion that reconstructs the fourth side of the loggia, establish a subtle dialogue with the historic context.
Reminiscent of “Blue Triangle and Black Rectangle” conceived by Kasimir Malevich in 1915, the pavilion subtly interlocks with the structure of the old hospital, of which it becomes a temporary extension. Hermetic and impenetrable from the courtyard, the pavilion is completely open towards the loggias in which the art students – the soul of the Accademia along with their professors – unfold and discuss their research.
Upon entering the pavilion a large convex surface, which evokes the absence of Sansovino’s church by tracing its original footprint, conceal a large LED screen that immerses the viewer in the otherworldly environment of “swell of spæc(i)es”. The soundscape scored by Fatima al Qadiri and integrated by the sonic sculptures of Josefa Ntjam, bring music into the pavilion, evoking the music once produced by the choir that performed in Sansovino’s church.
According to curator Carly Whitefield “swell of spæc(i)es unfolds a new creation myth shaped by ancient and emergent ways of conceiving the universe. Within this imaginary, plankton is a point of convergence between the deep ocean and outer space, biological and mythical realms, possible pasts and alternative futures. Ntjam’s practice has explored the political dimensions of oceans, receptacles of many stories of domination – from slavery and colonisation to capitalism and environmental and humanitarian crises – but also of resistance, emancipation and creation. In Venice she will focus on plankton as an agent of alchemical transformation in recounting the story of Amma, a Dogon deity that created the stars by launching pellets of the earth into the sky, and Nommos, the first creatures to live underwater”.
Research is at the core of LAS commissions. In developing the exhibition, Ntjam has held exchanges with plankton scientists at Cardiff University, Wales, and Istituto di Scienze Marine (ISMAR), Venice, where UNA / UNLESS designed an extension of the exhibition in the Palazzina Canonica.
Josèfa Ntjam: “swell of spæc(i)es”, will be complemented by a series of public and educational programmes, organised by LAS in collaboration with Ocean Space, ISMAR and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia.
