Tag: Venice

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Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.

At the 19th Architecture Biennale in Venice (Biennale Architettura 2025) with the title “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.”, robots play an important role. This is reported by several media, such as The Architect’s Newspaper. “Robots Falling from the Sky” is an installation in which robots appear to fall from the sky and interact with their surroundings. Another robot demonstrates its musical abilities by playing a handpan, a brass instrument. One is reminded of Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz’s 18th century musician, who preferred a keyboard instrument. A robotic arm from ABB assists two Bhutanese craftsmen in working on a beam. For safety reasons, according to The Architect’s Newspaper, live carving with a drill was not permitted. The problem is not the two artisans, but the visitors. The Biennale is always dedicated to technical and futuristic themes. In 2021, the Architecture Biennale focused on cyborgs and transhumanists, among other things. In 2024, the art biennial featured a quasi-hologram and a spaceship-like installation. The Biennale runs from May 10 to November 23, 2025 at various venues in and near Venice, including the Giardini della Biennale, the Arsenale di Venezia, and the Forte Marghera in Mestre. Further information and the full program can be found at www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/2025 (Photo: Biennale Arte 2024).

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Jethro Knights in Venice

The Salon Suisse at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice presents its program under the title “Bodily Encounters”. Salonnière is Evelyn Steiner, under assistance of Viviane Ehrensberger. “Bodily Encounters revolves around the fundamental Relationships between the body and architecture: when space is being experienced, the body serves as the most important system of orientation and measurement.” (Booklet Salon Suisse) On November 18, 2021, Palazzo Trevisan will host the event “JETHRO KNIGHTS, ARMOR GUYVER, AND MUTANT X: HOW TRANSHUMANISTS CHALLENGE ARCHITECTURE”. In the booklet you can read: “Body hacking means invasive or non-invasive intervention in the human body for the purposes of human enhancement or transhumanism. Implanted chips and technical enhancements, for instance, enable the human senses to be extended or purposefully controlled. This evening, the focus is on physical and mental transformation and its impact on architecture. How does architecture respond to members of the human species who take the course of evolution into their own hands? For example, the human sensorium could be adapted to external influences and optimised in such a way that construction in compliance with noise regulations or adherence to climate-related requirements and disability standards would become obsolete. After an introduction to transhumanism by Professor of Information Ethics and Machine Ethics Oliver Bendel, Georg Vrachliotis, Professor of Architectural Theory, and the body hacker Mike Schaffner, will discuss various scenarios and leave room for some surprises.” (Booklet Salon Suisse) You can download the booklet with further information about the Salon Suisse program here.

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Bodyhacking at Salon Suisse

“Bodily Encounters” is the title of the Salon Suisse at this year’s Architecture Biennale in Venice. On Thursday, 26 November 2020, a lecture by Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel on bio- and bodyhacking will take place in Palazzo Trevisan, followed by a discussion with Mike Schaffner and Prof. Dr. Georg Vrachliotis. Biohacking can be defined as the use of biological, chemical or technical means to penetrate organisms or their components in order to change and improve them. The combination of organisms is also possible, creating real-life chimeras. A subsection of biohacking is bodyhacking, in which one intervenes in the animal or human body with biological and chemical, but above all technical means (computer chips, magnets, devices of all kinds, exoskeletons and prostheses), often with the aim of animal or human enhancement and sometimes with a transhumanist mentality. Oliver Bendel is an information and machine ethicist and has been working on human enhancement and animal enhancement for years. Georg Vrachliotis is a professor of architecture, Mike Schaffner is a transhumanist. The Salon Suisse program is available here.