Danish architect Dorte Mandrup will be exhibiting at the main exhibition of the Biennale Architettura 2018, and with over 200 square metres at her disposal, is one of the most comprehensive installations on display at this year’s Architecture Biennale. The forthcoming Icefjord Centre in Greenland is the inspiration source behind a large sensuous exhibition, designed to give Biennale’s visitors an authentic experience of the magnificent and harsh nature in Greenland.
The unique nature of Dorte Mandrup’s Icefjord Centre project was the major motivation behind their invitation for her participation: “This is a project that deals with the most extreme challenges imaginable in terms of climate,” the two curators state and continue: “It is also a highly charged building in terms of its ambition and function.
The historic significance of the location where ‘the Inuit people and Europeans (Norse) met’, combined with the making of a habitable place for social interaction within the ‘superpower of nature’ has produced a project robust enough to sit lightly on the earth and to exert a singularly poetic presence.” (excerpt from the catalogue FREESPACE 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia)
Sense the arctic light, darkness and cold
Greenland’s magnificent and harsh landscape fascinates Dorte Mandrup, who wants to convey this fascination to the visitors through, among other things, a large light and sound installation designed to recreate a personal interpretation of the unique elements found in Greenlandic nature.
”The conditions in Greenland are incredibly harsh, and this has greatly impacted the way we designed the Icefjord Centre. This kind of light, darkness and cold is something that can only be experienced in arctic areas like these, and it is these conditions that the exhibition at the Biennale Architettura 2018 strive to convey,” says Dorte Mandrup.
“The infinity and the scale of the landscape, combined with the light and darkness of the arctic climate, will be the focal point of our installation. Our interpretation of the theme FREESPACE is concerned with the creation of an infinite space, which the surrounding area of the future Icefjord Centre very much exemplifies. The understanding of architecture is a 1:1 experience – here more than anywhere else.
This is why our ambition has been to create a sensuous installation for the exhibition, which focuses on enhancing the understanding of the unique natural conditions that have defined the building – more than a mere presentation of the building itself,” explains Dorte Mandrup. Dorte Mandrup’s installation will cover a total of over 200 square metres, and in addition to the large sound and light installation, it will also include an abstract 1:12 model of the Icefjord Centre.
The Icefjord in Ilulissat is located by one of the world’s most active glaciers. Over recent years, the Icefjord has receded several kilometres and in 2004, the Icefjord was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Icefjord Centre will partly contribute to the development of Ilulissat as a tourist attraction, as well as serving as a gathering point for world climate scientists and heads of states who want to confront climate change issues, and for tourists who are attracted by the distinctive and dramatic location. Source and images Courtesy of Dorte Mandrup.