The Carrier Bag Theory of Architecture

The Turkish Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale (Biennale Architettura 2023) is still a magnet for many spectators in October. It has hung a series of cloud-like fabrics that reflect the many abandoned buildings in Turkey and explore possible new ways of transformation in the face of the country’s catastrophic earthquakes. The exhibition entitled „Ghost Stories: The Carrier Bag Theory of Architecture“ is curated by Sevince Bayrak and Oral Göktaş. It seeks new ways of transformation through the use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. The World Architecture plattform (worldarchitecture.org) writes: „Using AI as a tool, trained in their architectural vocabulary, Bayrak and Göktaş have realised new hopeful visions for each of the uninhabited buildings, showing how people can repopulate and repurpose these spaces for the benefit of the community.“ (World Architecture, 9 June 2023) Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly important for architecture. With DALL-E 3 and other image generators, one can represent houses and design city views, in the form of photorealistic, colorful views or of white models that reduce complexity. The Venice Architecture Biennale will run until 26 November 2023. Further information is available at www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/2023.

Fig.: La Biennale in 2023

International Architecture Exhibition Postponed

La Biennale di Venezia announces that the 17th International Architecture Exhibition („How Will We Live Together?“) has been postponed to 2021, to be held from 22 May to 21 November. If all things go well, next year’s Salon Suisse will again be dedicated to the topic „Bodily Encounters“. In this case, 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 a transhumanist.

Fig.: At Biennale di Venezia

Bodily Encounters

„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.

Fig.: Bodily encounters in Venice