Taking a Border for a Walk

The timing of Laboratoire d’architecture winning entry for the Swiss Pavilion of the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021 could not have been better, or worse. While the COVID-19 pandemic has postponed the show, everyone is thinking and talking about borders again.

Interview: Jørg Himmelreich & Brett Petzer – 4.2.2021
Photos © Swiss Pavilion team for the 2021 Venice Biennale of Architecture

The winning entry for the Swiss pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021 was proposed by Mounir Ayoub and Vanessa Lacaille of Geneva-based Laboratoire d’architecture, who teamed up for the show with filmmaker Fabrice Aragno and sculptor Pierre Szczepski to explore the theme of Swiss borders through the eyes of local people.
Their timing could not have been better, or worse. While the COVID-19 pandemic has postponed the Biennale, everyone is thinking and talking about borders again.
The interview in the latest archithese-issue Geopolitik gives a glimpse into what the Swiss Pavilion in 2021 will look like. While inner-European borders seemed to lose their importance, how do people actually perceive them? How are they structuring their daily lives?

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> The Team for the Swiss Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 was chosen in a competition.

> During the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 the Austrian Pavilion will show the Platform Austria. It focuses on the digital revolution and explores how apps can help to overcome borders.

> Photographer Ignacio Evangelistas documented empty border stations in his series After Schengen.