Iceland participates for the first time: Arnhildur brings Lavaforming to Venice
The exhibition Lavaforming by Arnhildur Pálmadóttir, architect of s.ap architects, is representing Iceland at this year's Venice Biennale. Lavaforming opens in 6 days and the installation is in full swing. This year, 66 nations participate and the exhibition runs until November. Iceland is participating in the Venice Biennale of Architecture for the first time.
A local threat turned into a resource
Lavaforming tells the story of a future society that develops progressive solutions in civil engineering where flowing lava is harnessed and used as a building material for future cities. In this way, a local threat is turned into a resource. In the Icelandic pavilion, visitors see a film that discusses human society in the year 2150 where the infrastructures are built by lava. Viewers will be introduced to the lives of six individuals who share their stories, where the revolutionary building material, lava, plays a major role.
In our history, we have harnessed lava flows just as we did with steam power in the 20th century. We preserved history with events that influenced development and technology, but the goal is to show that architecture can be the force to rethink and shape a new future. A lava flow can contain enough building material for the foundations of entire cities that rise in a few weeks without harmful mining and non-renewable energy generation.
Behind Lavaforming are, in addition to Arnhildur, Arnar Skarphéðinsson, architect and co-author, Björg Skarphéðinsdóttir, designer, Sukanya Mukherjee, architect, Andri Snær Magnason, writer, and Jack Armitage, musician and designer.
Great media interest
Foreign and domestic media are showing great interest in the project. For example, the Icelandic pavilion is in the top 5 list of the Financial Times, which advises people not to miss Lavaforming! The project has also been discussed by Dezeen, World Architecture, MIT Technology Review, The Architect's Newspaper and elsewhere.
Come with us to Venice
The Icelandic Pavilion is on Instagram. There you can see behind the scenes material, the building of the project and meet the team behind Lavaforming.
