The Republic of Seychelles will make their debut at the upcoming Venice Biennale with an exhibition titled Between Two Waters, Searching for Expression in the Seychelles. Curated by Andrés F. Ramírez, and featuring the work of local firm ADD.locus, the exhibition faces the Grand Canal and “transports visitors to the 115-island archipelago—the least populated nation in Africa,” exploring the identity of this nation while also investigating the architecture of every day life in the paradise islands.
The exhibition will contain a partially constructed shelter that incorporates elements of vernacular architecture and hundreds of posted messages from Seychellois residents and visitors, spanning across both ethnic and generational boundaries. Pictures, which represent the culture of the nation, display how architecture has changed over time, similar to the ebb and flow of the water around them.
Seven projects of a range of typology and program are also featured, acting as representations of the architecture that has emerged as Seychelles searches for its voice in the built environment. A video describing the “ongoing negotiation between fantasy and reality, represented by two waters—the rain and sea" will also be displayed.
