Birdseye has been selected to take part in the “Time Space Existence” Exhibition during the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale in Italy.
“We like to show current developments, thoughts, ideas and even dreams in architecture,” says exhibition organizer Rachel De Stefano “Therefore, we bring together an international group of architects with different cultural backgrounds who are at different stages in their careers. Each year, our selection team reviews more than 10,000 architecture practices and projects. Out of these, we contact a little over 400 potential participants, and [narrow those] to approximately 160 architects for the exhibition.”
The Exhibition is organized by the Global Art Affairs (GAA) Foundation of the Netherlands and presented during the International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. Other participants in this year’s event include renowned architects Daniel Libeskind, Fumihiko Maki, Kengo Kuma,Tatiana Bilbao and Arata Isozaki. Over 300,000 people are expected to attend the exhibition this year.
“We’re really honored by this extraordinary opportunity to appear in the company of such remarkable professionals,” says Principal Architect at Birdseye, Brian J. Mac, FAIA who was recently elevated by the American Institute of Architects to its prestigious College of Fellows for 2018. “To be selected to show one’s work during the Venice Biennale is a great opportunity for Birdseye. We’ve created a special contribution to the exhibition which reflects, both literally and abstractly, the paradigm for our approach to design. We take inspiration from the regional landscape and culture of a place and artistically reinterpret this heritage into unique, contemporary buildings.
“The exhibition piece is a representation of American craft and design. Birdseye embraces the intersection and value of the two. Our entry for the Biennale gives us an opportunity to showcase our expression of the Time Space Existence theme. We captured the spirit of Vermont, which provides inspiration for our lives and is reflected in our work. We are proud to share our culture with an international audience.”
The Time Space Existence Exhibition will run from May 26th through November 25th, 2018 at the Palazzo Mora and the Palazzo Bembo in Venice, Italy. For more information on the exhibition, visit www.globalartaffairs.org or contact Brian Mac at [email protected]
Along with the exhibition, the GAA Foundation produces a book in which each participant has the opportunity to write about their contribution to the exhibit. This is what we came up with for the book:
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound’s the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Robert Frost
Vermont Poet Laureate 1961-1963
These words resonate with us as we reflect on our work and ourselves within the context of Time Space Existence.
This moment in time is ours. We live and work in the foothills of the Green Mountains, in the American State of Vermont. The landscape of this place is marked by the agrarian pursuits of past and present inhabitants. Their values are preserved in the living history of the buildings and the land. Timber frame bank barns with high drives and cupolas, milk houses, corn cribs, silos, farmhouses, and woodsheds. The rolling fields, surrounded with walls of stone, tree lined roads, farmyards and mountain vistas. This physical history provides context for our existence, and is reflected in our practice.
Our contribution to the exhibition seeks to convey the essence of the rare and powerful moments when our existence is brought to our acute attention, and time is folded upon itself, past becoming present becoming future. We celebrate the reverence and mystery that the humble and working architectural space of barns can evoke, like a forest in the hush of snow, or the splendor of a cathedral.
Our work represents a continued evaluation and refinement, rooted in the building tradition of place, as well as in the cultural history of our company and its people.
Through our creations, we mark our passing through this time, and the spaces we are called to work within. Our trajectory is sustained through a rich dialogue, and an openness to change. We move forward by looking back; drawing from the regional vernacular and the rich tradition of American craft, to create an authentic expression, unique to our time.
In this moment, we pause to consider where we came from, what we have accomplished and what we hope to achieve.
We still have miles to go.
Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” from The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright 1923, © 1969 by Henry Holt and Company, Inc., renewed 1951, by Robert Frost.