Venice Biennale XIIth International Architecture Exhibition

Venice, Italy

20th & 21st November 2010

Scotland in Venice

Scotland’s creativity and innovation were on display throughout the final weekend of the greatest showcase of architecture in the world.

NVA were invited by the Scottish Government, in partnership with Creative Scotland and the British Council Scotland, to curate a distinctive Scottish presence at La Biennale di Venezia’s 2010 International Architecture Exhibition.

They presented a programme of public events, entitled To Have and To Hold, responding to the themes of restoration and reuse of our built heritage, particularly on the potential restoration of St Peter’s Seminary near Cardross.

“Creative Scotland is delighted that NVA has been invited to present at the Venice Architecture Biennale. NVA is one of Scotland’s most imaginative arts organisations. Venice provides an excellent platform to generate new thinking and to explore alternative approaches to architectural conservation.”

- Creative Scotland Chief Executive, Andrew Dixon

St Peter’s Seminary

For the last two years NVA has been working with patrons, local groups and national partners to develop a new vision for St Peter’s seminary. Radical new plans seek to consolidate the first modernist ruin in the UK and to gradually bring interior spaces back to productive use through an international design competition in 2012. Acknowledging the recent history of the building as a ruin whilst making safe what is left by partially restoring the internal spaces within an exposed and strengthened superstructure, St Peter’s seminary will adapt and evolve incrementally within its shrouded setting.

NVA’s plan is for the restored seminary building to evolve into a new form of public resource that will redefine the nature of public rural space in the twenty first century. It will both function as a unified artwork combining the built and un-built environment in a walked narrative and work with academics from different disciplines to advance the site as a long term source of knowledge and inspiration that will be shared with wider audiences through the experiential teaching within a working and productive landscape.

For more information on NVA’s plans for Kilmahew/St Peter’s go to the project page HERE

The Venice Programme: ‘To Have and To Hold’

DOWNLOAD THE ‘TO HAVE AND TO HOLD’ WEEKEND PROGRAMME HERE

Activities in Venice included multiple presentations of Space and Light Revisited. In 1972 filmmaker Murray Grigor celebrated the life of St Peter’s in Space and Light, a near-wordless 24-minute film. In February 2009 he returned to the derelict, graffiti-ridden site with Oscar-nominated cinematographer Seamus McGarvey to film an exact shot-for-shot remake. The two films were presented simultaneously in a split screen format as Space and Light Revisited.

In addition to the film, academics, artists and architects, from across Europe, debated the future of St Peter’s within an historical context. They reconnected with the radical roots of Ruskin’s nineteenth century conservation theories, and their influence on the great architect Carlo Scarpa and his remarkable fusion of ancient and modern elements in schemes, still seen around Venice. Ruskin’s legacy can also be seen in one of Scotland’s other iconic twentieth century buildings, the Glasgow School of Art and its dynamic evolution with Steven Holl’s winning design for a new school building that will sit directly opposite the original Mackintosh building.

The discussions were documented and a publication on the event is launching in this years Edinburgh International Book Festival. For further information on the book and launch event click HERE

To watch the short film about the debate NVA organised at Venice click HERE and press play.

The contributors that took part in the discussion were:

Gordon Murray, Gordon Murray Architects/Strathclyde University (Moderator)
Adam Sutherland, Grizedale Arts
Alan Pert, Nord Architects
David Cook, Wasp’s Artists Studios
Ed Hollis, Edinburgh College of Art
Gerrie van Noord, Freelance Project Manager
Hayden Lorimer, Glasgow University
Henry Mckeown, JM Architects
Moira Jeffrey, Scotland on Sunday
Murray Grigor, film maker
Rolf Roscher, ERZ Ltd
Tilman Latz, Latz + Partner Architects
Ranald MacInnes, Historic Scotland
Angus Farquhar, NVA

This project was a joint venture between the Scottish Government, Creative Scotland and the British Council Scotland.

Schedule of Events

Venue: Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, Via Garibaldi, Venice

• Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st November:
screenings of Murray Grigor’s poignant film of St Peter’s seminary, Space and Light Revisited, shot and re-shot in 1972 and 2009 respectively.

• Sunday 21st November:
academics, artists and architects from Europe debated the future of St Peter’s within an historical context that reconnects with the radical roots of Ruskin’s nineteenth century conservation theories. This led to the production of a new publication launching August 2011.

Further information

Full information on the events curated by NVA at the Venice Biennale are available in the downloadable version of the full programme HERE

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