VENICE.- The unmissable Biennale di Venezia has drawn to a close with the
Luxembourg Pavilion Down to Earth designed and curated by Francelle Cane and Marija Marić, a confirmed hit with the public.
Officially opened on 18 May 2023 in the presence of HRH the Great Duchess, the Minister for Culture Sam Tanson, Luxembourg's Ambassador to Rome HE Michèle Pranchère-Tomassino and over 200 guests, the Luxembourg Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale has been packed ever since. The Down to Earth exhibition welcomed a total of 102,118 visitors during the entire Biennale which itself recorded over 285,000 visitors, along with 14,150 visitors to the preview, making it the second most visited Architecture Biennale ever.
Down to Earth, designed by architects, curators and researchers Francelle Cane and Marija Marić, was a critical behind-the-scenes exploration of the current paradigm of space mining, as well as its media narratives. Replicating a Lunar Laboratory—the research spaces designed to not only run full-scale tests of space mining technologies but also operative as media studios producing the visual imaginaries of the extractions on the Moon and beyond—the exhibition included contributions by Armin Linke, Lev Bratishenko, Jane Mah Hutton, Anastasia Kubrak, Amelyn Ng, Bethany Rigby, and Fred Scharmen, as well as collaborations with different institutions, including Canadian Centre for Architecture.
The pavilion was also a meeting point for fruitful encounters between creatives, curators, and the general public. In addition to the visits organised in September during the Pavilion Days, side-events such as public lectures and roundtables were also held both in Luxembourg and abroad.
Looking back at our project in Venice, we find ourselves truly humbled by all the incredible encounters, conversations, and collaborations that deeply shaped our project. Starting with the Moon, but coming down to Earth, our exhibition aimed at raising a critical discussion around our relationship with resources, testing at the same time the boundaries between curatorial work, research, and social engagement. We thank all the conversation partners and collaborators for contributing to this project, the journalists for their important questions and curiosity about our work in Venice, and the institutions who supported our work from the very beginning”, the curators Francelle Cane and Marija Marić stated.
The exhibition was not only a success with the public, but also featured in the national and international press.
Looking back at our project in Venice, we find ourselves truly humbled by all the incredible encounters, conversations, and collaborations that deeply shaped our project. Starting with the Moon, but coming down to Earth, our exhibition aimed at raising a critical discussion around our relationship with resources, testing at the same time the boundaries between curatorial work, research, and social engagement. We thank all the conversation partners and collaborators for contributing to this project, the journalists for their important questions and curiosity about our work in Venice, and the institutions who supported our work from the very beginning”, the curators Francelle Cane and Marija Marić stated.
The exhibition was not only a success with the public, but also featured in the national and international press.
Kultur | lx, following a decision by the Ministry of Culture, was tasked for the first time with commissioning the Luxembourg Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, a role in which it will continue for the development of future art and architecture pavilions in conjunction with the Luxembourg cultural institutions involved.
Biographies of curators
Francelle Cane is an architect, researcher and curator based in Luxembourg. Since 2021, she has been a doctoral researcher at the Chair of Urban Regeneration, University of Luxembourg. Her research explores the subject of ruin through the perspective of soil, thus reshaping the relations between the built environment, policies and soil ecologies. For several years, her practice has involved various collaboration types and project formats, including curating and designing exhibitions as a means of research. Cane is the author of Machine opérationnelle (FWB, 2021), The World as a Pavilion. Vjenceslav Richter (Koenig Books, 2020, with Vesna Meštrić and Iwan Strauven), and Enter the Modern Landscape (Bozar, 2019, with Axel Fisher and Iwan Strauven).
Marija Marić is an architect, researcher and curator based in Luxembourg. She works as a postdoctoral research associate at the Master in Architecture programme, University of Luxembourg, where she also teaches. In 2020, she obtained her doctoral degree from the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta), ETH Zurich, with research examining the role of media strategists in the communication, design and globalisation of urban projects. Marija’s work has been presented and published internationally. Her research is organised around the questions of resources, real estate, media, and the production of the built environment and its imaginaries in the context of global capitalism and the global flow of information.
The Commissioners
Kultur | lx - Arts Council Luxembourg was established in July 2020 as an initiative of the Luxembourg Ministry of Culture. This new tool for supporting, promoting and disseminating the Luxembourg cultural scene was the outcome of an extensive consultation and impetus from the Grand Duchy’s creative sector.
Kultur | lx has since become a key partner in the support and promotion of professionals from the following sectors: architecture, design and crafts; multimedia and digital arts; visual arts; literature and publishing; music; and performing arts.
Kultur | lx operates in three priority areas: fostering the career development of Luxembourg artists and creatives; supporting and encouraging the dissemination of artistic creation; and boosting the impact and promotion of artistic creations within Luxembourg and internationally. Among other things, it oversees Luxembourg’s presence at major international gatherings.
luca – Luxembourg Center for Architecture is a private non-profit foundation set up 30 years ago as the Fondation de l’Architecture et de l’Ingénierie with the primary task of promoting quality architecture as a cultural reality. Its aim is to develop, among the public in general and professionals in particular, an awareness of the continuity of architectural heritage: past, present and future.
In order to address, through a multidisciplinary approach, the issues related to the current challenges facing our society, luca works in close collaboration with Luxembourg’s main actors in the fields of architecture, engineering and heritage. This has made it possible to position the foundation as a platform for exchanges between public authorities, professionals from different disciplines who work on the built and non-built environment, and the general public.
Each year, luca implements a cultural programme adapted to the diversity of its audiences: cycles of conferences and debates, exhibitions, guided tours, educational workshops, study trips, film and documentary screenings, and so on.
Over its 30 years of existence, luca has organised more than 240 conferences, 90 exhibitions – including nine Luxembourg Pavilions at the International Architecture Exhibitions organised by La Biennale di Venezia– and eight editions of the Luxembourg Architecture Award.
