Venice, Italy
Named Datament, the project is a recording of a conversation between an architect, Marcin Strzaa, an artist Anna Barlik, and the curator Jacek Sosnowski and it was commissioned by Zachęta — National Gallery of Art for Venice’s Architecture Biennale.
“We share a world with data. Believing in their infallibility, we let algorithms calculate and design our houses and cities. However, without a sensitive and conscious designer, digitally processed data can create distorted solutions, such as those presented in the Polish Pavilion,” state the creators of Datament.
The pavilion will be filled with the frames of four life-size houses.
These chaotic and satirical structures symbolize the original data form, reproducing the “source data.”
The installation will have 1:1 scale replicas of the spatial forms of homes from four different countries.
The constructions, made of about 2,000 meters of colored steel profiles, are based on average, generalized data on the size, shape, and functional arrangement of homes in various geographic zones.
The installation will allow visitors to interact with this information, serving as a springboard for a conversation about new technologies.
Furthermore, while these significant amounts of data may not provide humanity with pre-made solutions, the exhibition encourages visitors to see how these infrastructures can improve the questions they ask.
The exhibition/ architectural installation suggests that statistical data analysis and the use of algorithms in design significantly influence how we will live in the present and the future in architecture, urbanism, and spatial planning.
However, raw data is becoming less and less critical to humanity.
Due to this warped reality of the information process by new technology, the display questions civilization’s judgment in this digital mirage.
Anna Barlik focuses on color, composition, and local situations in visual art.
Marcin Strzaa investigates the connection between digital data and its physical representation through design.
They have created a structure based on digital data analysis alongside curator Jacek Sosnowski.
The neologism used for the title, Datament, alludes to the pervasive “data establishment” that constantly shapes the world in which we live, work, and play.
Project: Datament – Polish Pavilion in Venice Architecture Biennale
Architects: Marcin Strzała, Anna Barlik, and Jacek Sosnowski
Client: Zachęta — National Gallery of Art
Photographers: Barbara Kaja Kaniewska
