As part of ArchDaily's coverage of the 2016 Venice Biennale, we are presenting a series of articles written by the curators of the exhibitions and installations on show.
Against the tide presents the efforts of a generation of young architects who have conceived, designed, and constructed works of architecture, while also arranging their financial and contractual aspects as part of the requirements for their professional degree in architecture. All they have in common is that they belong to the Central Valley of Chile, where they have returned following their academic training to contribute to their communities, creating architectural projects which connect to a set of places where the region’s campesinos and their families can live and work.
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These architectural projects have been erected with minimal resources, with the residues of agricultural processes and with readily available local materials, contributing value and inserting the territory into a global context through a regional ―but not a costumbrist― approach.
Out of this rural landscape and environment, in a state of constant transformation due to agricultural activity and urban development, there emerges a series of pavilions, rest stops, viewpoints, lunch shelters, and squares, or simply places for shade and social encounter, ephemeral or permanent, explicit or abstract.
Against the tide speaks of a contrary direction that things can take. This exhibition moves against the current of those urban battles ―perhaps more global in scope― waged to improve the quality of our built environment. It puts the accent rather on the customs and landscapes of the rural world, fields and forests, helping through architecture to improve the everyday quality of life of its people.
Curators: Juan Román, José Luis Uribe
Commissioner: Cristóbal Molina (National Council of Culture and the Arts of Chile)
Exhibitors: Felipe Aranda, Ximena Cáceres, Claudio Castillo, Ximena Céspedes, Gabriel Garrido, Carolina Guerra, Juan Francisco Inostroza, Yasna Monsalve, Felipe Muñoz, Daniel Prieto, Javier Rodríguez, Jonnattan Silva, Carolina Solís, Tanya Vera, Cesar Verdugo
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.jpg?1464882585 "Against The Tide: Inside Chile's Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale")
.jpg?1464882621 "Against The Tide: Inside Chile's Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale")
