Biennale svizzera del territorio

Recycling the future
The Call for Actions at the Biennale del Territorio have all engaged in the fundamental cyclical nature of life. Circularity may be the word of moment to critically reappraise extraction and production, but it has been fundamental to human and non-human systems for ever – from the cycles of baking and eating that structure everyday life to seasonality which renews the biosphere with remarkable force. Human actions have changed the world at all scales. We shall discuss how these interventions reveal and propose new cycles of material and spatial actions.

Tom Emerson is an architect based in London and Zurich. He co-founded 6a architects in London with Stephanie Macdonald. 6a has received several RIBA Awards, the Tessenow Prize 2023.
He is professor of architecture at ETH Zurich since 2010, where he leads a design studio exploring the relationship between making, landscape and ecology. Since 2014, the studio has been cultivating a garden designed, built, planted and maintained by several generations of students.

Hospitalités
What are the conditions of hospitality in our societies today, what role does architecture play and what form can it propose to (re)create spaces of hospitality?
“Our Earth's finiteness imposes upon its inhabitants a principle of universal, unconditional hospitality." (I. Kant) By thus affirming that our stay on Earth necessitates hospitality, the ways of being in a finite world and the ways of living in it are powerfully interlinked. Today, the uniqueness of hospitality is re-emerging with astonishing relevance. Confronted by the contemporary anxieties associated with climate, economic, social and political crises, unconditional hospitality provides a response which is not merely material, technical or economic but rather one which restores poetic and political meaning to human initiative. Hospitality is a philosophy of the space which sheds fresh light upon ways in which humankind relates to its environment.

Originally from the Reunion Island, Vanessa is an architect with a master degree in landscape design. She is co-founder of Le laboratoire d'architecture with the Tunisian architect, journalist, and architecture critic Mounir Ayoub. Together, they work on architectural, landscape and territorial studies, as well as editorial and curatorial projects throughout Europe, the Arab world and the Indian Ocean region. In 2021, they were the curators for the Swiss Pavilion at the Biennale Architettura 2021 in Venice whith their project oræ - Experiences on the Border. Ever since, they decided ever to continue their research on the theme of Hospitality and to dedicate their teaching to this topic. In 2022, they were guest professors at the EPFL in Lausanne. The same year, they were invited to participate at the Biennale Architettura 2023 in Venice by the general curator Lesley Lokko with their contribution Welcome in Nomadland. Since 2023, they are guest professors at the Accademia di architettura (USI) in Mendrisio.

Lugano sunset
curated by Vittoria Matarrese, Call for Action selection committee, Bally Foundation curator and director. With Guillaume Aubry, artist and architect, and Maxime Rossi, artist

Regards croisés
Sename Koffi Agbodjinou is a thinker, author, tech activist, and multi-award-winning social entrepreneur. With a background in industrial design, architecture, and anthropology, he now curates exhibitions and gives lectures and workshops worldwide. He is a jury member for various artistic projects, foundations, and corporate boards. He is co-founder of L'Africaine d'architecture, a collaborative platform for experimentation and research on L'African architecture and urbanism, and of HubCity/ WoeLabs, a network of Togolese technology hubs aimed at promoting equity in the face of the digital revolution. He works with concepts that incorporate indigenous elements into modern design, which he then implements as an inventor, designer, and entrepreneur at the level of product, building, and urban planning. His work develops alternative visions around issues of holistic architecture, primitive computationalities, democracy in technology, and urban sustainability.