For the 2010 exhibition in the British Pavilion, Artistic Directors muf architecture/art Llp developed a series of 'Made in Venice' collaborations, making the most of local materials and partners, rather than shipping in an exhibition from the UK.

The Pavilion, which has been ironically reframed as Villa Frankenstein, making direct reference to the work of John Ruskin, will act as a stage for drawing, discussion and scientific enquiry. It will put forward the proposition that meaningful strategies for development can only come from understanding a place in detail.

Villa Frankenstein will enable an exchange of ideas between Venice and the UK, examining not only the city’s relationship with the UK, but the situation of Venice itself as archipelago that has given birth to one of the most iconic and alluring architectures in the world.

The Lagoon Room
Collaborators: Environmental scientist, Jane da Mosto; life scientist, Lorenzo Bonometto; Venice Natural History Museum; Venice in Peril; Cambridge University.

The Ruskin Wing / The Gavagnin Wing (Done.Book)
Collaborators: Artist-philosopher Wolfgang Scheppe; cultural historian Robert Hewison; The Ruskin Library.

The Stadium of Close Looking
Collaborators: Specialist carpenters, Spazio Legno; Venice based collective, Re Biennale.

The Child in the City/The Schools of Venice
Collaborator: artist Lottie Child, working with the teachers and pupils of the schools of Venice.

Debates, workshops, drawing classes and scientific discussions will take place during the three months of the Biennale, which will lead to a catalogue, edited by Adrian Dannatt, to be published in three chapters across the period of the Biennale, acting as a further creative platform to inform thinking for London, as it moves towards 2012.

Vicky Richardson, Director of Architecture, Fashion and Design, said:

Responding to Sejima’s call for an architecture grounded in its use by people, muf’s approach to the British Pavilion blurs the boundaries between the exhibit and the city, moving Venice into the Pavilion and taking the Pavilion out into the surrounding areas, creating a long-term relationship with the city and its people and informing our future work in the UK.

Liza Fior, Founding Partner, muf architecture/art Llp, said: “From John Ruskin and the Stones of Venice to Ralph Rumney, the only British founding member of the Situationist International, the British have been obsessed with Venice and in different ways have taken Venice home. This two-way traffic of ideas, knowledge and experience has left its mark on both archipelagos. Through Villa Frankenstein, we hope to explore and showcase the methodology behind our work, making public spaces that negotiate between the complex and different agendas of a single place.”