DAAR's reproduction of fascist façade earns golden lion at venice architecture biennale

DAAR receives golden lion at venice architecture biennale 2023 

Venice Architecture Biennale 2023: Over the last 20 years, architects Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti — founders of the artistic practice DAAR — have actively developed research-based projects situated at the intersection of architecture, art, pedagogy, and politics. From art exhibitions to interventions, each work practically engages in the global struggles for justice and equality and the need to challenge dominant collective narratives and offer new socio-political imaginations. Their most recent exhibition at the Arsenale fervently reflects those principles by reproducing a fascist architectural façade — a critical installation that has granted them the Golden Lion Award for best participant. 

DAAR installation at the Arsenale | image © Marco Zorzanello – @marcozorzanello 

critically exploring fascist colonial architecture in sicily 

More specifically, DAAR’s (see more here) contribution to ‘The Laboratory of the Future’ at the Biennale Architettura 2023 investigates the possibilities of critical reappropriation, reuse, and subversion of fascist colonial architecture and its modernist legacy. ‘The work is an attempt to profane the rural settlement of Borgo Rizza (Syracuse, Sicily), built in 1940 by the Ente di Colonizzazione del Latifondo Siciliano (ECLS, Entity of Colonization of Sicilian Latifundia). Its function was to reclaim, modernize, and repopulate Sicily, which the fascist regime considered backward, underdeveloped, and ’empty’. A similar architectural blueprint was adopted by fascist colonial urban planning in Libya, Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia around the same time,’ write Hilal and Petti. 

the project won the Golden Lion award for best participant | image © Andrea Avezzù

a scaled façade reproduction, deconstructed into modules 

Inside the Corderie at the Arsenale, the DAAR installation comes to life as a scaled reproduction of Borgo Rizza’s main building façade, which the architects deconstructed into fifteen multipurpose modules. Since May 2022, these modules have been engaging conversations with different sites across the world — from the Mostra d’Oltremare in Naples to the Hansaviertel district in Berlin and La Loge museum in Brussels. Coated in a vivid terracotta hue, the deconstructed façade modules also serve as seating pieces for visitors to rest on while watching a narrated film projected onto a wall.

The Biennale Architettura 2023 awards took place on Saturday, May 20, at Ca’ Giustinian in Venice. You can check the complete list of winners (Golden Lion, Silver Lion, and Special Mentions) by visiting the Biennale’s website. 

a scaled reproduction of a fascist building façade in Sicily | image © Andrea Avezzù

deconstructing the façade into 15 modules | image © Andrea Avezzù

the installation is accompanied by a film | image © Marco Zorzanello

using the modules as seating | image © designboom

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image © Andrea Avezzù

image © Andrea Avezzù

image © Marco Zorzanello

exhibition info:

location: Corderie, Arsenale, Venice 

exhibition by: DAAR – Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti 

program: 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia | @labiennale

section: Dangerous Liaisons 

Explore designboom’s ongoing coverage of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale: The Laboratory of the Future here, and follow our dedicated channel on Instagram here.