Agency in a Time of Polycrisis
The book accompanies the exhibition Lares and Penates: On Building a Sense of Security in Architecture in the Polish Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.
The creators of the exhibition and co-authors of the publication sought the tools to redefine the role of the architect and architecture in a world of shared uncertainty. Richly illustrated book records and expands their investigations. It begins with a photographic essay by Krzysztof Maniak, a performer who takes readers on a shared exploration of nature, looking for objects of magical potential in the landscape. Architectural historian Aleksandra Kędziorek traces the long path of architectural practices meant to ensure good fortune and ward off bad luck. Philosopher Andrzej Marzec and architect Maciej Siuda weave a tale of interiors and people’s relationships with their surrounding objects; their textual/visual essay is a formal experiment – its content occurs between the text and the image. Cultural anthropologist Olga Drenda looks at practices that have travelled from ‘traditional culture’ to urban reality in Polish society, mainly of peasant origins. Artist Katarzyna Przezwańska presents a piece of her photography archive detailing the connections between architecture, nature, and emotions. The conversation with architect and scholar Tatjana Schneider concerns the sense of agency in the context of a key modern anxiety – the climate catastrophe. The publication is complemented by a catalogue of objects (Atlas of Things) evoked in the exhibition – Slavic ‘lares and penates’ (a reference to household guardian deities in ancient Rome) used in building practices to provide security and a sense of security in architecture.
