the shape of things to come? Ireland at Venice and Hanover 2000

Niamh Ann Kelly

Every year the Eurovision Song Contest initiates local and national competitions allover Europe, new talents and older talents vie each other for the chance to sing in the name of their country. Perhaps of more significance in recent times is the fact that the contest has become an interesting monitor of the changing face of Europe, not in terms of musical developments ( the contest hardly ever reflects the contemporary musical output of any country ), but rather it openly declares what country has recently joined the European definition of a nation. The selection of a musical act and its presentation on the night of what is probably Europe's cheesiest music event, is ultimately a proud national declaration, a celebration of inclusion in the European club.

International exhibitions are similarly inclined, rarely accurate reflections of contemporary design, they are instead, firstly confident statements of national pride and secondly, in the words used by the director of this year's Venice Architectural Biennale, Massimiliano Fuksas, 'laboratories' of contemporary thought. It's over one and a half centuries since the first Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, when London's purpose.built Crystal Palace housed the trade show that spawned the basic template for the contemporary biennales and international expositions. Since then, these international exhibitions have developed in sophistication of design and specialization of medium. Still in many sense trade shows that function as publicity opportunities for products of nations, international exhibitions have changed little in form since the exhibitions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One distinct alteration, however, is in the concept definition of the content, now defined by the assertive pride with which a national pavilion is claimed. Having shaken off colonial representations, free nations are at liberty to erect or inhabit a pavilion. Unfortunately, with respect to international architecture, it has taken Ireland quite some time to achieve the necessary confidence to seize these opportunities to display the freedom of expression that these shows are all about.

This year's Architecture Biennale in Venice was delineated in theme by Fuksas' title 'City: Less Aesthetics, More Ethics'. The use of such an abstract concept to define the pavilions determines that international exhibitions have moved on in intent since colonial times when countries were definition enough for exhibitions. But how relevant is Fuksas' theme to the actual displays ? The phrase is certainly wide open to a multitude of interpretations. The notion of the city is a rapidly changing and contentious one. In Ireland, cities are growing rapidly, reaching into the countryside, with housing estates situated outside the cityscape but directly connected to it by its commuters and the roads they travel. The city now has no limits and country roads are fast becoming a threatened memory: the potential is apparent for the country to become a city.

Ireland's pavilion in Venice was submitted by Tom de Paor and titled N³. It consisted of an oratory. like space constructed of peat briquettes, devised internally in the shape of an N. From the outside its shape was reminiscent of Gallarus Oratory. N is cubed in the titled to facilitate the piece's multi-layered meaning: N is for St Nicholas de Myra ( aka Santa Claus) who lived near Venice and from beside whose church in Dublin the briquettes came, N is for the pavilion's northern orientation and N is for the shape of the floorplan. The interior presented three intimate corridors with a single seat, presumably suggestive of solitary contemplation.

It was like a confessional, it was like a unit, it was like an enclosure, it was like an enclosed meditation garden: it was a hut made of briquettes. The briquettes were left to the city of Venice, a city that is famously lacking in land. In many respects N³, whether intentional or not, is a concise embodiment of the biennale's theme with distinct consideration of Ireland's own altering societal formations. The modification of briquettes into what de Paor has described as an 'intelligent structure' astutely reflects a critical point in Ireland's changing landscape, as property fast becomes the chief currency of Irish socio-economic life. Turf is land, briquettes are fuel and N³ is a construction of both.

Meanwhile in Hanover, at the Expo 2000 Architectural and Interpretative Design Competition, the Irish Pavilion is called Dul. The exhibition structure was designed by Orna Hanley in collaboration with Murray O'Laoire architects. The broad theme of this competitions encompassed 'humankind, nature and technology'. The Dul project was centred on the idiom of the Irish stonewall, combining found stone with polished Kilkenny limestone. The word dul is an early Irish word that refers to 'created thing' or 'creature element'. This project was cited by its assessing panel as having been chosen for its 'strong linear organisation of plan, which facilitated easy access and its clear circulation pattern'. In other words, it was a suitably designed structure that the visitor could enter and leave with maximum ease and oPti,mum speed. It was a space designed to pass through, quickly, In sharp contrast to N3 which seemed intended for slower more contemplative passage.

These two Irish pavilions seem closer to realizations of abstract ideas than they are functional spaces. As part of greater laboratories, neither of these structures directly reflect contemporary architecture in Ireland as such and nor do they seek to, but rather they point to the possibilities of Irish materials, means, methods and meanings. If 'less aesthetics, more ethics' is in fact indicative of the future of international city architecture, than Ireland may well find herself more looked at than looking, given the current extensive re-definition of Irish cities. While N3 was deconstructed and given to Venice and the fate of Dul is yet to be witnessed, let's not forget the suggestion integral to both of these pavilions. Unlike many previous structures for international exhibitions, these were not just shells for ideas but conceptual representations of a moment in Ireland's regeneration and perhaps intimate the potential expression of Ireland's future form.

Niamh Ann Kelly is a lecturer and writer based in Dublin.