“Ecologies in Motion” is the name of the exhibition of the Chilean initiative, led by Gonzalo Carrasco and Beals Lyon Architects. Seeds are the sustenance and the main basis of life on earth, says the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). With this premise it is not surprising that under the slogan ‘The Laboratory of the Future’, the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – the Venice Biennale 2023 – Chile has decided to be present with the pavilion “Ecologies in Motion”. With the ecology and landscape advice of Cristobal Elgueta and Macarena Calvo and the art direction of Belén Salvatierra, architect and academic Gonzalo Carrasco together with Beals Lyon Arquitectos, presented the initiative that addresses how in the original project of Quinta Normal in Santiago, “architecture and science made it possible to imagine the future of a country that was entering modernity in the 19th century”. Part of the objectives of the exhibition are the current challenges around the repair and ecological restoration with the study of soil recovery processes through endemic seeds. Among the samples that will be exhibited in Venice until November of this year are seeds from the Las Salinas Plant Laboratory, an initiative that aims to recover native species from the Valparaiso Region for use in urban environments. The sample consists of the species Alstroemeria ligtu marticorenae and other species from other sectors of the region such as Baccharis Concava (Quillota), Escallonia Pulverulenta (La Dormida), Haplopappus Foliosus (Quillota), and Eryngium Paniculatum (La Ligua). “It is important to emphasize that this project, along with the others in the exhibition, show the future possibilities that architecture has if it collaborates with other disciplines such as the life sciences. Moving from thinking about the work to thinking about the process, from individuals to ecological communities and from individual to collaborative work. This message has been very well received by those attending the Biennial, who find in the Chilean pavilion a path of hope for the important challenges we face, both human and other species, towards the future,” explains Gonzalo Carrasco from Venice. For his part, the development manager of Las Salinas, Ricardo Labarca, points out that “we are very proud to have been able to take the learning from the Plant Laboratory to such an important event as the biennial, as it is a great opportunity that we have as a region and as a country to highlight the benefits of the use of native vegetation in public spaces in cities, which contributes to specific issues such as saving water and attracting pollinators, but also allows us to highlight the natural heritage of a place, which is fundamental for conceiving a more sustainable future”. Our country is internationally recognized for its richness in biological and ecosystemic diversity, having a wide variety of native flora. Endemic seeds have the characteristic of acclimatizing to the specific conditions of their natural environment, whether the type of soil, climate or amount of water present, which helps to maintain the ecological balance and protect endangered species.
In addition, by nature they are adapted to local climatic and environmental conditions, so they could be a key tool to combat climate change, since native seeds are more likely to survive and thrive in extreme conditions, such as droughts or heavy rains, which contributes to crop resilience and food security. Along the same lines, Gonzalo points out that “within the general framework of the exhibition entitled ‘Laboratory of the Future,’ we work on the argument that the future is not a point or goal to reach, nor a line of progress or evolution, but a field. One of collaborative relationships between species, between seeds and architectures, cities and ecologies, in order to remediate, repair and restore damaged ecosystems in Chile. Stories of the future told by each of these seeds that have been used in 14 landscape architecture projects”. The biennial’s theme, inspired by the work of Lesley Lokko, a Ghanaian architect, academic and novelist who is also the curator of the event’s exhibition, on “Africa as the laboratory of the future,” seeks to provide new definitions for the future and invites “architects and professionals from a broad field of creative disciplines to draw examples from their contemporary practices that chart a way forward, imagining for themselves what the future may hold.
