“We want people to become aware of nature again.” The words of Francis Kéré, famous African architect awarded with the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2022they tell a good part of the 23rd International Exhibition of Triennale Milano. By title Unknown Unknowns, this important appointment of Design and Architecture chooses to go to the origins of our unconscious, making it the protagonist “what we don’t know we don’t know“.
Among these things are our roots, the spaces we live in, nature and the materials that surround us. Francis Kéré for the exhibition, he created four installations on the images and voices of continent of Africa: «Inside me I feel I am divided into two parts. There is a person who has won many awards, and then there is me, Francis Kéré who cares about his family in Africa, who has the task of creating spaces where people can be happy ».
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The Exhibition, from 15 July to 11 Decemberbrings together exhibitions and projects from more than 40 countries, including six national pavilions dedicated to Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burkina Faso, Francis Kéré’s country of origin.
Among the projects curated by the architect a 12 meter high tower at the entrance to the Triennale, decorated with traditional Burkina Faso motifs and with the aim of exploring and rediscovering materials; the wall Drawn Together to co-create with visitors; installation Yesterday’s Tomorrow which explores the techniques of the past that have allowed us to arrive at today’s results. “The meaning is that what we have achieved so far shapes your life tomorrow. All technologies do not come from nothing, they are the result of past experiences ”, explains the architect.
The installation is also curated by Francis Kéré Under a Coffee Treecreated in collaboration with Triennale e Lavazza Group: a large tree of pure wood to remind those who stop for a break in the Caffè Triennale, that «every time you drink a coffee, there is a very small plant and seed behind it. If you don’t take care of it today, you won’t have a coffee tomorrow, ”as Kéré says. “The work interprets with immediacy and power the social role that the coffee ritual has always played, capable of creating moments of encounter and dialogue between people, as well as inclusion and exchange between different cultures”, he adds Francesca LavazzaBoard Member of the Group.
In the contemporary tide of greenwashingthe International Exhibition is an opportunity to give a new meaning to sustainability, far from commercial logic. “I’m not talking about sustainability. It is useless to seek or imitate it, for me it should be in ours dna. I’m tired of hearing about sustainability only in appearance, to do marketing. In my works I try to capture everything from nature to make the most of it. I’m not talking about sustainability, I do it “. Francis Kéré uses his personal perspective to fit into the logic of today’s design, and adds: «We can talk about materials, the idea behind them, the way you use them and the way you recycle them. But sustainability is above all the way in which spaces are experienced, the way humanity uses it“.
Source: Vanity Fair
