ARK Re-Imagined at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale

1 September 2021 | Ark Re-imagined National Pavilion

Rashad Salim presented Ark Re-imagined, Iraq’s first ever national pavilion, at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale. The pavilion ran from May to November 2021 and included a programme of workshops, installations, films, live events, journeys, a global communications campaign, and a central exhibition at TBA21-Academy’s Ocean Space. Without funding from the Artists Response Fund, the pavilion would not have happened. The pavilion engaged artisans across Iraq to revive and document what remains of traditional boatbuilding, architecture, and craft practices – employing the concept of the ark as a vehicle for cross-cultural collaboration and artistic interventions in communities facing urgent challenges, exacerbated by COVID-19, of trauma, loss of identity, and isolation.