(Text by Nicola Bozzi)

The similarities between the Architecture and the Art Biennale in Venice are getting more and more evident, but this is not limited to aesthetic intersections like building deconstruction or the invasion of the white cube by contemporary art pieces. Visual artists and architects overlap not only in the public/exhibition space, but in their very design practice.At this year's Biennale, curated by Daniel Birnbaum, there are countless architectural spaces and elements. The pieces by Yona Friedman, Carsten Höller, Liam Gillick, Elmgreen & Dragset are just some of the most famous examples, and obviously there is no lack of relational art, represented by the Rirkrit Tiravanija-designed library at the Giardini and by the brand-new cafeteria signed by Tobias Rehberger, also awarded the Golden Lion as best artist. This building mood is enhanced by the significant presence of the United Arab Emirates, participating in the venetian event for the first time in history with photographic works by artist Lamya Gargash (dealing with architectural spaces), pieces by several national artists and many videos and models illustrating and promoting Dubai and the Emirates as a new growing cultural center. Many other pavilions host artist who tackled gloomy and heterotopic spaces (the french Claude Lévêque) or used design elements to create sculptural volumes (Liam Gillick at the German Pavilion), color (Cildo Meireles at the Arsenale) and movement (Haegue Yang's minimalist constructions, shaken by fans and exhibited at the Korean Pavilion).

Liam Gillick at the German Pavilion. Photo from contemporaryartdaily.com

Haegue Yang at the Korean Pavilion. Photo from contemporaryartdaily.com

But, as the title says, this year's Biennale is about Making Worlds, which implies creating imaginery along with spaces. And so Mark Lewis deconstructs the city as a cinematographic archetype at the Canadian Pavilion, and Shaun Gladwell sets a suggestive motor ride in a metephysical desert in the Australian one.

Shaun Gladwell at the Australian Pavilion. Photo from theartnewspaper.com

Anyway, apart from the many minimalist of organic/chaotic installations shown, conjugating a 60s-flavored attention for space with varying degrees of political commitment, the project itself has gained much attention, in shape of drawing. Utopian visions and realistic proposals have equal exposure at the Biennale, where we find an abundance of notes, schemes and sketches, notational visions foreseeing the realization of environments, devices, possible or impossible futures. Like the Pavel Pepperstein and Marjetica Potrc's works, where the artists traced manifold utopias for sci-fi futures, more or less sustainable, by drawing just a few colored lines and scribbling some notes. World-making is a practice of the mind and drawings channel concepts and create interfaces just as much as physical structures - which might at times result bulky or frivolous - do.

Pavel Pepperstein at the Russian Pavilion. Photo from copyriot.se

Marjetica Potrc at the Arsenale. Photo from comproevendoimmobiliare.typepad.com

Marjetica Potrc at the Arsenale. Photo from 1.bp.blogspot.com