The Garden of Privatised Delights
Virtual Exhibition

British Pavilion for the 17th International Architecture Exhibition
La Biennale di Venezia
Viale Giardini Pubblici, 30122 Venezia VE, Italy

Commissioned by the British CouncilCurated by Madeleine Kessler and Manijeh Verghese: Unscene Architecture

The exhibition explores the privatisation of public space in the UK today, and considers the role that design and architecture can take in supporting a more inclusive future.

Working with five teams of architects, designers and researchers, curators Manijeh Verghese and Madeleine Kessler propose new ideas for ownership of, and access to, privatised public space – from the pub to the playground, common land to the garden square, the high street to facial recognition technology.

Each room within the British Pavilion presents a new model for the future of public space through an immersive installation, designed to engage us in the debate.

'The global pandemic has highlighted the importance of accessible public spaces and made the need to address issues of inequality even more critical. The Garden of Privatised Delights proposes proactive ways in which we can work together towards a more equitable society.' - Madeleine Kessler

'The high street, the pub, even the public toilet, are more under threat than ever before. How public space has traditionally been designed and used needs urgent rethinking, and this exhibition intends to inspire and encourage action to support those challenges.' - Manijeh Verghese

‘Garden of Delights’ is a room in The Garden of Privatised Delights, designed by architectural practice Unscene Architecture

Could we open up garden squares to create more public space?

This room acts as the first and last room in the exhibition. As you enter the British Pavilion, the Garden of Delights appears impossible to access without a key. You see its greenery behind the gates of the square but, unable to enter, you move on to the next room. Having visited the other rooms, you return to the Garden of Delights as the last room in the exhibition.

Inspired by the garden square – a common feature in many British cities, but often highly controlled or locked, and out of bounds to passers-by – Unscene Architecture offer a transformed vision for such a space as an inclusive garden of delights, where you can play, grow produce, cook, work, meet and contemplate.

The past year has highlighted the importance of access to communal outdoor spaces to both our mental and physical health. By removing the railings, and providing productive infrastructure to extend its functionality, Unscene ask if the garden square could be opened up to allow more diverse users and activities. 

‘Publicani’ is a room in The Garden of Privatised Delights, designed by multidisciplinary collective The Decorators

Could the pub become a centre for civic action?

This room features all the familiar elements of a pub, or public house – a pillar of British culture. The bar, carpet, décor and even karaoke tell a hidden story of re-use and reinvention.

Since the 17th century, pubs have provided public indoor spaces for chance encounters and organised gatherings. Despite occupying such a cherished place in British culture, the pub has always been a highly contested and closely regulated space and is now facing rapid decline.

More than a quarter of the UK’s pubs have closed their doors since the turn of the millennium, with even more being forced to close over the past year due to the global pandemic and associated national and local lockdowns across the country.

Through ‘Publicani’, The Decorators ask if communities can imagine new models of ownership and use to reinstate the pub as a place of sanctuary and resistance, and in turn expand who this British institution is for.

‘Ministry of Collective Data’ is a room in The Garden of Privatised Delights designed by architecture and design practice Built Works

Could we free our collective data for public benefit?

In this room, Built Works explore if we can rethink facial recognition technology and free our collective data for public benefit.

On entering the room, visitors are presented with two options:

• 'Walk right and surrender your data.'

• 'Walk left and conceal yourself for the sake of personal anonymity.'

If they choose to walk right, they give express consent to share their data and participate as a citizen in the digital city. The room will record the visitor's mood, behaviour and likeness, and display a unique interactive avatar – born from each consenting visitor's biometric data and behaviour – to exist in a public data space. If the visitor chooses to walk left, their data and identity will be concealed.

In a world that is more reliant than ever on digital technology, Built Works are proposing a new public digital space with fair, transparent and consent-based systems. This offers all citizens the access to their collective data and agency over how it is used.

‘High Street of Exchanges’ is a room in The Garden of Privatised Delights designed by social enterprise practice Studio Polpo

Could the high street become a place of diverse social exchange?

This room invites you to imagine the high street as an infrastructure of mutuality, care and civic action.

An interactive ATM draws attention to non-commercial transactions already present in the shops, backrooms, thresholds, cafés and pavements. Meanwhile, fragments of high streets in Sheffield (a city in South Yorkshire, England) – a hairdressers, a library, a pay-as-you-feel café – offer insights into social activities and interactions that exist beyond the commercial. These exchanges form the starting point for a series of spatial propositions for community-led developments within high streets across the UK.

The pandemic has exacerbated inequalities, making visible a crisis in care. However, it has also led to communities self-organising to provide mutual aid on their local high streets. With declining wages and the domination of retail by multinationals that contribute little to local economies, social enterprise practice Studio Polpo argue that the current simplistic model for the high street is socially and economically unsustainable.

Through their room, they seek to highlight the crucial role the high street can play in cities and towns across the UK, beyond shopping and consuming.

‘Ministry of Common Land’ is a room in The Garden of Privatised Delights, designed by Public Works, a not-for-profit critical design practice

Can we develop new strategies for land ownership and use?

This room calls for architects to challenge the enclosure of land for the profit of the few, and innovate in new forms of practice to make this possible.

Inside, visitors will discover the findings of the ministry’s first people’s assembly. Current and future propositions for land ownership are performed on banners across the walls, alongside symbolic architectural elements designed to support the ministry and its position in society.

Through their installation, Public Works ask how land could move away from being a market commodity to be reimagined as a resource for the long-term protection of people and the planet.

We talked to Public Works when they first came up with the concept in 2020, and then spoke to them again in April 2021 to see how the pandemic had made them reflect on their concept. Below, you can watch the original interview when we first interviewed them about their concept in 2020.

‘Play with(out) Grounds’ is a room in The Garden of Privatised Delights, designed by architecture practice vPPR

Can we design new spaces in the city for teenagers to occupy on their own terms?

Too old for the playground, too broke for the café, too young for the pub... Teenagers are often ignored in the design of public spaces.

The marginalisation of teenagers has been exacerbated by the pandemic, and young people now have even fewer places to go: schools and youth centres are closed or highly restricted and space at home is often limited.

‘Play with(out) Grounds’ references both a playground for young children and the adult world depicted in Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych, The Garden of Earthly Delights. The structure in the room acts as a framework for a soundscape of audio interviews with young people from diverse backgrounds, allowing ignored voices of teenagers to be heard.

Alluding to the contradictions of public life faced by this ‘in-between’ age group, the installation allows for interpretation and appropriation in its use, and asks if we can we change the way teenagers experience public space.

‘To-i-let’ is a hidden ‘extra’ room in The Garden of Privatised Delights, designed by Unscene Architecture

Can we repurpose disused public toilets in new and surprising ways?

To-i-let reveals a toilet in the basement of the British Pavilion. Usually private and inaccessible, it has been opened up and put on display.

Public toilets are rapidly disappearing around the UK. Blighted by concerns over antisocial behaviour or sold off by councils, there is a lack of access to clean, safe toilets in convenient locations, leading to inequality and social exclusion. Without public toilets, people are denied an essential service – either forced to stay close to home, pay to use a toilet, or use the street itself as a toilet. Over the past year, the sudden closure of toilets in pubs, parks and cafés has kept many on a urinary leash.

Through this room, Unscene Architecture ask how we can improve access to underutilised facilities to create a network of publicly accessible toilets, allowing everyone the freedom to explore public space.

Find out more: britishcouncil.org
From 22nd May 2021 to 21st November 2021

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