14 September – 23 November 2008

 

Supergarden is the Singapore Pavilion at the 11th Architecture International Biennale in Venice, 2008. Drawing from but ultimately challenging the image of the manicured ‘garden city’ to which Singapore is often aligned, Supergarden cultivated an altogether more unruly but intriguing entanglement of interdisciplinary design ideas. The pavilion presented Singapore design culture at a pivotal juncture when the architectural profession was openly questioning and redefining its aesthetic, professional and intellectual boundaries in relation to other design fields including art, film. graphic and product designs. Supergarden showcased such patterns of creative association, experimentation and collaboration. The main focus was a large table which displayed 22 different objects created by architects and designers. Each object was accompanied by a recorded conversation documenting conversations between the creator of the object with other designers whose works were also displayed on the table. Specially constructed sound domes hovered above the audience, and created a cacophonous banter of design conversations. The pavilion hosted an estimated number of 100,000 visitors.