The Baltic Pavilion is an initiative of the joint Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian project team to represent Lithuania for the first time at the International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia 2016. Project is organised by „Architektūros Fondas“.

Recent geopolitical processes create a sense of urgency for initiating new spatial practices that unite the region of Baltic states and beyond, underpinning the European project. The Liquid Gas Terminal in Klaipėda, the Independence Ship and the Rail Baltica project are all examples of this new architecture. It impacts on the possibilities of the built environment to its full extent. Policies become inscribed into sequential infrastructures and material assemblies that reprogram built space. 

In the light of the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch, the developments in this region will be envisioned as non-linear stratigraphy. The pavilion exposition and its related events will be presented as an architectural section through Baltic space, actively re-configured in the background of contemporary challenges. A question is raised: how could the tools that architects operate enhance the processes unifying this inert region?

The project will cultivate a wide ecology of spatial practices that operate in a multitude of modes in the wider regional context, undefined geographically by the borders of the three separate nation states. Invited artists, photographers, architects, architecture researchers, writers and organisations will participate in a series of publications, discussion programs and the creation of the exposition.

The objective of the Baltic Pavilion is to identify new briefs and consequential directions of Baltic architecture in a public forum, giving exposure to the international public and architecture community. 

Following the support of the Lithuanian Culture Council, the project continues its development, the next significant milestones being Latvian and Estonian competitions for national pavilions at the International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia 2016. 

Project team:

Karlis Berzins

Jurga Daubaraitė

Petras Išora

Ona Lozuraitytė

Niklavs Paegle

Dagnija Smilga

Johan Tali

Laila Zarina

Jonas Žukauskas

The Baltic Pavilion is supported by Lithuanian Council for Culture