Lithuanian Pavilion in Venice

ADVERTISEMENT

Opened in May, the Lithuanian pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale continues to draw visitors eager to join in forming a “Planet of People”. Located in the unused Church of Santa Maria dei Derelitti, the fictional Lithuanian Space Agency (LSA), founded by artist Julijonas Urbonas, invites visitors to become part of an astrophysical simulation as their bodies converge into a new celestial object, “a planet of people”.

The installation, designed by architects Ona Lozuraitytė and Petras Išora, looks like a temporary research base set up on another planet. At the centre of the Planet of People installation is a 3D scanner that scans visitors and “sends” them into space as animated simulations. As more and more people participate over the course of the trial run in Venice, the scanned bodies begin to form an extraterrestrial planet.

The number of visitors now exceeds 40,000. The installation has been praised by the biennale’s visitors for the thought-provoking idea behind it. The exhibition in Venice will run until November 21.