Our proposal for the Greek national pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale, questions the role of Architecture in the ongoing exploitation of planet Earth. We imagine a future where Architecture can contribute to maintain and repair our bodies, our selves, our environment. The project promotes beekeeping and provides information on its environmental benefits. Visitors are guided to the back of the locker rooms, where they can wear a protective suit and explore one of the hives. The beehives are located in the main hall of the pavilion, as small chambers that allow the bees to be securely separated from the visitors, providing intimacy without risk. The big chimneys, made from woven straw, connect the chambers directly to the outside. Windows on the walls allow visitors to peek inside the volumes, studying the work of the bees and that of the beekeepers.
With our project we propose a literal and metaphorical cross-border pollination of the Biennale’s Giardini. Bees will be the ambassadors of a non-hierarchical, anti-colonial management of natural resources, pollinating trees around the giardini regardless of identities, and standing as example of a possible future of co-existence of human and non human species. The trans-national honey produced will represent a unique hybrid, made in hyper-specific conditions, yet open to all interpretations and cultural appropriations.