Francelle Cane and Marija Marić selected as curators of the Luxembourg Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023.
Francelle Cane and Marija Marić’s project “Down to Earth” was unanimously selected by the jury to represent the Luxembourg Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice.
The project takes a critical look at the topic of space mining and raises the question of the resources of the earth and lunar soils at different scales. The project opens a discussion about the establishment of new frontiers of resource extraction and displacement of environmental degradation and reflects the neo-colonial imperatives of the current neo-liberal mining economies.
“(…) The wild fantasies of acquisition-driven growth have literally crossed the boundaries of the earth. the moon itself—requires urgent consideration of whether the impact of this shift on our understanding of land, resources, and commons, both on Earth and beyond, will “pioneer the exploration and exploitation of space resources,” appears Luxemburg, herself a formerly on Iron mining and steel production based economy as an important starting point for this debate.” —Excerpt from the project “Down to Earth” by Francelle Cane and Marija Marić.
Francelle Cane is an architect, researcher and curator based in Luxembourg. She is a PhD student at the Chair of Urban Renewal at the University of Luxembourg. Her practice focuses on transversal and multidisciplinary research activities linked to the question of ruin: she advocates a critical approach to spatial design and focuses on themes such as late capitalism, spatial politics or the human-modified landscape. She curated and designed exhibitions such as The world as a pavilion. Vjenceslav Richter (2020) and Enter the modern landscape (2019), held at the Bozar, Brussels. In 2019 she was co-curator Dierendonckblancke. PRACTICE those on the XII. presented at the São Paulo International Architecture Biennale.
Marija Maric is a Luxembourg-based architect and researcher. She works as a postdoctoral researcher in the Master’s program in Architecture at the University of Luxembourg. In 2020 she received her doctorate from the Institute for History and Theory of Architecture (gta), ETH Zurich, with her work on the role of communication strategists in the mediation, design and globalization of urban space. Her research focuses on questions related to architecture, real estate, media and the production of the built environment and their imaginations in the context of global capitalism and the global flow of information.
The jury
–Michelle Friederici, President of the Order of Architects and Consulting Engineers of Luxembourg
–Cécile Fries-Paiola, architect, sociologist and lecturer at the National School of Architecture of Nancy
–Claudine Hemmer, Advisor for Fine Arts and Architecture, Ministry of Culture Luxembourg
–Nikolaus Hirsch, Artistic Director of CIVA, Brussels
–Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Studio SNCDA – Architect and curator of the Luxembourg Pavilion 2021
–Guittou Muller, architect and representative of LUCA
–Hélène Doub, representative of Culture|lx
That Ministry of Culture LuxembourgCommissioner of the Luxembourg Pavilion Culture|lx – Art Council Luxembourg to organize the selection of the winner and to produce the exhibition, in collaboration with LUCA – Luxembourg Center for Architecture.
