Sverre Fehn’s Venice pavilion drawings to be shown for the first time

Sverre Fehn’s original drawings for the Nordic Pavilion in Venice will be presented alongside Ferruzzi’s gorgeous black-and-white photographs of the building. The exhibition Venice: Fehn’s Nordic Pavilion will be on display 20 June–31 December 2014 at the National Museum – Architecture.

In 1958 the Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn, at the age of thirty-four, won the competition to design the Nordic Pavilion for the Venice Biennale. The building was completed in 1962 and earned Fehn international acclaim.

The exhibition presents original material related to the pavilion, such as sketches, competition drafts, and preparatory drawings. The exhibited drawings and the photos by Ferruzzi have been culled from Fehn’s personal archives, which were incorporated in the National Museum’s collections in 2008.

The exhibition also features publications that write about the pavilion, as well as information about the architecture competition in 1958 and the pavilion’s usage since 1962.

The exhibition’s curator is Eva Madshus.

Events

• Fehn and Venice (in Norwegian): lecture by Professor Per Olaf Fjeld, Thursday 4 September, 17:00.
  
• Two Fehn Pavilions (in Norwegian): exclusive guided tour of the National Museum – Architecture by the architect Martin Dietrichson and the curator Eva Madshus, Oslo Culture Night, Friday 12 September, 19:00 and 20:00.
• The Venice Biennale and Fehn’s Pavilion (in Norwegian): symposium with papers by Katya Garcia-Antón, director of the OCA (Office for Contemporary Art Norway); Nina Berre, director of architecture at the National Museum; Eva Madshus, senior curator at the National Museum; and Andrea Kroksnes, curator at the National Museum. The symposium will be held Thursday 20 November, 17.00–20.00, at the National Museum – Architecture.

Please note that pre-registration is required for the lecture and the symposium.

The world’s premier exhibition of architecture
The exhibition takes place simultaneously with the Architecture Biennale in Venice, which is regarded as the most important showing of international architecture.

In 2014 the National Museum will serve as curator and project manager for the Nordic Pavilion, a responsibility that alternates between Finland, Sweden, and Norway. This year’s exhibition has been given the title FORMS OF FREEDOM: African Independence and Nordic Models. The exhibition will investigate and document how modern Nordic architecture became an integral part of Nordic aid to East Africa during the 1960s and 1970s, and presents architectural projects that were developed during these brief, hectic years and that have been largely overlooked ever since.

EXHIBITION OPENING
Thursday 19 June, 17:00, at the National Museum – Architecture.

Press contact: Eva Engeset (e-mail: eva.engeset@nasjonalmuseet.no, tel.: + 0047 469 50 102).