Simple wooden chairs and desks are suspended from the ceiling of one of the Sale d'armi of the Arsenale at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
They look like relics from an old school and contribute to give the space a mysterious and dark mood, but they go pretty well with the main theme of the event – "Reporting from the Front" – since they represent the Amazon forest frontline, as interpreted by the Peruvian Pavilion.
The props included in the space – tables and chairs brought from the Amazonian schools – suggest the impenetrable lushness of the jungle, while this frontline reminds visitors of the constant battles fought here to preserve biodiversity, oxygen production and climate regulation.
Curated by Sandra Barclay and Jean Pierre Crousse, this space features a series of models showing schools in the Amazon forest (exhibitors include Elizabeth Añaños; Sebastián Cillóniz; Claudia Flores; Jose Luis Villanueva; Militza Carrillo, Gino Fernández; Miguel Chávez, Alvaro Echevarría, Alfonso Orbegoso; Karel van Oordt, Daizuke Izumi, Alejandro Torero; Carlos Tamayo; Luis Miguel Hadzich).
Quality of education is still not available to every Peruvian and factors such as birthplace, parents' income and mother tongue can influence life opportunities, so education still has a long way to go in the country.
In the Amazon things are even more evident, with lower levels of learning levels compared to the rest of the country. "The Amazon students have the lowest rate in reading comprehension and maths skills in Peru," a visual installation explains.
Yet things can and must change, also thanks to "Plan Selva", a large scale public program in the Amazon region for the reconstruction of hundreds of schools scattered throughout inaccessible places without services.
This new educational program looks at multiculturalism and fosters native languages: the architecture of these modular schools takes indeed care of geographic, climatic and cultural conditions and respects the Amazonian way of life, restoring dignity to a population that was historically relegated.
Peru therefore fights for the preservation of the Amazon rainforest through education, empowering indigenous communities to be custodians of their own land, while attempting a dialogue in equal terms between the ancestral world of the Amazon and the modern Western vision of this land.
This national participation won a speciel mention with the following motivation "for bringing architecture to a remote corner of the world, making it both a venue for learning as well as a means for preserving the culture of the Amazon".
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Related articles
