VOICE OF COMMONS

In Venice — a vulnerable city acutely exposed to climate risk — Voice of Commons broadcasts from its Planetary Embassy: the 1952 Biennale ticket office designed by Carlo Scarpa, restored and reactivated after decades of disrepair.Each day of the Biennale, the Embassy represents a different nation-state, stateless nation, or Indigenous community, broadcasting the voices of their representatives as they Speak Up for the Global Commons. Alongside these human voices, non-human voices of Antarctica, the Ocean, the Atmosphere, and Outer Space envelope the space in a soundscape suspended “on air” within the Atmospheric Commons.

The Planetary Embassy unfolds as a distributed pavilion — breaking the boundary of the La Biennale, and forming a democratic space of in-between-ness. The Embassy unfolds as a constellation of three spatial episodes: the Broadcasting Capsule — a confessional-scale interior that doubles as the Voice of Commons Voting Chamber; the Listening Chamber — a space for planetary attunement and deep listening; and the Global Commons Beacon — grafted onto Scarpa’s spaceship, the antenna transmits scientific data and urgent planetary messages, turning the spotlight from the Venice Lagoon to the Planet.

Voice of Commons is a project launched by Giulia Foscari / UNA-UNLESS. With the Patronage of UNESCO, the United Nations Ocean Decade, and the European Space Agency (ESA), Voice of Commons is championed by its Ambassadors Johan Rockström, Sylvia Earle, and Xiye Bastida, and supported by an exceptional Advisory Council, including: Carlo Barbante, Antje Boetius, Francesca Bria, Simonetta Cheli, Klaus Dodds, Martin Frick, Eva Franch i Gilabert, Markus Reymann, Jessy Kate Schingler, and Patricia Urquiola.

The initiative counts on the committed engagement of its Partners — the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, COPx, LAS Art Foundation, Open Lunar Foundation, and TBA21–Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary — and on the generous support of its Donors and Supporters, including Cassina, Artemide, Lavazza Group, Ursula Stein, Fondazione Bonotto, and Lineadacqua. The project also benefits from the valued contributions and in-kind collaboration of its Technical Supporters: NeonLauro, Paper Factor, and Slalom.
Featured in the Pavilion are: two outdoor benches designed by Patricia Urquiola for Cassina in dialogue with Carlo Scarpa’s unrealized seating; seatings by Charlotte Perriand and Virgil Abloh, produced by Cassina; lighting designed by Carlotta de Bevilacqua, produced by Artemide; and, the Global Commons Tapestry — a woven planetary section designed by Giulia Foscari and realized by master weaver Giovanni Bonotto using satellite imagery from the European Space Agency. The Pavilion’s only living element — the plants — become vessels for the voices of the Commons and beyond, animated by hidden speakers.