“TONNI ago a friend told me that he had gone to Antarctica and that he had been super “interesting”. I wondered why I had used that adjective, I intrigued myself. And there I realized that my ignorance was inversely proportional to the absolute importance of the theme ». The architect Giulia Foscari It is one of us. Or, better, “he was”: from that moment he began to deepen (“has become a passion, an obsession”) and now of ice & pole south knows everything.
A radio station
Not only that: he has transformed knowledge into activism. In 2019 he joined a Ahis study, the “alter ego” Unless: A non-profit agency for change. Then he published Antarctic Resolutionwith photos, cartographies, drawings and 150 essays of experts, making it Open Access (available for free at the link antarctic-resolution.org) and using it as a starting point for a series of exhibitions in the world. Now, a new initiative: Voice of Commonsthe voice of the common goods of humanity. A project for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 (10 May-23 November) which will be located in an gem, the Ticket Office of the Giardini, made by Carlo Scarpa in 1952 and just restored.
What can anticipate?
It will be a sort of “planetary embassy” from which to send a message that we have summarized as follows: “Join the movement to give voice to Antarctica, the ocean, the atmosphere and space. It becomes a guardian of global common goods – for the good of all” (recordings at the link Voice-of-commons.org/open-call, editor’s note). There are four areas outside the national territories, they should be managed in the interest of each species (including animal and vegetable ones) and, instead, there is no structure of governance conceived to guarantee its protection.
Giulia Foscari (Photo Melania Da Grave and Agnese Bedini).
And how it will be articulated, in practice, Voice of Commons?
Consider a radio station from which the conversations that will be held during the Biennale will be transmitted, as well as being used for the recording of Podcast. We will invite you to contribute speaker of 195 countries, from young militants to science or geopolitical experts.
Giulia Foscari and Sylvia Earle
Can someone name?
Johan Rockström, author of the thesis of Planet Boundaries (has identified the environmental limits that we should not exceed to maintain safe living conditions, editor’s note); The biologist Marina Sylvia Earle, nicknamed “Her Deepness”, “His depth”, an amazing eighty -nine year old; Xiye Bastida, a twenty -three -year -old Mexican activist of the indigenous community of otomas; Cormac Cullinan (the supporter of the “rights of nature”: proposes that rivers, forests and other ecosystems have legal rights such as people, editor’s note). We are interested, however, that – together with them – there are ordinary people to testify how much their territory are changing.
The hole of the cloud ozone
Any number, so that the awareness work is more effective?
Antarctica collects 90 percent of the planet’s ice: if the earthly heating continued at the current rhythm and caused their dissolution, the marine raising would be 60 meters. A perhaps apocalyptic vision, yet the liquefaction of those parts already unstable would be enough to have a three -meter raising … it means that the coasts, cities, populations of the whole earth would undergo the impact. A great flood would have as a consequence the most massive migration of history, triggering phenomena that accentuate social inequalities. And there is another aspect to consider.
Which?
Antarctica is a key place to collect useful data to set environmental policies. An example: the discovery of the ozone hole took place there – and only there, with that instrumentation could it took place – and led in 1987 to the signing of the Montreal protocol, the treaty that had as its effect the closure of that hole. We begin to realize that we are the custodians of common goods for the next generations, we begin to take charge of this responsibility and to put the governments under pressure.
Optimism and vulnerability
It is an invitation to radical action, we can no longer delude ourselves that we are virtuous With a diligent separate collection or with energy saving …
You have to become a little activists. The priority must be acting, trying to infect close and distant acquaintances. I have a remarkable optimism, as the name chosen for the agency proves: Unless“unless”. If one is committed, the change takes place. We are an incredible civilization, just want to want it.
She is more optimistic than Carlo Ratti, curator of this biennial entitled Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. “For decades, architecture responded to the climatic crisis by designing to reduce our impact on the climate, but it is no longer enough,” he said, almost resigned. “This is the moment that is passed from mitigation to adaptation: rethinking the way we design in view of a deeply changed world”.
I think they are exercises to be performed in parallel, mitigation and adaptation. Venice is the perfect stage to launch signals: he has the world spotlight on himself. It is a vulnerable city, however it will be the last to end up under water, we will protect it in every way. In the meantime, however, we will lose entire islands-states, entire communities that do not enjoy the same attention.
Venetian DNA
On a psychoanalytic level there will be a relationship between his battle and the Venetian being.
(laughs) Maybe yes: every tide see the water enter and exit, every high tide see the fragility of what we have created. We can use it as a barometer of the climatic gearbox, but also as proof of the possibility of coexistence: lagoon reality is amphibious by nature between the salty sea and the fresh waters, there is to learn … So yes, maybe there is an instinct in my DNA, in both these senses.
Speaking of DNA: does it come from a family of architects?
Yes, and I have always known I want to become an architect. My father was also an architecture historian (Antonio Foscari Widmann Rezzonico, editor’s note), I grew up going around with him and – probably thanks to his specialization – I never split this discipline from his social value, from interpreting it as a mirror of the political climate of the various eras. After the superiors I moved away from home, I was 25 years old to be sure I had the autonomy that I thought it was necessary: my city is as extraordinary as it is small.
And where did he study?
University in Rome, doctorate in London at the AA (the prestigious architectural association School of Architecture, editor’s note): Having Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher as Tutor was an immense gift. Then I moved to Hong Kong: at 26 I immediately had the opportunity of a design chair. In China I worked by Fosters & Partners (founded by the celebrated Norman Foster, editor’s note), but I changed as soon as Rem Koolhaas started the Hongkongian branch of his Oma (Office for Metropolitan Architecture, editor’s note). After a long period I settled in Buenos Aires.
Family trip
What did he push him? It is a “peripheral” capital …
My husband! (laughs) He had an opportunity in South America and I seemed to me to be a wonder to be able to experience a new continent with him and our two children. I was General Manager of Ooma South America, I traveled up and down between Colombia, Chile and Brazil. After three and a half years, we returned to Europe with base in Germany and finally, in 2016, I started Amy architecture studio in Venice.
Why “one”? Is it an acronym?
Ninth! Like: it is generic and specific at the same time, and I had a friend who was called one. We work above all on cultural contexts (collaborations with Anish Kapoor and with Anselm Kiefer, editor’s note). In 2024 we won the Dezeen prize for a biennial pavilion. The recognition that gratified me most? That for Antarctic Resolution: The S+T+Arts Grand Prizeconferred by the European Commission to initiatives that work on the intersection between the arts, science, technology and politics. We recently appeared in the universe of design.
The secret to managing everything together, career-activism-famiglia?
The luck of having real passions and interests: if one really wants one thing, I repeat, he succeeds. And the luck of having a wonderful family that supported me. Very optimism are needed and simply a lot of work.
I woman © RESERVED REPRODUCTION