2016

La Biennale Di Venezia

Official South African Pavilion

Overall view

The prestigious La Biennale di Venezia gives participating countries the opportunity to take part in contemporary architecture discourse. This year’s theme, ‘Reporting from the Front‘, invites architectural practitioners to give accounts of innovative current activities that deal with real-world matters. The South African Pavilion, located in the Arsenale, a thirteenth-century building in the Venice dockyards, features works of the 2014 Cool Capital initiative.

Based in Pretoria, the Cool Capital initiative is the world’s first Uncurated DIY Guerrilla Biennale. It aims to improve the urban environment through design and art interventions in the public realm. The intent is to foster a new relationship with the city by encouraging an active citizenry.

The design of the pavilion had to take into account the restrictions of working in a heritage building. The architects decided to free up the space previously divided by dry-walling and embrace the raw nature of the existing interior. The entrance was enlarged so that the staircase leads directly into the exhibition space. In contrast to most exhibitions, natural light is welcomed, and views to the exterior are encouraged to place the pavilion in the context of the Venetian landscape.

Various murals portray iconic projects that demonstrate the objectives of Cool Capital. These include the Voortrekker Monument lit in pink – an example of an iconic landmark that can adapt to remain relevant in a changing realm; Diane Victor working on a dust drawing in the TPA Building; a graphic of Pretoria’s plan by Eric Duplan; and a documented land art project, a joint venture of artists Ke Neil We, Banele Khoza and children of the Mamelodi East Community. Cardboard replicas of the Koeksister and Logo benches represent the successful public bench project. The Cool Capital lights, which travelled to various city events, are suspended on the wall opposite the entrance.

Suspended from the roof beams, the focal sculpture by Rina Stutzer is in dialogue with the industrial landscape of the Venice waterfront beyond the room’s perimeter. The sculpture draws visitors to the centre of the exhibition towards a theatre of hand-painted chairs featuring the Cool Capital documentary DorpStad. As a collective, the chairs themselves are a miniature portrait celebrating life in Pretoria.

Mathews and Associates Architects cc is an award winning architectural and design practice which was formed in November 2000. Our practice consists of Pieter J Mathews as lead architect supported by a dynamic team of colleagues and support staff. As a dynamic and innovative company we understand the importance of technology. Our office is fully equipped with the latest graphics, construction sharing and architectural 3-D software on the market. Our numerous awards bear testimony to our skills and talent. Herewith a list of projects undertaken Publications

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Pieter J Mathews was born in Lichtenburg Northwest province where he matriculated in 1985 (head boy). He obtained his degree in Architecture at the University of Pretoria (1991), receiving the prestigious Gold Fields of South Africa Scholarship for Architecture. He completed part of his practical training in London, after which he travelled extensively around the globe. He is principal of Mathews & Associates Architects cc based in Pretoria. Mathews and Associates Architects cc have received numerous awards and their projects have been published in many local and overseas publications with the latest being the prestigious PHAIDON Atlas (electronic), Arch Daily (electronic), UK Guardian and the official 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale catalogue. The latter was a result of his appointed by the Department of Arts and Culture as curator for the official South African Pavilion at the 15th Architecture Biennale Venice. Other biennale participation includes Sao Paulo Brazil (as part of Sharp City), Miami Beach USA 2005 and the 2012 Venice Biennale (Traces of centuries & Future steps). He was the President of the Pretoria Institute for Architecture (PIA) 2013/2014, ex board member of SAIA (South African Institute of Architects) and Cool Capital 2014 and 2016 Biennale founder and convener. The PIA President’s Award was bestowed on him in 2005 & 2014 for his book Architexture and Cool Capital respectively. He received the University of Pretoria Department of Architecture Boukunde Zero Hour recognition (edition 3) in 2012. He was elected member of the “Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns” in 2014. In 2018 Mathews was honoured by die ‘Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns’ with the Medal of Honour Visual Art (Architecture). This prestigious award has only been awarded to 20 architects since the establishment of the foundation in 1909. Pieter created Visual Books, an imprint of Mathews and Associates Architects as a bespoke architectural and design publishing house. Visual books and Mathews have published - Detail Housed and Architexture, edited the PIA Contemporary Capital publication and is publishing manager for Construction Primer by Hans Wegelin. He co-edited #Cool Capital Catalogue in 2015 with Carla Taljaard and acted as editor of the 2017 Cool Capital Guerrilla Design Magazine. (Both publications were exhibited at the Austrian Vienna Take festival 2017 to showcase the best international independent design publications). In 2017, Saadjies was released with an Afrikaans iteration in the works. Public speaking engagements included the PIA Idea conference in 2016, TEDxPretoria 2016, various student congresses with the last being keynote speaker at the AZA 2016 conference held at the University of the Witwatersrand. In 2016 Pieter was invited by the Danish curator to take part in a panel discussion at the La Biennale di Venezia. In 2017 was a guest speaker at the Attractions Africa conference hosted by Tourism South Africa in 2017. He is also the founding member of MG Design Box (interior design boutique), Visual Books (architecture publishing house) and the Cool Capital Biennale (a citizen driven initiative with the aim to bring design into the public domain). The Cool Capital project was a finalist in the 2015 Loerie Ubuntu awards and BASA winner Innovation for the PPC public benches project. The Saadjies travelling art collection received a BASA award in 2017. He was executive producer for the documentary film “DorpStad” unwrapping a Cool Capital which premièred in 2015 at the Sax Theatre Irene. Dorpstad (ENABA) was selected for the Hilversum Scenecs Film festival in the Netherlands and one of three documentary finalists for the 2016 Kyknet Silwerskerm film fees. Other related creative interests include furniture design, product design, and the curation of urban art. The latest urban functional art project was commissioned by the Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust for a bicycle stand in 2018 in front of the Skuinshuis and the old synagogue in Stellenbosch. Other commissions included Southern Guild foundation, Concrete Growth as well as House & Leisure- Absolute Vodka for designing various bespoke pieces. Sculpture is another of his keen interests: he successfully completed two sculpture courses in 2010 at the Fried Contemporary, followed by an exhibition in 2011 at the Association of Arts Pretoria called Form, Scrap & Order. Art curation in the urban domain is another of his fortes. In 2014 Mathews and Associates Architects with Pieter as curator was appointed by SANRAL (SOC) Pty Ltd and the City of Tshwane to curate public artworks for the A RE Yeng TRT bus stations. 11 of these public sculpture and artworks have already been installed throughout the city. Appointment as curator for the 2016 Aardklop kunstefees followed. The Saadjies exhibition was selected to be showcased at the North West University Alumni Hall, as part of a travelling exhibition. The Saadjies project has received the BASA award in 2017. As an outflow of his belief that art, architecture and sculpture should be in constant dialogue, Mathews and Associates Architects cc have been appointed to design the new Javett Art Centre at UP that would cross Lynnwood road. This major gallery, museum, restaurant and auditorium complex would place art in the core of the public domain with a bridge gallery linking North and South Campuses. As research component for this major undertaking he was invited in 2013 to form part of a UP study group to the USA, organized by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation to visit various Museums and gallery buildings. These included the Yale University Art Gallery, Zimmerli Art Museum, Princeton University Art Museum, The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University, Grey Art Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum. Pieter is currently completing his Master of Architecture with specialisation in Design at the University of the Free State. Pieter is married to Ami and they have two boys Gian and Kyle. Publications