On May 26, the global architectural community will turn its eyes to Venice, where the 2018 Biennale of Architecture will open, showcasing the flagship architectural installations from dozens of nations in the historic Giardini di Castello and Arsenale locations. This year, while Canada?s pavilion in the Giardini nears the end of its reconstruction, the Canadian team, led by architect Douglas Cardinal (O.C., FRAIC), will install its exhibition, titled UNCEDED: Voices of the Land, to exhibit for the course of the six-month international exhibition. Announced in November in the Year of Reconciliation, the choice of Cardinal?a Dene architect from the Anishinaabe Nation?is a natural one. After gaining national fame in the late 1960s for designing St. Mary?s Roman Catholic Church in his hometown of Red Deer, Alberta, Cardinal designed several international landmarks, including the 1989 Museum of History in Ottawa and the conceptual design for the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., completed in 2004. Through dozens of other projects of every size and genre, Cardinal has embedded his Indigenous values in his work. In the foyer of the First Nations University of Canada, which he completed in Regina in 2003.
In Venice, the UNCEDED installation will showcase an ambitious array of Indigenous architecture. Co-curated by Gerald McMaster and David Fortin, the project team includes exhibiting Indigenous architects and artists Ryan Gorrie, Jake Chakasim, Wanda Dalla...