MK521

Location: The Nordic Pavilion, Venice, Italy

Year: 2012

Status: Built

Client: The National Museum - Architecture

Photo Credit: manthey kula

MK521 was a sound installation for Venice Biennale 2012, the 50th anniversary of Sverre Fehn’s Nordic pavilion.

The project had two sources: The ffictional dialogue between Sverre Fehn and Andrea Palladio written by Fehn in 1964. and the module of 521 millimeters that Fehn made use of in the design of the iconic building.

The installation hung from one of the openings in the roof of the pavilion, designed to give space for a tree . The recorded dialog was played from a speaker suspended in a tailored trunk made of natural wool felt. During transport the piece was contained in a crate of fiberboard. When installed, the crate served as seating for the listener. The crate measured 521x521x521 millimeters, thus fitting the grid of the pavilion floor.