Commissioner: Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation
Curators: Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto
United Arab Emirates
Wetland
Album
Description
Prior to the pandemic, we started looking into sabkhas, a sturdy ecosystem of natural salt flats nascent to the United Arab Emirates. This inspired us to explore a renewable resource for construction, one that can replace Portland cement.
The crystallisation of salt in the sabkhas offers a blueprint for an alternative to Portland cement, the production of which accounts for 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Together with a group of scientists in Tokyo, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah, we have been working on reproducing the crystallisation process of the Sabkha ecosystem. The results of our ongoing quest for a renewable building material is presented at the pavilion.
Biennale Sneak Peek
Biennale Sneak Peek
Image 1 – How will we live together?
Curator Wael Al Awar at a Sabkha site visit in Al Ruwais during the early stages of research on Sabkhas (salt flats) in the UAE.
Image 2 – Sneak peek of the project
The image, taken at the Wetland Lab at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai, UAE, presents a sneak peek into the current phase of the curators research in preparation for the exhibition build in Venice which involves the casting of various module shapes to be used for a full scale structure.
