Poland

From the very beginning, architecture’s primary role has been to protect. The set of anxieties that accompany its inhabitants has evolved—people still turn to architecture for shelter, but today that could mean from climate catastrophe, wars or the prospect of mass migration. Does architecture have the tools to protect us from adversity? What practices taken from the construction and use of buildings can we employ to provide us with sense of security?
The Lares and Penates exhibition seeks answers to these questions in building superstitions still cultivated today. It draws from the practices and rituals that ensure a sense of security in architecture, as a resource of pre-modern, collective wisdom. In a technologically advanced world, the simplicity and accessibility of these solutions gives the human psyche a much-needed sense of agency.