Tourism Landscapes: Remaking Greece
Presented at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, “Tourism Landscapes: Remaking Greece” presents examples of modern Greek architectural projects as tools for the modernization of the country and the re-shaping of the Greek national identity.
Specifically, this exhibit explores the role of tourism as a vehicle of the modernization of Greece through the emergence of hotels and resorts, organized beaches, archaeological sites and museums, public space designs and infrastructure facilities. Greek history and the Greek landscape jointly made up the myth of contemporary Greece. Traditionally, the identity of the modern Greek state was defined by historical and cultural continuity through the unaltered landscape. However, these same elements –history and landscape– provided the foundation for Greece’s entry to a new sector of economic activity that intensified rapidly during the country’s post-War modernization period: tourism. In the 1950s and 60s, Greece was selected as a prime location for tourists because of its natural beauty and history. This architecture, including seaside hotels and organized beaches, merged with its surrounding natural landscape and adopted the modern architectural language in Greece.
The exhibition is presented in two parts. The first part presents the architectural production of tourism landscapes in Greece in the last 100 years. It is presented as a continuous surface of images placed on the walls of the exhibition hall, photos of landscapes, photos of tourism architecture, and photos of Greek elements. The second part is made up of models on pedestals of various heights that create an interior geometric ‘island landscape’.