For the Common Good
In creating the exhibition at the Philippine Pavilion of the ongoing Venice Architecture Biennale, curators Sudarshan V Khadka and Alexander Eriksson Furunes looked back and dug deep into Philippine culture
The Filipino custom of bayanihan fit like a glove in the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale
How will we live together? This is the question the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale asks which the curators of the exhibition at the Philippine Pavilion answered with the unique Filipino concept of bayanihan.
Architects Sudarshan V Khadka and Alexander Eriksson Furunes created Structures of Mutual Support based on the concept which translates into community spirit for the common good. Although a Norwegian, Furunes could easily relate to this Filipino concept because of a similar one also of communal work in his culture called dugnad.
To understand the importance of infusing traditions into modern life, Khadka and Furunes worked together with 32 representatives from the Gawad Kalinga (GK) Enchanted Farm Community to build a project that seeks to shape modern architecture by involving people who value the principles of the Filipino bayanihan.
The end-result was a community library that was built on-site in Bulacan, then dismantled and carefully shipped to Venice, Italy. It was reconstructed as the centrepiece
The Filipino bayanihan spirit is among the fundamental aspects of Filipino culture: helping each other as one community without rewards, to achieve a common goal
of the Philippine Pavilion in the Artigliere Arsenale, one of many venues of the Biennale. Beside the library is a raised platform that takes people inside to view a small exhibition about stories of mutual support.
The curators started with a 22-day workshop for the farmers, carpenters, housewives, students and other labourers involved in the project. The participants were asked to focus on the discussion of the merits of building a structure within the community and where the final form project would be located, as well as the components to be included in it based on the common needs of the community.
Khadka and Furunes define mutual support as selforganisation and collaboration done by communities to support each other through periods of adversity or crisis. The Filipino bayanihan spirit is among the fundamental aspects of Filipino culture: helping each other as one community without rewards, to achieve a common goal. In the earlier days, the traditional way of moving homes (which were still made of lighter materials such as wood, coconut leaves and bamboo) was by carrying them on the shoulders of a group of men, usually neighbours. This is bayanihan.
In the modern world, the bayanihan spirit is also still alive. It has just evolved and is now evident in simple acts such as pushing a car that refuses to start, helping out poverty-stricken citizens and more.
“Before the total lockdowns were put into place, the Philippine Pavilion already shipped the exhibition’s structure to Venice. Last April, with a lean team, we flew to Venice to install it and open the exhibition. We felt it was our responsibility that no matter what happens, we would represent the Philippines this year,” Khadka explained.
“When mutual support is required, people come together for collective work to achieve a common goal.
It is a process that builds social relationships, reciprocity and community cohesion. However, these traditions are fading away in a modern-day society where the currency of wealth is measured by money rather than relationships built in a community,” the curators believe. “Re-evaluating and reviving mutual support traditions provide an alternative way to consider the values, resources and knowledge that shape our built environment.”
According to GK Enchanted Farm community member Aliza Mae Antonio, the experience of creating a structure with the architects was not only new but memorable. She said, “One day, when we look at the structure, we’ll remember how we took part in building it.”
“Re-evaluating and reviving mutual support traditions provide an alternative way to consider the values, resources and knowledge that shape our built environment”
— KHADKA AND FURUNES
For the curators, the essence of architecture is not space, but the meaning ascribed to space. “Architecture becomes more than an object when it becomes a symbol of values, knowledge and relationships in the process of its creation. It is hoped that applying the principles of mutual support will improve the diversity of values that architecture represents by involving people directly in the determination of values that are embedded in it,” they shared.
The fruitful project of Khadka, Furunes, and the rest of GK Enchanted Farm Community shows that even in this modern age, the values of mutual support remain highly regarded.
Now more than ever, the Filipino people need to organise and take on the lead in helping the less-privileged society prosper. Bayanihan, after all, is a valuable tradition embedded in our rich culture.