Symposium: The Pavillion

The national pavilion, a signature structure of expos and biennales, can be a theatre of cultural war. For the 1993 Venice Biennale, Hans Haacke smashed the floor of the German pavilion. In 2007 Santiago Serra blocked entry to the Spanish Pavilion to anyone without a Spanish passport, while Chris Ofili and David Adjaye redecorated the British pavilion according to Marcus Garvey's flag for Africa. Elmgreen & Dragset transformed the 2009 Nordic pavilion into a gay collector's pad while Teresa Margolis soaked the floors of the Mexican pavilion with the blood of those slaughtered in her country's 'war on drugs'. Artists, curators and theorists discuss the pavilion as political arena, aesthetic theatre or 'utopia station'.