Vancouver architect Gregory Henriquez stood on the site of the Venice Biennale five years ago and considered the fact he was a short distance from a historic ghetto where Jewish refugees had been confined after their expulsion from Spain.
He and his team created Ghetto, which addressed Venice’s issues with rampant tourism as well as Europe’s refugee crisis – and it brought a uniquely Vancouver development perspective to the art festival. He received some sponsorship for the exhibit in Toronto, but he’s mostly funded the art project himself.
The exhibit is interactive and includes an already full “open house,” happening Sept. 14 for 600 people. There is a hypothetical budget for the project, a catalogue of display suites, a tabletop 3-D model, the familiar blue rezoning signage and bar code resident surveys that will eventually be posted online. The museum will allow a controlled number of walk-ins to the free event.
“This exhibit doesn’t have all the answers – it’s just meant to really elicit the discussion and articulate one mode of paying for things.” Ms. Knope says there are more displaced people in the world today than ever on record, “with one in every 74 people on Earth having fled their home.”