Balkan Pavilions at Venice Architecture Biennale: Tradition, Solidarity, and Future

At the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale, Balkan countries presented pavilions exploring social cohesion, urban regeneration, and sustainable design. Albania's pavilion, curated by an all-female team, revived the concept of 'open house' and neighborly solidarity from the communist era, now eroded by globalization and urban solitude. Serbia's pavilion examined Bor, a mining town, and proposed alternative economic and ecological futures as resources deplete. Croatia's pavilion, 'Togetherness Togetherless,' used found industrial objects to create a performative space questioning community and isolation. Kosovo's 'Containporary' used the shipping container as a metaphor for sustainable urbanism, critiquing profit-driven development. Greece's pavilion looked back at Thessaloniki's Boulevard de la Société des Nations (1918-1922) as a model for multicultural coexistence and inclusive planning, with the municipality now holding a competition to revitalize the public space.