Dezeen promotion: the imbalance of power in the decision-making process behind the creation of public space came under scrutiny in a talk held by the British Council and Therme Art last month at the opening of the Venice Architecture Biennale.

The importance of accessible public space, which has become a more pertinent issue in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, relates directly to this year’s biennale’s theme, which called for a “new spatial contract” founded on a more sustainable relationship with each other and our natural world.

The talk focused on the biennale’s central question, “How will we live together?”

In response to this, Therme Art and The British Council co-hosted a panel discussion called Experiments for New Spatial Contracts.

The discussion was presented as part of Therme Art’s ongoing Wellbeing Culture Forum, a talks programme launched in May 2020 to address the onset of the global pandemic and its cultural implications.

It focused on the idea of cohabitation prompted by the biennale’s guiding question along with the British Pavilion‘s co-curators’ response in The Garden of Privatised Delights.

Commissioned by the British Council and supported by Therme Art as a platinum partner, The Garden of Privatised Delights is an exhibition that invites leading architects and designers to consider and reimagine public space.

It was curated by Madeleine Kessler and Manijeh Verghese, founding directors of experimental architecture practice Unscene Architecture, and takes its title from Hieronymus Bosch’s painting The Garden of Earthly Delights.

Bosch’s painting takes a triptych format; the utopia of Heaven and the Garden of Eden is presented on the left and the dystopia of hell on the right. The middle ground of life on earth is presented in the centre of the painting where complex issues around innocence and guilt unfold.

In The Garden of Privatised Delights, Verghese and Kessler reimagine the painting in the context of contemporary public space in the face of increasing privatisation. It raises questions around inclusivity and access – a sentiment that Therme Group said resonates deeply with its mission of creating urban spaces for all.

“We saw it as an opportunity for architects to work with the public to develop more inclusive programmed inhabited spaces, and that’s really our goal in the pavilion,” explained Verghese.