The Happenstance Dispatches

Peter McCaughey/WAVEparticle was selected by the Scottish Government, in partnership with Architecture & Design Scotland, Creative Scotland, the British Council Scotland, and Young Scot, to curate a distinctive Scottish presence at La Biennale di Venezia’s 2018 International Architecture Exhibition. The theme of the Biennale was Freespace. To respond to this McCaughey brought teams of artists and architects together to explore how public space, non-space, stalled space and civic space, all have the potential to change and grow, depending on how we choose to occupy them. The Happenstance cited various ideas that are homegrown and developed in Scotland, a country interested in grassroots, community-led processes that inform emerging places, which were then discussed and celebrated in Venice. A freespace was built in the garden of Palazzo Zenobio in Venice, acting as an active archive, focussed on the event nature of live situations – exploring how we can intervene in our own lives and the circumstances that shape us. It hosted all-comers, inviting locals, visitors, participants and the core team of artists and architects. There was a live programme from May - November, which included animating other spaces in Venice, whilst Outdoor Cinema screenings focussed on inspiring examples of individuals, organisations and situations that underscored the theme of Freespace. The themes and learning explored included participatory practice and community empowerment and how a space itself can become a medium for generating maps, amplifying capacities, and encouraging community networking. The Happenstance Dispatches allowed time to digest the incredible response to this work and to account for and analyse what happened. A series of 12 dispatches were published in September 2020, 3 by Lead artist Curator McCaughey, exploring and sharing the themes and learning from The Happenstance from the viewpoint of the curator, the contributors to, and the participants involved in, the project - including artists, architects, a Venetian designer, a journalist, a student fellow of The Happenstance, and the Chief Architect of Scottish Government