Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano: Lunar Ensemble for Uprising Seas
Ocean Space, Venice, 2023

TBA21—Academy, in collaboration with Audemars Piguet Contemporary, have commissioned the Berlin-based artists Petrit Halilaj and Álvaro Urbano to create a new installation together as part of Thus waves come in pairs, an exhibition at Ocean Space curated by Barbara Casavecchia that investigates the Mediterranean basin through a transdisciplinary approach. Melding their practices—which they typically keep separate—the duo have drawn inspiration from the Spanish nursery rhyme Ay mi pescadito to create an interactive installation about a school for young fish at the bottom of the sea where they learn forms of resistance to human interference. The site-specific work includes a series of large-scale sculptural creatures, many of which double as musical instruments to be used in public processions—led by the artistic duo dressed as seagulls—through the Campo San Lorenzo at various intervals during the exhibition. A massive egg hangs above these mythical beasts within the cavernous Chiesa di San Lorenzo, which, in the words of the artistic duo, "evokes possibilities of alternative future forms of life," a work and gesture in support of non-traditional families, namely same-sex parents. The exhibition coincides with the 18th edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale.

D.H.office collaborated closely with the artists’ studios and the commissioners to support fabrication and production of the installation as well as coordinating all facets of the project.