CANADA

The Pavilion is transformed into a Wardian case, the container used by the British Empire to transport plants across continents, housing a basin with giant water lilies of the Victoria genus. Native to South America yet emblematic of the Victorian era, the plants were germinated at the Botanical Garden of Padua and they reached their maturity in Venice. By replacing the façade with glass panels, Abbas Akhavan makes the garden visible from the outside, while sculptures inhabit the indoor space and the courtyard. The title, a French expression for the “blue hour” – when one cannot distinguish the dog from the wolf, the protector from the predator – opens a reflection on a crucial moment in global history and on how we put ourselves in relation to the natural and built environments we live in.