{"id":282,"date":"2025-05-27T08:40:53","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T08:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hardwaretutorials.com\/?p=282"},"modified":"2025-05-30T15:14:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T15:14:01","slug":"atelier-alter-crafts-glowing-nebula-of-civilizational-stardust-for-the-venice-biennale-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardwaretutorials.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/27\/atelier-alter-crafts-glowing-nebula-of-civilizational-stardust-for-the-venice-biennale-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"atelier alter crafts glowing nebula of civilizational stardust for the venice biennale 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Atelier Alter installs galaxy of cultural memory in china pavilion<\/h2>\n

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Atelier Alter Architects<\/strong><\/a> transforms the Chinese Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Biennale<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0into a galaxy of cultural memory with Dunhuang Con-stella-tion, a luminous sculptural installation<\/strong><\/a>. Architects Yingfan Zhang and Xiaojun Bu materialize a 12\u00d78\u00d76.5-meter 3D star field using metal<\/strong> <\/a>rods, spherical forms, mesh, and multicolored acrylics. This construct acts as a spatial telescope linking two ancient ports of knowledge exchange, Dunhuang and Venice, through a radiant cloud of artistic and philosophical symbolism drawn from Indian, Persian, Greek, and Chinese traditions.<\/p>\n

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At the global stage of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, Dunhuang Con-stella-tion is one of the twelve featured works in the China Pavilion, selected under the curatorship of Ma Yansong (MAD) (read designboom’s interview with MAD’s<\/strong><\/a> Ma Yansong here<\/a><\/strong>). Interpreting the exhibition’s theme, CO-EXIST, the installation reimagines Cave 285 from Dunhuang\u2019s<\/strong><\/a> Mogao Grottoes as a celestial archive of civilizational fusion.<\/p>\n

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all images by Demone, Mint, Atelier Alter, Li Chunchao<\/p>\n

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Cave 285 as a celestial archive of ancient knowledge<\/h2>\n

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The Mogao Caves, carved into China\u2019s Mingsha Mountain beginning in 366 CE, are a Silk Road palimpsest where spiritual belief intertwines with global exchange. Cave 285, a focal point of the installation, contains the earliest known star chart of the Northern Hemisphere, painted across a four-sloped dome in the Western Wei period. This celestial ceiling combines deities and iconography from a rich cross-section of cultures: Indian Brahma and Ganesha, Sogdian sun and moon gods, Chinese phoenixes and Fuxi, and Persian motifs, all rendered in polychromatic harmony. The duo<\/strong><\/a> of Atelier Alter abstracts this cosmic fusion into an artificial nebula, where each material element represents a stroke of ancient craftsmanship, a brush of stardust floating in architectural orbit.<\/p>\n

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By reframing the cave\u2019s sacred geometry through contemporary topological language, Dunhuang Con-stella-tion reveals a nonlinear constellation of meaning. The installation positions the original cave as a ‘civilizational energy diagram,’ mapping out four cultural nebulae, Indian Buddhism, Central Asian commerce, Persian artistry, and Greek sculpture, into a shared cosmological grammar. Ancient astrological systems become dynamic fields of data, visually and conceptually resonating with modern geometric thought. This echoes the Tang Dynasty’s Dunhuang Star Atlas, whose constellations mirrored imperial Chang\u2019an\u2019s night sky and aligned with three schools of astronomy, a precedent for this contemporary act of cultural coding.<\/p>\n

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a galaxy of cultural memory<\/p>\n

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Dunhuang Con-stella-tion, a model of cultural rebirth<\/h2>\n

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Curated by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects, Dunhuang Con-stella-tion responds to the Biennale\u2019s global constellation of architectural thought by aligning the ancient inclusivity of Dunhuang with the fluid hybridity of Venice. The installation aims to be a speculative model of cultural rebirth. Every metal sphere, every dust particle becomes a mnemonic device, a poetic echo of how civilizations have long intertwined through migration, translation, and artistic syncretism. As Atelier Alter suggests, cultural convergence is not about layering styles, but about generative collision, where flying apsaras dance with Greek Bodhisattvas, and Sogdian phonemes echo through Chinese sutras.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Atelier Alter Architects transforms the Chinese Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Biennale<\/p>\n

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Yingfan Zhang and Xiaojun Bu materialize a 12\u00d78\u00d76.5-meter 3D star field<\/p>\n

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metal rods, spherical forms, mesh, and multicolored acrylics compose the structure<\/p>\n

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Con-stella-tion takes its place in the China Pavilion<\/p>\n

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a spatial telescope links two ancient ports of knowledge exchange<\/p>\n

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a radiant cloud of artistic and philosophical symbolism<\/p>\n

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drawing from Indian, Persian, Greek, and Chinese traditions<\/p>\n

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one of twelve featured works featured in the China Pavilion<\/p>\n

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the installation reimagines Cave 285 from Dunhuang\u2019s Mogao Grottoes as a celestial archive of civilizational fusion<\/p>\n

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project info:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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name:<\/strong>\u00a0Con-stella-stion:Dunhuang
\nartist:<\/strong>\u00a0Atelier Alter Architects<\/a> | @atelier_alter_architects<\/a><\/p>\n

location:<\/strong> Chinese Pavilion, Venice, Italy<\/p>\n

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lead designers:<\/strong> Yingfan Zhang & Xiaojun Bu\u00a0<\/p>\n

curator:<\/strong> Ma Yansong (MAD)<\/p>\n

program:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Venice Architecture Biennale<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0@labiennale<\/a><\/p>\n

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dates:<\/strong>\u00a0May 10th \u2014 November 23rd, 2025<\/p>\n

dimensions:<\/strong> 12 \u00d7 8 \u00d7 6.5 meters<\/p>\n

photographers:<\/strong> Demone, Mint, Atelier Alter, Li Chunchao<\/p>\n

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designboom has received this project from our\u00a0<\/em>DIY submissions<\/em><\/a>\u00a0feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers\u00a0<\/em>here.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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edited by: thomai tsimpou | designboom<\/em><\/p>\n

The post atelier alter crafts glowing nebula of civilizational stardust for the venice biennale 2025<\/a> appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Atelier Alter installs galaxy of cultural memory in china pavilion   Atelier Alter Architects transforms the Chinese Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Biennale\u00a0into a galaxy of cultural memory with Dunhuang Con-stella-tion, a luminous sculptural installation. Architects Yingfan Zhang and Xiaojun Bu materialize a 12\u00d78\u00d76.5-meter 3D star field using metal rods,…<\/p>\n

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