In Opera


Venice, Italy
2023

First exhibited at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, 'In Opera: Future Scenarios of a Young Forestry Law' is a multi-authored and multi-media piece that explores the spatial and territorial implications of Uruguay's young Forestry Law towards a future of more just and inclusive timber constructions.
'In ópera' website




Since the enactment of its Forest Law, Uruguay, "a country with four cows per inhabitant," has been experiencing unprecedented changes. For the first time, its exports from the forestry industry surpass those of meat, while its landscapes undergo transformation.







«In Opera» is a story told by this young law through a unique multi-author opera staged at the Uruguay Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.

The law looks at itself in the mirror and sings to us in an attempt to understand what is happening around it and why it doesn't receive the same attention as other regulations. In the piece, it shares the stage with spaces, territories, and bodies surrounding wood in Uruguay, accompanied by musical interventions from a new generation of Afro-Uruguayan artists that disrupt the lyrical narrative.







Thus, the Forestry Law emerges as an active text that is part of a transcalar assemblage—legal, spatial, environmental, and social—that can lead to the construction, both symbolic and literal, of multiple other futures. When the majority of Uruguay's abundant new forests end up being exported abroad as cellulose pulp, how can we envision Uruguay as a laboratory for futures in timber that are more just and inclusive?









To collectively seek answers, the opera is complemented by a publication that explores the multiple scales affected by the law based on an extensive series of interviews with stakeholders linked to forestry; an overview of the current state of timber construction in the country; and a series of parallel programs in Uruguay that will broaden perspectives towards the future. 








★ Uruguay Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia







Curators: Mauricio López, Matías Carballal, Andrés Gobba, Luciano Andrades, Silvio Lagranha, Sebastián Lambert, Diego Morera y Carlos Casacuberta
Commissioner: Facundo de Almeida

Video Artists:
Exceso Colectivo (Rafaella Varela, Fol Cvetreznik, Guzmán Bergereau)
Curator of Musical Interventions: Camila Cardozo
Musical Production: Nomusa, Olhosdagua, Carlos Casacuberta
Monologue of the Law: Carlos Casacuberta, Diego Morera
Vocal Interpretation of the Law: Sofía Colares
Musical Interventions: Nomusa, Viki Style, Facundo Balta
Interpretation in Musical Interventions: Gabrielle Santos, Romina Sánchez
Production Team: Elsa Attlan, Pablo Courreges, Emilia Dehl, Aldo Lanzi, Emiliano Lago, Lucía Martinotti, Florencia Mastropierro, Mauricio Müller, Emma Prevett, Agustina Vigevani
Coordination of Installation in Venice: Livia Baldini
Audio and Video Installation: Q Studio (Dario Dal Prà)
Pavillion Photographs: Federico Cairolli y FROM

Main Sponsor:
Arboreal

Sponsor:
Curcio Capital
Alushop

Supporters:
X-Lam Dolomiti
Rumbos Turismo
Airworks
MediaIngeniería 4D