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Fever Shape (2025)

Commissioned by the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities for the Kingdom of Bahrain's National Participation at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale. Winner of the Golden Lion for Best National Participation.


Heatwave is the Bahrain Pavilion’s exhibition at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale. Curated and designed by Andrea Faraguna and commissioned by Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa President of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, the exhibition is an urgent response to the challenge of extreme heat we are facing here in the Gulf, but also globally, with a beautiful and innovative installation design for outdoor workspaces that uses traditional cooling techniques inspired by Bahrain’s climate and culture.

My visual essay Fever Shape responds to the theme in a way that’s meant to be felt, not just seen. I wasn’t just thinking about the physical toll of heat on the body and the land, but also its psychological impact. I wanted to understand heat as more than just temperature and more like pressure. A slow, constant force that distorts things, that transforms and erodes. So, I listened to the island. I read its softness, its residue, its scars. I wanted to capture erosion. Not just of surfaces, but of memory too and of presence worn thin by light, time, and extreme heat.

The essay unfolds from two opposite starting points, mimicking the feeling of heat intensifying and then washing out everything, eventually converging at a central image. It’s a visual narrative that speaks to the mythology of heat and disappearance.

A selection of the work is shown here.

Heatwave publication, designed by Larissa Kasper, Rosario Florio and Samuel Baenziger

Deputy Commissioner: Noura Al Sayeh
Pavilion Coordinator: Batool Al Shaikh
Exhibition Contributors: Wafa Al Ghatam, Maitham Al Mubarak, Mohammed Salim, Laila Al Shaikh, Abdullah Janahi, Alexander Puzrin, Mario Monott and myself.