Venice Biennale of Architecture & Olympians
The wild god reaches into a bag
Made of moles and nightingale-skin.
He pulls out a two-reeded pipe,
Raises an eyebrow
And all the birds begin to sing.
Extract from Sometimes a Wild God by Tom Hirons
Dear Friends,
It is with great pleasure that I write to you on the eve of going to Venice for the opening of the 19th International Architecture Biennale, in which we - Vessel, will be exhibiting The Only Flowering Plant in the Ocean.
I would like to thank all of you who so generously donated to our project to raise the funds necessary to make this work and to send it to the Biennale. It means so much to us to feel your support at this time when funding is hard to come by for small grass-roots projects of this sort. We were also lucky enough to get substantial donations from the A.G. Leventis Foundation,and The Argosaronic Environment Foundation and our long-term comrade and friend Hito Steyerl.
In 2025, Carlo Ratti invited Vessel, an artists’ collective co-founded by myself and James Bridle on the island of Aegina, Greece, to create an installation for the 19th International Exhibition. The work was collectively produced in Aegina and exhibited in Venice.
The Only Flowering Plant in the Ocean brings together Vessel’s work on local ecologies, sustainable materials, architecture, design, and art in the service of our community and the planet.
Vessel has been investigating the use of seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) in vernacular architecture around the Mediterranean, as well as in contemporary architecture (as in our Saronic Segal building, completed in 2022).
Posidonia and other seagrasses are vital organisms for ocean and planetary health, constructing biospheres, storing carbon, and sustaining marine and shoreline ecologies around the world. For millennia, it has been used in building insulation and for other purposes; it is also under severe stress from direct human activity and anthropogenic climate change.
Historically, the glass merchants of Venice used seagrass as a packing material for their wares, collecting and drying the Posidonia from the Venetian lagoon. In response to this history, Vessel created over a hundred pieces of ceramics from local clay, dug from the land of Aegina, and decorated with images of seagrass life cycles and environmental messages. These vessels were shipped to Venice packed in local seagrass, in crates built from recycled materials, to be displayed, and returned, as a single, circular artwork.
The installation also includes seagrass materials prepared for arcitectural use, mixed with clay, lime, and cement binders, to form insulation and structural elements.
Team: Navine G. Dossos, James Bridle, Alisa Vincentelli, Alessandro Vincentelli, Danae Tsakona, and Vessel comrades.
The Only Flowering Plant In The Ocean will be on display in the Corderie section of the Arsenale from 10.05 to the 23.11 2025.
I am also happy to announce the availability of a new double-sided silkscreen print edition called Olympians (2022). This is a key work in my practice as I turned from an interest in state terror to the question of environmental activism.
Olympians is made up of several ‘Animal Rights and Environmental Signs and Symbols’ published in June 2019 by the Counter Terrorism Police in the UK to help Police forces to identify organised groups who might be involved in forms of political ‘radicalisation’. These symbols were published alongside others belonging to White Nationalist, White Supremacist, Left Wing and Associated Single Issue groups (e.g. Critical Mass, Anarcho-Queer, Anonymous and Occupy amongst others). As the War Against Terror and the Axis of Evil wane, it appears that Environmental groups demonstrating against climate and ecosystem degradation are being treated and processed though the same machinery that has been honed against Muslims over the past two decades.
The title of the work was inspired by this piece of music, because synesthesia.
The print is €300 (excluding tax and shipping) and is an edition of 10 + 3APs. If you would like to acquire one please email studio@navinegdossos.com.
*
On a personal note, I am also approaching the first anniversary of my stem-cell transplant, which cured the Acute Myeloid Leukemia that I was diagnosed with in 2023. It has been a long process of recovery, but doing this project in Venice marks a real watershed moment for me - being able to travel again, to work again, to be in the studio again, and to feel part of the world again after 18 months of hiatus.
For me, recovering from a serious health crisis and being able to make work once more is a transition akin to becoming a parent. So many of you have been concerned about me, and given me the space to recover and to feel held in that time of healing. And that is a precious gift that I treasure.
And now that I am feeling stronger and my immune system is coming back online, I would like to actively re-engage in public practice. So if you have any projects that you think might be right up my street, please feel free to be in touch and talk to me about them! I’m back and I’m full of ideas and art and hope!
You can get hold of me at studio@navinegdossos.com
See you soon, maybe in Venice!
Ciao for now 😀
Navine
I