Peter Cook on deck chair outside the British Pavilion
Peter Cook outside the British Pavilion, having wrapped it in "a new frock and some bright jewellery" designed by Morag Myerscough. Photo: Hélène Binet ©

British Council

In 2004 The IX Venice Biennale of Architecture was under the general directorship of Swiss curator Kurt W. Forster and had as its theme ‘Metamorphosis’. The British Pavilion exhibition was curated by Peter Cook, true to his colourful and humorous fashion. Nine Positions was an exhibition of nine British architectural practices brought together to show how their strength came from a combination of distinct ideas and ways of working.

The nine architects – Future Systems, Ian Ritchie, Kathryn Findlay, Ron Arad, Caruso St John, CJ Lim, Richard Murphy, John Pawson and Cook himself, working with Gavin Robotham – built, drew, modelled and talked around material seen for the first time. Some of the more unusual exhibits included Cook & Robotham’s tomato garden, Ron Arad’s extraordinary interactive Corian wall, the padded phosphor-bronze mesh skin of Ian Ritchie’s Plymouth workshop and CJ Lim’s exquisite 3-D drawings. 

Cook’s aim was to get the architects to speak for themselves:

“I want the British show to by-pass some of the more arcane manifestations in national pavilions in the past, where the rhetoric and philosophical mumbo-jumbo gets so clever clever that in the end you go around with a headache.”

The British Pavilion, originally built in 1887 and remodelled in 1909, saw its own metamorphosis as London designer Morag Myerscough wrapped the entire building in, as Cook says, “a new frock and some bright jewellery.”

Explore the exhibition highlights:

archiectural installations with abstract scultptures
CJ Lim's installation for Nine Positions, featuring his 3-D drawings. Photo: Hélène Binet ©

British Council

installation with tomato plants by Peter Cook for the British Pavilion in 2004
Peter Cook & Gavin Robotham’s tomato garden for Nine Positions at the British Pavilion, 2004. Photo: Hélène Binet ©

British Council

large scale images of architecture in British Pavilion gallery by John Pawson
John Pawson's installation for Nine Positions at the British Pavilion, 2004. Photo: Hélène Binet ©

British Council

architectural model by Caruso St John
Caruso St John's installation for Nine Positions at the British Pavilion, 2004. Photo: Hélène Binet ©

British Council

Advisory panel: 

  • Will Alsop
  • Alice Rawsthorn
  • Susan Ferleger Brades
  • Deyan Sudjic
  • Emily Campbell, Andrea Rose and Lucy Swift, British Council 

Commissioner: Emily Campbell, British Council
Assistant Commissioner: Brendan Griggs, British Council
Curated by Professor Peter Cook
Project Manager: Lucy Swift, British Council
Exhibition design: Peter Cook / Gavin Robotham
Exhibition graphics: Studio Myerscough