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Losing Myself hosted by the Irish Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice. Photography by Riccardo Tosetto

Losing Myself hosted by the Irish Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice. Photography by Lez Barker ArtAV

Losing Myself hosted by the Irish Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice. Photography by Riccardo Tosetto

Losing Myself hosted by the Irish Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice

Venice Architecture Biennale 2016: Lost in memory

Venice – The Losing Myself installation examines the navigational challenges faced by Alzheimer’s sufferers in urban environments.

The disease affects sufferers’ navigational skills and their ability to plan and remember
An accompanying website acts as a resource for architects that are creating designs for sufferers of degenerative diseases

The exhibition, hosted by the Irish Pavilion at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, examines the Alzheimer’s Respite Centre in Dublin from the perspective of its occupants. A series of downward-facing projectors creates a tapestry of architectural plans that are drawn and re-drawn to visualise the occupants’ fragmented memories. The installation aims to spark conversation around the lack of architectural designs that cater for this growing demographic.

An accompanying website designed by curators Niall McLaughlin and Yeoryia Manolopoulou enables other architects who are working to help sufferers of degenerative brain diseases to access the research behind the project. The website features a series of interdisciplinary conversations with experts from a diverse range of fields including neuroscience, psychology and philosophy.

‘The general public does not see us. We want to be part of normal society,’ says Helen Rochford-Brennan, Alzheimer’s sufferer and chair of the Irish Alzheimer Society’s National Dementia Working Group.

The Big Picture

People are living for longer and the number of cases of degenerative brain diseases is expected to increase dramatically. Projects such as Losing Myself and Sea Hero Quest aim to gain a better understanding of how sufferers experience physical space.