Archaeologies of Green

Designed by Anne Holtrop with Anouk Vogel, the Bahrain pavilion at Expo is a landscape of fruit gardens that reflects on the agrarian and archaeological heritage of the country.

Anne Holtrop con Anouk Vogel, Padiglione del Bahrain, “Archeologie del Verde”, Expo Milano 2015

Archaeologies of Green, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s national pavilion, is conceived as a continuous landscape of fruit gardens that each contain a dominant fruit tree that is native to Bahrain and are intersected by a series of closed spaces that contain in turn a reception area, exhibition spaces and a café serving local Bahraini food.

The spaces all overlook and frame the gardens, which form the main exhibition component of the pavilion and recount the rich agrarian heritage of the Islands

Anne Holtrop with Anouk Vogel, Bahrain Pavilion, “Archaeologies of Green”, Expo Milano 2015. Photo Anne Holtrop

The pavilion is built out of white prefabricated concrete panels and is conceived to be moved to Bahrain at the end of the Expo in order to serve as a botanical garden that will reconnect the local and international audiences in Bahrain with the often overlooked agricultural heritage of the Islands.

The prefabricated components of the buildings, visible through the seams that connect them to one another, refer to the inherent shapes found in the archaeology of Bahrain.

Anne Holtrop con Anouk Vogel, Padiglione del Bahrain, “Archeologie del Verde”, Expo Milano 2015. Photo Anne Holtrop — Anne Holtrop with Anouk Vogel, Bahrain Pavilion, “Archaeologies of Green”, Expo Milano 2015. Photo Anne Holtrop

The curatorial stance of the pavilion developed by the Ministry of Culture in close collaboration with the competition team, aims to present a poetic interpretation of the agrarian cultural heritage of the country through a multi-faceted and realistic portrayal of the agricultural landscape, one that equally acknowledges its distinctive heritage and addresses the current challenges and efforts in terms of water provision, scarcity of arable land and food security.

The gardens are supplemented by an exhibition of archaeological objects from the Dilmun and Tylos era that refer to agricultural practices of that era as well as to the many myths surrounding the Islands in addition to a short film produced by the filmmaker and photographer Armin Linke and which reflects on the contemporary agricultural landscape of Bahrain.