Between April and August 2020 the ‘Exploratorium for 21st Century Values for Survival’ took place in the context of the Dutch contribution to 17th Architecture Biennale in Venice. The goal was to bring together practitioners from different backgrounds and disciplines with researchers, artists and activists from Venice into deveral thematic ‘tracks’ to ultimately explore values for the 21 st century.
In one of the tracks Richard Niessen took off to investigate the communicative possibilities of the fan. Along the way he was linked to theater maker Mattia Berto who put him on the trail of the masked play of the Commedia dell'Arte and the argumentation for the vital importance of creativity and imagination by Gianni Rodari. Finally all the collected sources led to The Unfolding Arch of Forging Fantasy a new element in the larger building of The Palace of Typographic Masonry.
