Portfolio_Karan_Pages

PORTFOLIO KARAN SHARMA
VENICE BIENNALE 2023
LOCATION: INVERMERE, BRITISH COLUMBIA
AREA:NA
PHASE: STAGE 2 FINALIST
Venice Biennalle 2023 proposal engages with Canada’s 400+
(and counting) year history of resource exploitation and that history’s
effects on community development with the aim of developing
an alternative path forward.
This project is a response to the context in which we find ourselves,
borne of a belief in the power of design to reshape the
way we live. The project team is a reflection of the breadth of this
ambition and an acknowledgment of the interconnectedness of
systems and structures that define our contemporary world.
The overarching aim, then, is to develop an exhibition that connects
people and creates a space for conversation about more
just, more resilient, and more viable community building practices.
48
Single Resource
Exploitation
Communities
Historical Context
Beginning with the earliest European settlers,
the history of community development in Canada
is inextricably linked with the history of single
resource exploitation economies.
While the character of these resource-based
economies varies considerably, there are
fundamental consistencies in their effect on
communities, Indigenous Peoples and non-
Indigenous groups, the Land, and the capacity of
the Land to support life of all kinds.
From an ecological perspective, these single
resource exploitation communities often suffer
from degradation or collapse of local ecosystems,
including poisoning of the Land, depletion of the
productive capacity of one or more resources, and
the creation of signifi cant amounts of waste that
threatens the long term health of many forms of
life.
From a cultural perspective, this model of
Image Above: Resource extraction around the borders of Canada
erasure, and forced relocation of Indigenous
Peoples, while simultaneously obliterating
traditional knowledges and ways of working
with (rather than against) the Land. It is also
characterized by investment in infrastructure
that is based on economic expedience and not
long term planning, often sacrifi cing intensive
operational and embodied energy costs for the
sake of minimizing capital investment.
Instead of encouraging and allowing for
generational roots to be established, these
communities are often built around a culture of
transience. Housing stock lacks a connection to
the material culture of the place it is built, and is
usually temporary in nature.
From an economic perspective, single resource
exploitation communities do not retain the value of
the resources they produce, surviving instead on
the residual (and usually minimal) re-investment
of extracted value back into the community. This
arrangement creates total economic instability;
communities are only viable as long as the
Our landscapes are littered with the consequence
of this model: ecosystems collapsed by overfi
shing or strip mining; cultures obliterated by the
insidious genocidal forces of settler-colonialism;
communities and infrastructures abandoned
once their productivity is exhausted; and workers
uprooted from their homes and forced to search
farther and farther afi eld for economic opportunity
The effects of this untenable economic model are
now being felt in all dimensions of our daily lives;
with the frailty of global supply chains and impacts
of climate change posing an undeniable threat
to global sustainability. Particularly, the ongoing
removal and displacement of Indigenous Peoples
as stewards of the land creates a critical cause fo
concern, appreciating their connection to the land
and water.