Lina Bo Bardi

The Power Station of Art (PSA), in collaboration with the Instituto Lina Bo and P.M Bardi, presents “The Poetics of Survival,” the first exhibition in Chinese mainland dedicated to the Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi. Featuring architectural models, drawings, sketches, historical photographs, videos, and archival documents, the exhibition systematically traces her multidimensional explorations across architecture, design, curation, print media, and public culture. At its core, the exhibition reveals Lina’s “poetics of survival,” an architectural philosophy that seeks to generate abundance from scarcity and discover poetry within the everyday. Curated by architectural historian and Vice-President of the Instituto Bardi’s Board, Renato Anelli, and designed by OPEN Architecture, this exhibition stands as a major project of the 2026 China–Brazil Year of Culture.

Through the exhibition design by OPEN Architecture, Lina’s diverse creative practices, spiritual world, and life trajectory are woven into an organic entity. A continuous, extending semi-transparent linen fabric flows through the gallery, organizing the exhibition into nine zones while maintaining a sense of spontaneity. The fabric weaves together drawings, sketches, models, photographs, and videos through a variety of display modes, mapping out nine sections across four central themes, and foregrounding Lina’s major projects in architecture, furniture, scenography, folk art, and writing. Suspended throughout the gallery, the fabric serves simultaneously as a projection surface and a soft “wall” for displaying works, creating a layered experience through the interplay between lightness and translucency. Within the first-floor lobby of PSA, OPEN Architecture specifically reconstructs the interior pool scene from SESC Pompéia, creating an open and inviting space that encourages lingering and interaction. In addition, the installation responds to Lina’s lifelong conviction that public space should serve as a primary instrument for stimulating collective life and socio-cultural vitality.