Laboratory of Intersectional Ecologies / Alejandro Haiek Coll, Lolo Rebecca Rudolph
Umeå, Sweden and Caracas, Venezuela
Laboratory of Intersectional Ecologies investigates the intersections of social landscapes, ecosystem services, and post-industrial geographies. Based on McHale’s “Planetary Housekeeping,” the Lab explores eco-infrastructures, digital governance, and responsive environments through transdisciplinary research. They are currently presenting the North Pole Transborder Pavilion at the 24th Triennale Milano 2025. The Lab was founded by Alejandro Haiek Coll, associate professor at Umeå School of Architecture and founder of Lab.Pro.Fab. His work on post-industrial ecologies has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Seoul Museum of Architecture, and Countless Cities Biennale. He has been nominated for the MCHAP, Oscar Niemeyer Award, and Royal Academy of Arts. Lolo Rebecca Rudolph, based in Umeå, is a researcher at the Lab, project coordinator at Lab.Pro.Fab, and guest lecturer at Umeå School of Architecture. Her work combines nomadic systems, traditional knowledge, and analog–digital hybrids.
2025 Biennial Project
Project Overview
Future Gardens: Edenic fictions of post-industrial wounds
This immersive video installation explores the ecological damage caused by extractive industries in the Orinoco River basin and the Venezuelan Amazon. Blending speculative storytelling, Indigenous knowledge, and digital tools like 3D scanning, AI-generated imagery, and geospatial modeling, the project imagines how life might return to polluted and deforested landscapes. It presents possible futures shaped by bioremediation, nature-based systems, and multispecies cooperation. The installation challenges borders and legal frameworks, calling for shared responsibility in protecting Earth’s fragile ecosystems. Rather than framing these territories only as damaged, it reimagines them as active zones for healing, resilience, and new forms of ecological intelligence.
Presented with support from Umeå University – School of Architecture, Grupo Orinoco, and Fundacion Espacio.
Venue
View more840 N. Michigan Avenue
Address
840 N. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
Description
The Biennial expands its footprint downtown with the opening of its fifth site at 840 N. Michigan Avenue, transforming more than 65,000 square feet of space on the Magnificent Mile into a dynamic hub for art, design, and dialogue.
