Those familiar with Beesley's work know that Hylozoic Ground is a benchmark installation that builds on the architect's decades of research into living architecture, made of membranes and layers that mimic natural systems. In Venice, his illuminated mesh network – composed of acrylic links and fluid-filled flasks, all veiled with fronds, filters and whiskers, and fitted with microprocessors and sensors – will react to the throngs of showgoers who converge on the Giardini venue in the Canada Pavilion. 

While Beesley and a crew of nearly two dozen volunteers are still at work on the 167-square-metre Hylozoic Ground, the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada is accepting donations in support of the entry. For $100, Canadians can sponsor a frond – one of the installation's crucial, feather-like acrylic components – or contribute up to $500,000.

Read our coverage of Beesley's Sargasso Field installation at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen last December here.

Read more about about Philip Beesley and Hylozoic Ground in our September issue, on stands in Canada on August 16 and in the U.S. on August 30.