The French pavilion's glowing installation explores the damage caused to the ozone layer Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
Eliasson has created a cavernous, dark space in which whip-cracks and writhing snakes of water flash in front of your eyes, hinting at thrilling structures that could never really be, and are gone before your eyes can adjust to their uncertain forms Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
Visitors enjoy an otherworldly experience as they walk up delicate steel ramps into artificially generated clouds Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
A maze of pencils hang from ceilings by cotton threads. The installation is backed up by touching videos showing architects' hands – young and old – drawing Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
An installation of fishermen's huts uprooted from the coast of Bahrain, which won the Golden Lion award for best national pavilion Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
A team of Spanish architects, engineers and musicians have installed two enormous concrete I-beams across an entire room of the Corderie – these appear to be held in check by a rock and a coil spring, suggesting that the line we walk between self-destruction and a positive future is both delicate and dramatic
Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
The Austrians want us to retain something of the innocence of childhood with models of a city centre – this one straddled by a centrepiece building in the guise of a tiger Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
The Austrians have created another model of a city centre, this one made of flowers Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
The British presentation, curated by Vicky Richardson of the British Council and London architects muf, is represented by, among other things, excerpts from Ruskin's The Stones of Venice and a wooden model of the Olympic stadium currently being built in London. Daily drawing classes for schoolchildren are also taking place here Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
The Indian pavilion earned a special mention from the international jury at the Venice Architecture Biennale Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
France's installation at the Venice Architecture Biennale Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
The Japanese pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
A maze of bright yellow school pencils hang from ceilings by cotton threads at Hungary's pavilion Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
