Courtesy of Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana | Photo by Helena Roig | The Three Chimneys
Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana has unveiled a decentralized biennial event spanning across the landscape of Barcelona. Taking place from September 8th to November 24th, this edition of Manifesta, the European Nomadic Biennial, introduces a regionalized strategy. Famous for its avant-garde exploration of global challenges through cultural lenses, the approach aims to empower citizens in catalyzing a socio-ecological transformation across Catalonia. The event aims to reimagine the role of culture in societal transformation through art, dialogue, and collective action.
Qatar Museums has just revealed the roster of designers and exhibitions for the inaugural edition of Design Doha. Running from February 24 to August 5, 2024, Design Doha is a new Design Biennial showcasing over 100 Middle Eastern and North African designers. The announcement outlines six exhibitions launching during the first week, spotlighting innovation within Qatar and the region at large.
Spanning continents and cultures, architecture-focused events serve as platforms for the gathering of diverse groups of professionals to share innovations and embark on dialogues regarding some of the most pressing matters faced by our profession. Embodying the spirit of collaboration, highlighting local cultures and practices, and fostering open debates, this year’s list of events covers a diverse range of biennales, forums, city-wide celebrations, international fairs, and awards.
Romanian architect, designer, and educator Oana Stănescu has been named the curator of Beta 2024 - Timișoara Architecture Biennial, now in its fifth edition. Based in New York and Berlin, Oana Stănescu is internationally recognized for her diverse portfolio of interventions around the world, challenging the confines of the profession and addressing significant societal issues. Last year, she was selected as part of 2023 New Practices by ArchDaily. As the curator of Beta 2024, Oana Stănescu will set the overarching theme of the biennale, happening in the Romanian city of Timișoara, setting the stage for an event that strives to “deliver a novel experience of architectural practice through an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach.”
In light of the looming climate crisis and the pursuit of sustainability, the concepts of revival and reuse have emerged as crucial strategies in the quest for decarbonization in the architecture industry. These principles preach that creating new structures may be sustainable but encourage architects to minimize their ecological footprint by reactivating and recycling existing resources. This year specifically, innovative projects in line with these themes were displayed as part of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. This world-renowned event’s core purpose is to serve as a platform for architects, designers, and thinkers to collectively reimagine sustainability, decarbonization, resource conservation, and the industry's future.
The XIV Florence Biennale of Art and Design announced that Santiago Calatrava will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, a "tribute to one of the most influential architects of our times and a recognition of your audacious experimentation, extraordinary talent, and ingenious ability to combine architecture and art in projects imagined and designed in harmony with nature and oriented towards the ideals of beauty.”
MVRDV has joined the Van Gogh Homeland Foundation to develop the first Van Gogh Homeland Biennale to bring awareness to the challenges faced by the Brabant region. At the initiative of Midpoint Brabant, the experience strives to combine knowledge of architecture, landscape design, and sustainability to reignite enthusiasm for the Brabant landscape, Vincent van Gogh;s native Dutch province. According to the organisers, the region is facing a number of threats, including the increasing number of floods and the limited availability of space, but, through an orchestrated effort, the landscape that inspired van Gogh 150 years ago can become more sustainable and greener in the future.
Sevince Bayrak and Oral Göktaş, founders of the Istanbul-based studio SO? Architecture and Ideas, were selected as curators for the Pavilion of Türkiye in the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia 2023, with an exhibition project titled Ghost Stories: Carrier Bag Theory of Architecture. The installation questions the accepted perceptions of unused buildings in order to discover more hopeful proposals for the future. The exhibition will be open from May 20th until November 26th, 2023, under the coordination of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV). The project team consists of Aysima Akın, Kevser Reyyan Doğan, Merve Akdoğan and the research team includes Taylan Tosun, Doğu Tonkur, Hatice Bahar Çoklar Berke Şevketoğlu, Duygu Sayğı.
Biennales, exhibitions, and architecture focused festivals provide a platform for opening debates, conducting research, and driving innovation, but they can also contribute to the incremental changes that shape the image and the character of a city. Through temporary installations and experiments, this type of events have the opportunity to open lines on inquiry into the quality of urban spaces, inviting visitors and residents to slow down, break away from their daily routine and interrogate their local environments. The effects might not be immediate, but by cumulating these impressions and moments of contemplation, architecture and design festivals can have a long-lasting impact on the cities that welcome them.
The Islamic Arts Biennale re-imagines the Western Hajj Terminal at King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as a cultural space to create an evocative journey to explore Islamic heritage. The terminal, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and a winner of the 1983 Aga Khan Award, will be extended and complemented to create the setting for the event. Through the contributions of over 60 artists from over 20 countries, the biennale aims to become a platform to explore and reflect the diversity of the Muslim experience worldwide. Themed Awwal Bait, or The First House, the event intertwines commissioned works with never-before exhibited historical artifacts to convey a holistic perspective of the Islamic arts. The Biennale, curated by Sumayya Vally, now in its inaugural edition, will be open from January 2023 to April 2023.
“Another Breach in the Wall’ was the chosen theme for the main exhibition presented at Beta 2022, the Timișoara Architecture Biennial, which ran from 23 September to 23 October 2022. Curated by Daniel Tudor Munteanu and Davide Tommaso Ferrando, it aimed to explore the concept of loopholes, a term referring both to inadequacies in a set of regulations and an arrow slit in a defensive wall. The exhibition aimed to inspire action an empower citizens to appropriate the urban fabric by exposing submissive urban strategies. The projects and actions presented were selected based on their potential to create novel urban spaces by questioning the laws that regulate the use of public space.
Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2022: "Edible; Or, The Architecture of Metabolism" announced record numbers in its 6th edition after 3 months of exhibitions in Estonia's capital. From installations and a symposium to satellite events, the biennale received in its opening week a record of circa 3000 visitors between architects, planners, designers, and students from more than 20 countries. Due to the successful outcome, the Installation "Fungible Non-Fungible" will be installed until 2024 marking the beginning of the 7th TAB.
The 2022 Biennale of FRAC in the Centre-Val De Loire Region, France, is exhibiting the work of 55 women for its third edition entitled Infinite Freedom, A World for a Feminist Democracy. The fair showcases pieces from the Center Pompidou and the Cité de l'architecture et du Patrimoine collection and brings special guests such as architect Anna Heringer and Journalist and Director Rokhaya Diallo. From September 2022 to January 1st, 2023, female artists, architects, and politicians will gather to discuss and create a new definition of inclusive and plural democracy in the city, architecture, design, and art.
It’s About Time, the 10th edition of the RotterdamArchitecture Biennale, is a seven-week-long manifestation showing realistic courses toward a livable future at a time when the consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly apparent. Half a century ago, the consequences of climate change were predicted in The Limits of Growth report from 1972. This outlines the possible consequences of an exponential increase in population, agricultural production, and resource extraction. The report is viewed by many as the beginning of environmental awareness. The Rotterdam Architecture Biennale aims to bring these changes into perspective by looking both at the past and the possible future.
The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) has announced the art collective Floating Museum as the leading artistic team of CAB’s fifth edition, opening in September 2023. For this edition, titled “This is a Rehearsal”, the Biennial explores environmental, political, and economic issues present in today’s society, yet addressed differently around the world through art, architecture, infrastructure, and civic participation. The Floating Museum, a collective of artists, designers, poets, and educators, aims to push the CAB 5 exhibition and program model to prioritize presenting innovative ideas that could shape the future of architecture and design.
Tersane Istanbul. Image Courtesy of Contemporary Istanbul
In September 2022, Istanbul highlights the best names in contemporary art and architecture from Turkey and the world at the 17th Istanbul Biennial organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts and at the Contemporary Istanbul art fair. From September 17 to 22, 2022 The Contemporary Istanbul will gather sixty-five galleries, and art initiatives from 22 countries in Tersane Istanbul, a 600-years historic landmark renovated by the award-winning firm Tabanlioglu Architects. Opening the same day until November 20, the Istanbul Biennial will be held in multiple venues around the historic city. For this edition, the visitors will experience the “sense of our times” by contemplating present-day life and the richly layered past.
The Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, opens The Energy Show and the Solar Biennale on Friday, September 9, 2022. In collaboration with The Solar Biennale designer and curator Matylda Krzykowski and solar designers Marjan van Aubel and Pauline van Dongen, the exhibition presents a series of projects that explores the sun's meaning and possibilities in society, the environment, and design. With Europe in the midst of an energy crisis, The Energy Show and the Solar Biennale is an opportunity for designers and the general public to examine the transition to solar energy and technology as we move towards a post-carbon future.
