Founder and Director of the African Futures Institute (AFI) based in Accra, Ghana, Lesley Lokko, is a Ghanaian-Scottish architect, educator, and novelist. With a career that spans Johannesburg, London, Accra, and Edinburgh, she has held several teaching positions and is widely recognized in her field. Professor Lokko was appointed as the curator of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia in December 2021, after serving as a jury member for the Golden Lions Awards for the previous edition of the Venice Biennale. In her first interview with ArchDaily, after she was appointed curator of the 2023 Architecture Biennale, Lesley Lokko shares insights about the preparations, the theme, and this 18th edition.
For the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the Lithuanian Pavilion will present an exhibition titled “Children’s Forest Pavilion”, curated by Jurga Daubaraitė, Egija Inzule, and Jonas Žukauskas. The intervention aims to become a playscape, acknowledging the unique perspectives through which children observe and interact with their environment. The project strives to explain the ecosystem of the forest, bringing together works and findings developed in parallel to outdoor activities held with children in the woodlands of Lithuania and Finland. Environmental educators, activists, architects and foresters will discuss the idea of forests as negotiated spaces where all actors play an important role. The Pavilion will be open from May 20th until November 26th, 2023.
Saudi Arabia announced its participation at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, with an exhibition titled IRTH إرث,legacy in Arabic, exploring qualities of materials in relation to the Saudi landscape. The third round of participation the Saudi Pavilion will have at the International Architecture Exhibition, this year's edition is represented by architect AlBara Saimaldahar and curated by the duo Basma and Noura Bouzo. The Pavilion will be on display at the Arsenale – Sale d’Armi 2023.
For the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the Bulgarian Pavilion will present the exhibition titled “Education is the movement from darkness to light.” Curators Boris Tikvarski, Bojidara Valkova, and Mariya Gyaurova, joined by Belgian photographer Alexander Dumarey, have chosen to focus the exhibition on the subject of depopulation, urban decline, and rural flight, expressed through the image of abandoned schools present in the country. The project was selected following a national competition organized by The Ministry of Culture, The Chamber of Architects in Bulgaria, and the Union of Architects.
At the 2023 Biennale Architettura, Finland'sPavilion will present its exhibition Huussi, Imagining the Future History of Sanitation, which deals with the architecture of water and nutrient circulation, questioning the water toilet and Its implications for the future. "Huussi" is the Finnish word for an outhouse, a small compost toilet commonly used by Finns in rural settings and holiday homes. The exhibition, curated by Arja Renell and The Dry Collective, a group of Finnish architects, presents this typology as a starting point to finding alternative solutions to managing wastewater, inspiring professionals to start envisioning new sanitation solutions. At the core of the presentation, the exhibition questions the consequences of waste in the context of the current climate crisis the world is going through.
Venice, a city usually concerned with devastating floods, now faces the opposite problem: canals are starting to run dry following weeks of dry winter weather and unusually low tides. A combination of factors is believed to have caused this rare sight: lack of rain, high atmospheric pressure, and the lunar cycle producing low water levels during ebb tide. Since the canals serve as streets in the city, the phenomenon has implications beyond the disappointment of the tourists. Some of Venice’s smaller calas have dried up almost entirely, making it impossible for gondolas, water taxis, and ambulances to reach areas of the city.
Aridly Abundant is the title of the body of research being exhibited at the UAE National Pavilion at the 18th annual International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. The Pavilion was curated by Faysal Tabbarah, Associate Dean and Professor of Architecture at the College of Architecture, Art, and Design at the American University of Sharjah. The exhibition explores the possibility of architectural possibilities in, with, and for arid landscapes.
The project for the Italian Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia will be curated by Fosbury Architecture, a collective composed of Giacomo Ardesio, Alessandro Bonizzoni, Nicola Campri, Veronica Caprino, and Claudia Mainardi. Fosbury Architecture’s vision for the exhibition is based on a research practice that sees design as the result of collective and collaborative work. From January to April, leading up to the opening of the Biennale, nine site-specific interventions titled “Spaziale presenta” are set out to activate different locations across Italy.
Titled "January, February, March", the Georgian Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale is curated by the Tbilisi Architecture Biennial. Exploring the relationship between the flow of time and energy, the Georgian intervention "will represent dead and living nature through the story of an artificially altered settlement in the Dusheti region of Georgia". Running from May 20th to November 26th, 2023 in the Giardini, at the Arsenale, and at various sites around Venice, the 18th International Architecture Exhibition tackles "the Laboratory of the Future".
The Italian city installed glass barriers around the 900-year-old church to keep the waters out. The decision was made after near-record flooding in December 2022, preventing a repeat of the November 2019 near-catastrophe that aged parts of the building “20 years in a day,” according to Basilica’s Procuratoria governing body. The temporary structure is fixed until the MOSE system fully works by the end of 2025, protecting the city of Venice, Italy, and the Venetian Lagoon from flooding.
The International Award for the Commission of Architecture “Dedalo Minosse” promoted the Italian association for professional Architects returns after three years on hold, to tribute worldwide architects. Firms like ODDO architects, Ryuichi Ashizawa, and The Kresge Foundation - Detroit are some of the winners for their promotion and contribution to the discipline. The Anniversary is also de 12th edition of the Dedalo Prize, which will be held From September 16 to October 2, 2022, in Vicenza, Italy. The event will host forums and workshops about and around the city, opening with the spectacular award ceremony at the iconic Teatro Olimpico, and continuing with a Multimedia exhibition at the Basilica Palladiana.
Following several initiatives to tackle the tourism and architectural heritage crisis, Venice authorities have announced that as of January 16th, 2023, visitors will have to book a visiting slot and an entrance fee to see the historic canal city. The newly proposed ticketing system, which is claimed to be the first of its kind in the world, hopes to control its "over-tourism" crisis, a challenge that has been affecting the lagoon's ecosystem, urban development, and local population.
The 59th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia has officially opened its doors to the public on the 23rd of April, 2022. Titled "The Milk of Dreams”. the exhibition is welcoming more than 210 artists from 58 countries, to showcase over a thousand artworks and installations that promote art, science, research, and ecological transition from the environmental humanities.