'Ecologías en movimiento', tema del pabellón de Chile en la Bienal de Venecia 2023. Image Cortesía de Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patrimonio de Chile
The Chilean Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage selected architect Gonzalo Carrasco and Beals Lyon Arquitectos as curators of the Chilean pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2023 with their proposal themed "Moving Ecologies" ("Ecologías en Movimiento").
"Moving Ecologies" will address how "architecture and science made it possible to imagine the future of a country that was entering modernity" in the XIX century in such a project as the Quinta Normal park, according to the organizers. Moreover, the proposal parallels the current challenges around ecological repair and restoration with the study of soil recovery processes with endemic seeds.
The Portugal pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia 2023 will present the Fertile Futures project, curated by Andreia Garcia and assistant curators Ana Neiva and Diogo Aguiar. The project aims to address water resources issues in seven Portuguese hydro geographies and encourage reflection on building a sustainable, equitable, and fertile future. The exhibition will take place at Palazzo Franchetti from May 20 to November 26, 2023.
A fountain of sinks . Image Courtesy of Arvi Anderson
The Estonian Centre for Architecture has chosen the exhibition “Home Stage,” curated by Aet Ader, Arvi Anderson, Mari Möldre of b210 Architects, to represent the Pavilion of Estonia at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Hosted in a rental apartment close to the rear exit of the Arsenale complex, the exhibition explores the contradiction between the living place as a home and as an exchange value. Various Estonian performers will each spend a month in the Venetian rental apartment, which will become both a home and a stage. The exhibition will be open from May 20 to November 26, 2023.
The Korean Pavilion, 2013. Image Courtesy of Arts Council Korea
In this edition of the 2023 Venice Biennale, the Korean Pavilion, curated by artistic Directors Soik Jung and Kyong Park, presents “2086: Together How?” bringing together architects, community leaders, and artists to explore how people can cooperate in withstanding the current and future environmental crisis until 2086 when the global population is said to the peak. The exhibition invites visitors to imagine an eco-cultural revolution by critically reassessing the world's capitalist, globalist, and colonial history. The viewers will be encouraged to reconsider current conditions through a participatory video game and a series of multidisciplinary installations that include photographs, drawings, models, videos, and architectural installations.
Since 1998, the Venice Architecture Biennale has been divided into three pillars: the national pavilions (each country chooses its own curators and projects), the international exhibition (curated by the Biennale's curator), and the collateral events (approved by the Biennale's curator).
In the 2023 edition of the event, the international architecture exhibition curated by Lesley Lokko is structured in six parts, including 89 participants. Over half of them are from Africa or the African Diaspora, with a 50/50 gender balance, and an average of 43 ages for participants.
Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira was chosen by the Holy See to create the installation that will represent it at the Venice Architecture Biennale, which will take place between May 20 and November 26, 2023. In collaboration with Studio Albori from Italy, the pavilion of the Vatican, curated by Roberto Cremascoli, will be dedicated to the theme of social friendship. This is in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the pontificate of Pope Francis.
At the 2023 Biennale Architettura, Finland's Pavilion 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.
Nieuwe Instituut has appointed Jan Jongert / Superuse Studios from Rotterdam as curator of the Dutch Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. In response to Lesley Lokko’s overarching theme for this edition of the Biennale, “Laboratory of the Future,” the Dutch curatorial team aims to explore the complex systems that underpin the structures of our societies. The exhibition will be open from 20 May to 26 November 2023.
Switzerland’s project for its national pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition–La Biennale di Venezia will be curated by Karin Sander and Philip Ursprung to explore territorial relationships within the Giardini of La Biennale. Titled “Neighbours,” their project is focused on the spatial and structural proximity between the Swiss Pavilion and its Venezuelan neighbor. By turning architecture itself into the exhibit, the project also highlights the bond between the architects of the two structures: the Swiss Bruno Giacometti (1907 - 2012) and the Italian Carlo Scarpa (1906 - 1978). The exhibition will be on display from May 20 to November 26, 2023.
The National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (Inbal) announced the selected proposal that will represent Mexico at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale 2023. The selection was derived from 44 registered teams and 14 projects submitted. The selected proposal is called "Utopian Infrastructure: The peasant basketball court" and is made up of the following participants:
Vista aérea de Venecia, Italia. Imagen de Lukas Kastner. Image via Shutterstock
The proposal "EN OPERA. Future Scenarios of a Young Forestry Law" by INST/MAPA + Carlos Casacuberta has been selected to represent Uruguay at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, to be held from May 20th to November 26th, 2023.
Cleveland-based gallery SPACES has been selected to organize the US exhibition at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. As curators, Tizziana Baldenebro, the executive director of the gallery, has collaborated with Lauren Leving, a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, on the proposal. Together they plan to fill the space of the pavilion with works in plastic by architecture professors, designers, and artists. The exhibition, titled “Everlasting Plastics”, aims to examine the role of this material “both literally and as a cultural metaphor”.
Courtesy of National Pavilion UAE - La Biennale di Venezia
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.
NOW HERE THERE - Accelerator of Ideas, 100 Lateral Pedagogies. Image Courtesy of UAR
The Romanian Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia will showcase innovative, yet unusual ideas and past technological innovations as a source of inspiration for creating more enjoyable and resilient urban environments. Titled “Now, Here, There,” the project was chosen following a national competition. The curatorial team composed of Emil Ivănescu, Simina Filat, Cătălin Berescu, and Anca Păsărin suggests turning to forgotten early 20th-century inventions to open up the field of possibilities for future developments. The team also collaborates with a number of specialists and institutions, including the National Technical Museum in Bucharest, which will provide a series of original artifacts to be on display for the duration of the exhibition, from May 20 to November 26, 2023.
Baia di Ieranto. Image Courtesy of Fosbury Architecture
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.
Courtesy of Media by Matteo de Mayda/ Courtesy of 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, The laboratory of the Future
For the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the Nordic Countries Pavilion, representing Finland, Norway, and Sweden, will showcase Girjegumpi, an itinerant collective library project initiated by architect and artist Joar Nango. For over fifteen years, Joar Nango has been assembling an archive of books and materials exploring Indigenous Sámi architecture and design, traditional building knowledge, activism, and decoloniality. The Girjegumpi first opened to the public in 2018, becoming a welcoming space for gathering and promoting the Indigenous culture. In 2023, the library will travel to Venice, where it will be presented in the Nordic Countries Pavilion, designed by Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn.
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 investigates "the Laboratory of the Future".
