The Venice Architecture Biennale opens with an Argentine presence and diversity as the theme

The XVIII Venice Architecture Biennial 2023 has architect, writer and academic Lesley Lokko as curator (Photo: Juan Ignacio Calcagno)

Since 1895, Venice has become an epicenter of world culture. The International Art Exhibition, known as the Venice Art Biennale, is considered the most important in the country and also one of the most relevant on a global scale. The International Exhibitions are focused on music, cinema, theater, architecture and dance.

The eighteenth edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale formally kicked off with a display that includes the Giardini di Venezia, the Arsenale and the Forte Marghera, the International Exhibition brings together 63 countries and 89 participants from all over the world, and will remain until the 26th of November of this year.

The proposal El Futuro del Agua, by the Diego Arraigada studio, represents Argentine architecture at the Biennale and reveals the rich and privileged relationship with water, with extremely important resources, and makes its multiple facets and scales visible throughout the Biennale. history. This allows understanding the impact of urban and architectural disciplines on the vital element and promotes reflection on future actions.

“The future of water” represents Argentina at the Venice Architecture Biennale (Photo: Estudio Arraigada)

The sample is structured from a glossary of terms that cover all scales of water. Images related to each term are associated by table, bringing out correspondences between the territory, the cities and a curatorship of recent Argentine architecture. The Commissioner is Paula Vázquez (Director of Cultural Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Worship) and the curator is Diego Arraigada.

The project is the result of an open competition promoted by the Directorate of Cultural Affairs together with the Argentine Agency for Investment and International Trade, with the support of the Professional Council of Architecture and Urbanism (CPAU), the Central Society of Architects (SCA) and the Federation Argentina of Architects Entities (FADEA).

The prestigious architectural exhibition opens its doors to the public this Saturday (Photo: Juan Ignacio Calcagno)

This year, the city prepared to receive architecture exhibitors under the curatorship of Lesley Lokko. The architect and writer, who was born in Scotland and spent a large part of her youth in Ghana, proposed that the curatorial line be “The Laboratory of the Future”. For the first time in such an event, the creative and design process to achieve carbon neutrality will be put into practice. Two sections are proposed: Force Majeure and Dangerous Relations. The works that can be seen address issues such as climate change, gender equality, agriculture and food, education and culture.

It may interest you: “The future of water”, by Diego Arraigada, will represent Argentina at the Venice Architecture Biennale

The curator said that “the center of all the projects is the primacy and power of a tool: imagination.” In this sense, the structure of the Exhibition invites you to get an idea about the construction of a better world, understanding that the exercise of imagination and creativity are fundamental to fulfilling that common objective.

For the first time, it will be focused on African architects (Photo: Juan Ignacio Calcagno)

The Laboratory of the Future begins in the Central Pavilion of the Giardini, there are 16 installations that represent African and diasporic architectural production. It should be noted that of the 89 participants, more than half come from Africa or the African diaspora. Likewise, the gender parity between the artists who exhibit is notable, and the average age is 43 years, descending to 37 in the Curator’s Special Projects, where the youngest is 24 years old.

For the first time, the focus is on Africa and the fluid culture of people of African descent that spans the entire planet. In the official presentation, curator Lokko, daughter of a Ghanaian father, explains that “it is often said that culture is the sum total of the stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves. While true, what is missing from this statement is recognition of who the “we” in question is.

There will be 64 countries, 89 participants, 9 special events, 6 months of programs and massive activities (Photo: Juan Ignacio Calcagno)

Following this line, in the Arsenal complex and in Forte Marghera, the participants of the Dangerous Liaisons section mix with Lokko’s special projects. In both spaces there are young practitioners from Africa and the Diaspora. All Future Guests present work directly related to decolonization and decarbonization, providing a snapshot of future practices, and ways of seeing and being in the world.

The “Laboratory of the Future” program will offer events, conferences, round tables, public policy forums, films and performances that explore the themes of the Biennale di Architettura 2023.

In total, 64 States present their own pavilions in this edition of Architecture. Nigeria and Panama inaugurate their own exhibition spaces for the first time. In the Giardini there are 27 nations, 22 in the Arsenal, among them Argentina with “The future of water” curated by Diego Arraigada, and in the center of Venice another 14 countries.

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