The 15th International Architecture Exhibition entitled "Reporting From The Front”, directed by the 2016 Pritzker Prize Alejandro Aravena and organized by the Venice Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta, opens the doors to visitors from May 28 to November 27, 2016, at Gardens and Arsenal.
The Exhibition will include 64 National Participations in the historical Pavilions in the Gardens, the Arsenal and the Venice’s old town center. 5 countries are participating for the first time: the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Seychelles and Yemen.
Reporting From The Front is characterized by a single exhibition path from the Central Pavilion (Gardens) to the Arsenal, including 88 participants from 37 countries. 50 of them are present for the first time and 33 are the architects under 40.
“With this Bienniale we want to investigate more explicitly whether and where there are phenomena showing a reverse renewal trend; we are looking for encouraging messages”, the President Paolo Baratta stated.
"We believe – Aravena explained - that architecture progress is not an end in itself, but a way to improve the quality of life for people. Life ranges from the most essential physical needs to the most intangible dimensions of human condition, as a consequence the effort to improve the quality of the built environment must act on many fronts: the assurance of very practical and concrete living standards, the interpretation and satisfaction of human desires, the individual respect and the attention to common good, the efficiency in receiving the daily activities and the expansion of civilization boundaries”.
Therefore, the curator proposal is twofold: «on the one hand, we would like to widen the range of the topics to which architecture should provide answers, explicitly adding to cultural and artistic dimensions, already belonging to our aims, those related to social, political, economic and environmental issues. On the other hand, we would like to highlight how architecture can answer to more than one dimension at a time, by integrating a variety of fields instead of choosing one over another».
"Reporting From The Front, therefore, intend to share with a wider audience the work of people who scan the horizon in search of new areas of action, tackling issues such as segregation, inequality, the suburbs, the access to sanitary facilities, natural disasters, housing shortage, migration, informality, crime, traffic, waste, pollution and community participation. It also proposes to present examples summarizing the various dimensions, where pragmatism interweaves with existentialism, relevance with innovation, creativity with common sense”.
The 15th Exhibition will include three Special Projects: the first is organized by the Biennale, the other two are the result of agreements with other institutions, organized and carried out by the Biennale too. In the venue of Forte Marghera (Mestre, Venice) , the exhibition curated by the architect Stefano Recalcati, entitled Reporting from Marghera and Other Waterfronts, will present relevant projects of urban renewal of industrial ports, helping to stimulate a reflection on the productive reconversion of Porto Marghera .
The collaboration agreement with the London Victoria and Albert Museum will find its first step in the pavilion of the applied arts in the Weapons’ Hall of the Arsenal, with the title A World of Fragile Parts, edited by Brendan Cormier.
Finally, in view of the United Nations World Conference - Habitat III, that will be held in Quito in Ecuador in October 2016, and among the Urban Age program, jointly organized by the London School of Economics and the Alfred Herrhausen Society, the Biennale will set up, again at Armi Hall, a pavilion dedicated to urbanization issues - entitled “Report from Cities: Conflicts of an Urban Age” - with particular attention to the connection between public and private space, curated by Ricky Burdett.
Throughout the entire Biennale, several meetings on the issues and the phenomena presented are scheduled. Architecture Saturdays are back with the architects and the protagonists of the International Exhibit curated by Aravena, while on 16 and 17 July will be held in Venice, in the Exhibit locations, the annual conference Urban Age organized by the London School of Economics Cities, jointly with the Alfred Herrhausen Society of Deutsche Bank.
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