Archinect - Features

Archinect's Guide to the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale: Part I — The National Pavilions

2023-06-06T14:17:00-04:00

With the opening week of the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale now passed, there has been much discussion and media coverage of the anticipated international exhibition. It's safe to imply that the high-profile event aims to highlight, unveil, celebrate, and at times, provoke new and further existing discourse surrounding architecture. It can, however, be daunting to navigate the scene as a whole, especially for those who are learning about the pavilions, installations, participants, and overall event programming from afar.

To help Archinect readers who can only experience this year's Biennale virtually, we've created a handy reference guide to provide visuals and added context. In this two-part mini-feature series, we provide a summary and context for this year's exhibition theme, The Laboratory of the Future. Our guide offers a breakdown of important figures that make up the event, a list of participants, pavilions and installations, and upcoming events, as well as critical takes...

Architecture as Caregiver: NYIT School of Architecture and Design Showcases Student and Faculty Work at the 2021 Venice Biennale

2021-12-16T10:49:00-05:00

Pavilions and exhibitions showcased at the 2021 Architecture Venice Biennale have grabbed news headlines for a good portion of the year. As the architecture and design world interrogates the works of numerous architects, curators, and professional design teams through the lens of the latest theme, How Will We Live Together, attention must also be paid to the participation of architecture students and faculty. Highly visible exhibitions have become outlets for educating the world about what architecture is today. Academic contributions add to architecture's growing discourse through research and investigations.

For this year's International Architecture Exhibition, architecture students and faculty from the New York Institute of Technology School of Architecture and Design (SoAD) made an appearance in Venice. Through the leadership of SoAD Dean Maria Perbellini and fellow faculty members, the institution showcased two unique pavilions. Archinect connected with Dean Perbellini to lear...

The Venice Biennale Pressed Pause, While Everyone Else Changed the Game

2021-06-29T08:42:00-04:00

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the way we live, work, and interact has transformed. The architecture world has been forced to adapt in tandem, with our means of design, communication, and education all undergoing rapid changes. Though set against a tragic backdrop, this forced evolution of the industry has opened new avenues for the future of work and education which were either unproven or unconsidered before the pandemic. However, while the rest of the industry evolved, the 2020 Venice Biennale chose to delay its opening date in order to proceed with its traditional format. This opinion piece reflects on how the Biennale may have missed a once-in-a-generation opportunity to radically reform how it promotes contemporary architectural trends, and in doing so, address long-held concerns over its relevance, accessibility, and environmental impact.

The Exhibitionary Complex

2017-01-12T12:19:00-05:00

One morning I woke up to a surprising text: my friend was on TMZ. For reasons never communicated to me, she had been hanging out with a celebrity of some renown when, as they walked to a club, they were surrounded by paparazzi. To distract them, my friend impulsively decided to lift up her shirt. “FRIEND FLASHES BOOBIE DECOY … Photogs Forced to Choose,” the headline read.

Uniting the peripheral and the central at the 2016 Venice Biennale

2016-06-18T10:13:00-04:00

How architects are educated, and the role they play in society, are key questions of today. As an architecture teacher, I ask my students how they see their role; are they makers, choreographers, gardeners, enablers, artists? This year’s Venice Biennale asks, and tries to answer, the same question. There are many different answers.

Make room, make room: Aravena's Venice Biennale juggles inclusivity with individuality

2016-06-15T10:11:00-04:00

The call for the 15th La Biennale Architettura di Venezia, “Reporting from the Front,” asked architecture to give a damn. It did so as an expression of dissatisfaction with past performances, and by attempting to showcase remedies, all under the curatorial leadership of 2016 Pritzker Prize winner, Alejandro Aravena.

Aravena's discomforting Venice Biennale: taking on "Reporting from the Front"

2016-06-13T12:28:00-04:00

This year’s International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale feels refreshing. It showcases, for the most part, attempts at real architecture for real people. Titled Reporting from the Front, the Biennale is curated by 2016 Pritzker Prize winner Alejandro Aravena, and has a fresh lineup of new faces and alternative practices. It puts the spotlight on those who work on the ground to prove that architecture can make a difference. As president Paolo Baratta states, the Biennale presents “creativity and hope in the here-and-now, not in some uncertain aspirational, ideological future.”

Previewing the 2016 Venice Biennale: the United States' "Architectural Imagination"

2016-05-17T17:01:00-04:00

In advance of the 2016 Venice Biennale, we've spoken with the curators behind a few select pavilions to check in on the status of their exhibitions. For this feature, we share our conversation with Cynthia Davidson and Monica Ponce de Leon of the American Pavilion, "The Architectural Imagination".

Previewing the 2016 Venice Biennale: the British Pavilion's "Home Economics"

2016-05-03T02:03:00-04:00

In advance of the 2016 Venice Biennale, we've spoken with the curators behind a few select pavilions to see how they're grappling with Alejandro Aravena's theme, "Reporting from the Front". For this feature, we spoke with the curators behind the British Pavilion, "Home Economics".

Screen/Print #23: REM magazine interviews Philippe Rahm and Ugo La Pietra

2014-08-21T11:02:00-04:00

It might be best to consider REM magazine as a performance, rather than a publication. The “short-term” magazine isn't solely about Koolhaas, but began publishing at the start of his Venice Biennale of Architecture in June, placing its feet firmly alongside other satellite exhibitions taking place during the Biennale. But REM isn’t here to analyze — it’s here to pit architects against one another in Koolhaas’ boxing ring.

Op-Ed: From (EX)CITE to (IN)CITE, reflecting on Rem's Biennale

2014-07-07T12:43:00-04:00

EXCITE

Rem Koolhaas, chief curator of the 2014 Venice Biennale, managed to excite us, again forcing us to rethink the Elements and Fundamentals of architecture. For me, this is the first time I felt a real desire to visit the show, which I have always imagined to be more like an amusement park for new design.

Rem's Venice Biennale is "like being immersed in a stormy S,M,L,XL, with a glass of wine, and hundreds of other people"

2014-06-16T10:46:00-04:00

Is Modernism “history”? How do Modern concepts, especially regarding representation, nature, technology and housing, relate to the current state of architecture? These were some overarching questions embedded in the 14th Venice Biennale of Architecture, curated by Rem Koolhaas. The show opened June 7th under the “Fundamentals” theme, and it is worth visiting for the important questions it raises about the current state of architecture and building.

Instigating Change with Common Ground

2012-09-18T10:16:00-04:00

In the age where cultural production has usurped industrial production as the driver for Western economies, the Venice Architecture Biennale represents a special kind of affair. This three month-long bonanza of architecture and urban design represents a collection of diverse principles produced under a unified curatorial umbrella. Despite the trash-talk that has proliferated in certain circles since the opening of the event in late August, this year’s Biennale doesn’t have much to be cynical, negative, or nasty about.

Venice Biennale Review

2008-09-16T17:58:00-04:00