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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has paused both countries' participation in the Venice Biennale… for now

2022-02-28T20:14:00-05:00

As Russian troops and tank convoys sweep into Ukraine from three sides, the future of its cultural contribution has also been cast in doubt after the announcement that the embattled country has, at least for now, placed a hold on all activities related to its pavilion from the 59th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale.

In a press statement released to the group’s Twitter account on Thursday, the team representing their country’s Pavilion planned for this April’s Biennale has announced the suspension of all activities related to the installation and exhibition until such time as the crisis within Ukraine’s borders can be resolved.

“At the moment this statement has been published, we are not in immediate danger, but the situation is critical and changes every minute,” part of the group’s statement read. “Presently, we are not able to work [on the] pavilion due to the risk to our lives.”

If you’d like to sign up under this statement, please leave your name in the comme...

Shaped Touches by Sean Lally features an interactive video game for the Venice Biennale

2021-07-22T20:03:00-04:00

As part of this year’s Venice Biennale, architect Sean Lally of Switzerland-based Sean Lally Architecture has paired a physical installation with an immersive simulation video game.

Shaped Touches is an investigation into the ways architecture and space can be perceived, showcasing the inherent subjectivity of the craft. The project is centered around climate change, specifically the impact it will continue to have on the way future environments are experienced. Using a virtual platform, Lally provides unfamiliar and potential perspectives to its users.

“Architects are in a position to foreshadow the opportunities and implications these pressures will have on shared public spaces,” reads the project description. “Shaped Touches offers a proposition for how architecture will define its shape and the relationships of people and communities touching that space.”

Within the video game, players explore a design space. Every minute, the game restarts in the same space but with new senso...

The 2021 Venice Biennale announces its International jury

2021-05-17T21:08:00-04:00

News of this year's Venice Biennale exhibitions, awards presentations, and pavilions has kept the architecture and design community busy with anticipation. On May 13, the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia announced its 17th International jury members. Each recommended by the Biennale's curator Hashim Sarkis this year's jury will be led by esteemed architect and Pritzker Prize winner Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA.

Sejima is joined by Sandra Barclay, Lamia Joreige, Lesley Lokko, and Luca Molinari. The jury will be responsible for awarding the Biennale's official prizes: The Golden Lion for best National Participation, Golden Lion for the best participant in the International Exhibition, and Silver Lion for a promising young participant in the International Exhibition. In addition to the official prizes, the Jury "may also award a maximum of one special mention to National Participations and a maximum of two special mentions to the participants in the International Exhibition How ...

Op-ed: Questions without Answers: the Venice Biennale 2012

2012-09-03T00:10:00-04:00

Architecture Biennale Venice 2012: Questions without answers
by Jaakko van ‘t Spijker

As opposed to what certain critics and commentators have suggested in about the opening week, they actually were there, the exhibitors with sociopolitical engagement asking relevant questions, at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale opening. What was lacking, however, were outspoken conclusions; the risky and exciting part of taking position after having made interesting observations. Where were the architectural mavericks, the polemical daredevils and provocateurs, to stir up and the debate and bring it further? It was in the Japanese pavilion that questions were asked as well as answered.

In one of the first pre-events of the Biennale, a surprise storm raged over the Venetian Laguna while in an old warehouse in Giudecca, MVRDV’s Winy Maas and his Delft University department The Why-Factory, put ‘the decline of the identity of The European City’ on the agenda by presenting a new EU C...

Editor's Picks #274

2012-07-23T21:52:00-04:00

In Archinect's latest feature Color in Architecture — More Than Just Decoration, Frank H. Mahnke (author of COLOR, Environment, & Human Response) explores the links between color, space and human neuropsychology. anf thought it was a "Great article... fits in well with the themes and topics being explored over at the Architectural Association's Research Cluster on Colour in Architecture and Urbanism,

In Archinect's latest feature Color in Architecture — More Than Just Decoration, Frank H. Mahnke (author of COLOR, Environment, & Human Response) explores the links between color, space and human neuropsychology. For more information check out the interdisciplinary education/accreditation program known as IACC Academy for Color and Environment. anf thought it was a "Great article... fits in well with the themes and topics being explored over at the Architectural Association's Research Cluster on Colour in Architecture and Urbanism, ‘Saturated Space’'”.

News
The Architects’ Journal surveyed the British public and reported that It’s true: people don’t know what architects do Rusty Shackleford quipped "To be fair, 98% of architecture students and 95% of their professors have no idea what architects actually do" but Will Galloway answered "only in the usa rusty. we're all licensed architects here. i would bet the numbers are even lower here". Stephan Pezdek meanwhile, believes "p...