The housing reform collective Architects Against Housing Alienation (AAHA) will represent Canada at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. Having been selected by the Canada Council for the Arts, AAHA will use the event to launch an architectural activity campaign for safe, healthy, affordable housing, titled “Not for Sale!”

The newly-formed collective was created specifically for the purposes of the Biennale bid, composed of architects, designers, educators, and historians, with support from collaborators and contributors with backgrounds in affordable housing, indigenous communities, education, and design. The aim of the group is to “instigate an architectural movement and create socially, ecologically, and creatively empowering housing for all.”

To further this goal, the group will use the 2023 Biennale to transform the Canada Pavilion into a campaign headquarters for equitably housing. The campaign will seek to combat the financialized concept of property by presenting “bold visions for equitably and deeply affordable housing in Canada.” The campaign will also see collaborations with interdisciplinary teams comprised of activist organizations, advocates for non-alienated housing” and architects.

“We are thrilled to have been selected to represent Canada at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, a prestigious international platform that engages critical conversation about contemporary architecture,” said a statement by AAHA following their selection. “It is crucial that we respond to Canada’s deep housing crisis. Together with Indigenous leaders, activists, advocates, and architects, we will create a campaign for accessible and affordable housing for all.”

The selection marks a significant thematic change from Canada’s contribution to the 2020 Venice Biennale, which explored the country’s role as a popular filming location. Titled “Imposter Cities,” the exhibition was designed by architecture studio T B A with McGill University’s David Theodore, focusing on ideas of identity, history, and culture.

Late last year, it was announced that Lesley Lokko would curate the 2023 Biennale. Upon her appointment, Loko noted that: "A new world order is emerging, with new centers of knowledge production and control. New audiences are also emerging, hungry for different narratives, different tools, and different languages of space, form, and place."