Kazuyo Sejima has revealed her theme for the 12th International Architecture Exhibition to be ‘People in architecture’.
The renowned Japanese architect from SANNA, the practice that recently designed London’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, will curate the exhibition under the inclusive title.
“The idea is to help people relate to architecture, help architecture relate to people and help people relate to themselves,” Sejima said.
The biennale will be an exploration of architectural possibilities, she said, “about how architecture expresses new ways of living, about an architecture created by different values and approaches”.
“I would be very happy if we could feel where our society will go through this exhibition”.
Each architect or theme will have an individual space, which will allow participants in effect to be their own curators.
“It will be a series of spaces rather than a series of objects,” Sejima said
President of the biennale, Paolo Baratta, said that the exhibition was attempting to reignite discussion about the role of architecture in civilization.
“This discipline must be in a position to accept the challenge of organizing the space of our lives. In this sense, it must address one of the highest problems: the contemporary realization of the res publica”.
Two major projects will be developed for the 12th Exhibition: Architecture Saturdays and the greater involvement of the universities.
Architecture Saturdays will consist in a series of conversations, performances and weekly discussions with architects, critics and personalities from the world of architecture.
Former directors of the exhibitions will be invited, Vittorio Gregotti (1975, 1976, 1978), Paolo Portoghesi (1980, 1982, 1992), Francesco Dal Co (1988, 1991), Hans Hollein (1996), Massimiliano Fuksas (2000), Deyan Sudjic (2002), Kurt W. Forster (2004), Richard Burdett (2006), and Aaron Betsky (2008).
The university project aims to make the exhibition more inclusive to schools and universities.
Each university and department may present and develop a specific theme coherent with the contents of the Exhibition, to be discussed during a forum in one of the biennale venues.
The 12th International Architecture Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia will also present the national participations, with their own exhibitions in the pavilions at the Giardini, and in the historic city centre of Venice.
This biennale will also include selected collateral events, presented by international entities and institutions, which will present their exhibitions and initiatives in Venice concurrently with the 12th Exhibition.
