The Venice Architecture Biennale has traditionally opened later in September. But this year, because of a scheduling conflict, it is opening on August 29 and will remain open until November 21. We will be blogging from the biennale during the press preview and beyond, so watch for our posts of events, press conferences, and parties. If you want a list of official biennale events you can of course check their website, along with the new iPhone app that launched today. But this year there seem to be more collateral events to the official program than ever before.
Here is an unofficial listing of some of the most exciting:
August 22-27
The NOW INTERVIEWS: Hans Ulrich Obrist
The curator of the 12th architecture biennale, Kazuyo Sejima, commissioned Hans Ulrich Obrist to create a new iteration of his ongoing Interview Project, first conceived in the 1970s and now produced for the biennale by the Institute of the 21st Century. Obrist will conduct the interviews in the Arsenale and talks with Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (August 24, 9:30 a.m.), Frank Gehry (August 27, 10:30 a.m.) and this year’s Golden Lion winner Rem Koolhaas (August 25, 9:30 a.m.). Meanwhile, Bice Curiger, curator of the 2011 art biennale, will turn the tables and interview Hans Ulrich Obrist (August 26, 5:00 p.m.).
August 25
Pier Luigi Nervi: Architettura come Sfida
This exhibition of the engineer and architect opens on August 25 at Palazzo Giustinian Lolin Campo Manin, San Marco, and runs through November.
The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi: Architect, Etcher, Antiquarian, Vedutista, Designer on Venice
This exhibition, on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, opens on August 25 and runs through November 21.
August 26
Rethinking Education: A New Postgraduate School in Moscow, and OMA
Strelka, a new postgraduate school in Moscow for Media, Architecture, and Design, is teaming up with OMA for a conversation on architectural education in Russia and beyond. OMA’s think tank, AMO, has developed an educational programme for Strelka, which will open its doors to students in October. Rem Koolhaas introduces Strelka’s educational team and presents the school’s research agenda. On Thursday, August 26 from 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale, Venice.
Mapping Contemporary Venice from the City of Today to the Venice of the Future
Venturing into a project far from the mass tourism postcard, this exhibition is set down in the moleskines with the visionary idea of Acqualta in 2060. It will take place at the Venice International University on San Servolo Island from August 26 to September 20.
Inventario
Stop by the launch of a new publishing project called Inventario—part book, part magazine—on August 26 at Ca’ Giustinian (headquarters of Biennale) at 6:00 p.m.
August 27
Workshopping
The United States pavilion presents projects that “involve the architect as the initiator of a transdisciplinary cooperative team focused on research, social engagement, and private initiative for public benefit.” Featured practices include Hood Design, MOS, John Portman & Associates, Guy Nordenson, Catherine Seavitt, ARO, the LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio, Anthony Fontenot, Chicago’s Archeworks, Michael Sorkin’s Terreform, and UCLA’s cityLAB. The opening press conference is Friday, August 27.
Architects Meet in Fuori Biennale
This is the first survey on worldwide architects under 35 by the Association of Italian Architects and Critics. The event will take place in two different venues on August 27. One is at the Aula Magna of the Università IUAV di Venezia (S. Croce 191 Tolentini), where the work of young Italian architects and critics will be presented.
Architecture on Display Book Party
The launch party for Architecture on Display: On the History of the Venice Biennale of Architecture, will take place at the Fondazione Giorgip Cini on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore from 11:00-1:00 on August 27. The book features Aaron Levy and William Menking in conversations with Vittorio Gregotti, Paolo Portoghesi, Francesco Dal Co, Hans Hollein, Massimiliano Fuksas, Deyan Sudjic, Kurt Forster, Richard Burdett, Aaron Betsky, Kazuyo Sejima, and biennale president Paolo Baratta.
Beyond Entropy: When Energy Becomes Form
Following the book launch, the Architectural Association will host a symposium on eight projects dealing with science and architecture. Speakers include Hans Ulrich Obrist, Beppe Caccia (Councilor, Venice City Hall), Joseph Rykwert, Stefano Boeri, Eyal Weizman, Suman Basar, Richard Burdett, and Hans Hollein.
If Buildings Could Talk
The press conference for a new film by Wim Wenders, described as “a visual 3-D video installation that investigates the Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne, the recently inaugurated building by SANAA,” will be held on August 27. Wenders explores the question of how buildings communicate with their users, responding to Sejima’s theme for the biennale, “People Meet in Architecture.” The film will screen for the duration of the biennale.
Longing for… Score #1
A hybrid performance-installation focusing on translatory movements of choreography and architecture, this show focuses on choreography as a description and design of space, through which representational conventions of both disciplines are brought into dialogue. Runs from August 27 to August 29 at the Arsenale Novissimo.
August 28
M9: A New Museum for a New City
The studios Agence Pierre-Louis Faloci, Carmassi Studio di Architettura, David Chipperfield Architects, Mansilla+Tuñón Arquitectos, Sauerbruch Hutton, and Souto Moura Arquitectos will present designs for the new museum and renovation of the former Matter barracks, which on this occasion will be open to the public for the first time. It runs from August 28 to November 21 at Via Alessandro Poerio, 24, Venezia-Mestre.
The Bearable Lightness of Being: The Metaphor of the Space 2
This show’s 22 artists developed a special artistic engagement in interpreting the functional nature of space and its anthropological or political references. Taking space, taking ground, and working in the cultural field are the centre of this exhibition. At the Arsenale Novissimo, Tesa di San Cristoforo 94 from August 28 to October 7.
L’Aquila Exhibition and Talk
SISMYCITY is photographic project on the aftermath of the earthquake that struck the Italian city of L’Aquila on April 6, 2009. This exhibition and conference, held in the Palazzo Ducale, aims to make Venice itself a city-wide gallery for documentary images of the post-earthquake situation and the collective thinking on the future of the city. Join Angelo Scola, Massimo Cacciari, Robert Hammond, and others for the conference on Saturday, August 28 at 9:30 a.m.
August 29
The Garden and Beyond: A Global Garden
The garden has for centuries been a source of inspiration and fascination, and the object of cultural, scientific, and aesthetic studies. Its configuration as a closed space makes it similar to the more properly sacred, prohibited, or secret spaces and it shares the same definition of humanity and civilization in the finest possible sense of this term. The exhibition will be on view from August 29 to November 21 at ESU Venezia, sala polivalente “Nardocci,” Dorsoduro, 3861 (Calle larga Foscari); VELA-Actv info point “Hellovenezia,” Isola Nova.
Austria Under Construction: Austrian Architecture Around the World
The Austrian pavilion, curated by the American architect Eric Owen Moss, includes a long roster of international architects building and teaching in Austria such as Raimund Abraham, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Hans Hollein, Rainer Pirker, Behnisch Architekten, Zaha Hadid Architects, Steven Holl, Michael Sorkin Studio, and Lebbeus Woods.
Project Eco-Delta: Design for Coastal Cities
The Van Alen Institute and Environmental Defense Fund host a roundtable discussion to explore the environmental challenges faced by coastal cities throughout the world. Titled Project Eco-Delta, the initiative is part of VAI and EDF’s ongoing collaboration in developing design strategies for the landscape surrounding New Orleans. The forum will feature leading experts such as Stephane Asselin (AECOM), Maria Teresa Brotto (Consorzio Venezia Nuova), Stephen Cassell (ARO), and Padraic Kelly (Buro Happold). Check it out on Sunday, August 29 at the U.S. pavilion.
Chance Encounter Venice
The multidisciplinary art project TEVERETERNO, which has advocated for the revival of Rome’s Tiber River, is sponsoring Chance Encounter as part of the opening of the Italian Pavilion on August 29 at 3:30 p.m.
