21.05.2021 Frank Kaltenbach

See You in Venice

“How will we live together?” this year’s director, Hashim Sarkis, asks the 114 architects, landscape architects, designers and artists who are represented with their works at various locations throughout the city. Sarkis is serious about his motto, which may seem a bit generic at first. The MIT professor and architect with studios in Boston and Beirut moves between the worlds of the Middle East and the USA: “We need a new spatial contract. In the context of widening political divides and growing economic inequalities, we call on architects to imagine spaces in which we can generously live together. The emphasis lies on togetherness.”

In 1996, the motto chosen by then-director Hans Hollein was “Sensing the future − the architect as seismograph”. For Sarkis, this observational, documentary-based stance is no longer sufficient. “In effect, the Biennale Architettura 2021 asserts the vital role of the architect as both cordial convener and custodian of the spatial contract.”

In its scope, the overall program is equal to those of previous years: 63 national pavilions will be represented, including Grenada, Iraq, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, all of which will participate for the first time. From 23 July until 1 August, the International Festival of Contemporary Dance will perform short, sketchy choreographies to accompany the exhibition in the Arsenale.

The postponement of the Biennale has given participants significantly more time than in previous years. Indeed, a few curators have worked new experiences from the COVID-19 crisis into their concepts. Perhaps the one-year rest period will enable the Venice Biennale in Architecture to rediscover its former relevance.

At the opening ceremony on 22 May, Rome-born architect Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992), who eventually emigrated to Brazil, will be distinguished in memoriam with the Special Golden Lion for her life’s work. See you in Venice!

Hashim Sarkis Photo: Jacopo Salvi, Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

Lina Bo Bardi at the SESC Pompeia auditorium, Courtesy of Instituto Bardi, Casa Vidro Photo: Bob Wolfenson

Lina Bo Bardi, SESC Pompeia Leisure Center, Sao Paolo 1986 Photo: Leonardo Finotti

Lina Bo Bardi, SESC Pompeia Leisure Center Sao Paolo 1986 Photo: Leonardo Finotti

Lina Bo Bardi, MASP, Museo de Arte de Sao Paolo 1968 Photo: Leonardo Finotti

Lina Bo Bardi, MASP, Museu de Arte de Sao Paolo, Courtesy of Instituto Moreira Salles Photo: Hans Gunther Flieg

Lina Bo Bardi, MASP, Drawing Photo: MASP Archive

Portrait, Lina Bo Bardi and glass easel with a Van Gogh at MASP construction site Photo: Courtesy Instituto Bardi

Lina Bo Bardi, MASP, Museu de Arte de Sao Paolo 1968 Photo: Leonardo Finotti

Lina Bo Bardi, Casa de Vidro, Sao Paolo, 1952 Photo: Francisco Albuquerque, Courtesy of Instituto Bardi

Lina Bo Bardi, Casa de Vidro Photo: Leonardo Finotti

Rafael Moneo Photo: © Germán Saiz

Moneo Museum of Roman Art Mérida 1986, Photo: Luis Casals

Moneo Kursaal San Sebastian 1999 Photo: © M Moran

Moneo, Cathedral of our Lady of the Angles, Los Angeles 2002 Photo: © MMoran

Moneo, Cathedral of our Lady of the Angles, Los Angeles 2002 Photo: © MMoran

Moneo, North West Corner Building, Columbia University, New York 2009 Photo: © DUCCIO MALAGAMBA

Corderie 2 Photo: Giulio Squillacciotti, Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

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