Introduction by the President of la Biennale di Venezia, Paolo Baratta
No other discipline like architecture lends itself and begs to be observed, studied and considered from various points of view. The International Architecture Exhibitions of the Biennale have charted it in the recent years: architecture as a reference point for city planning, the phenomenon of big cities, regional organization, the new need for projects that make the spaces we live in recognizable and give them signs of individual and collective identity… The many Biennale exhibitions of the past have alternated curators from the world of scholars and critics with curators who are architects themselves. Many architecture exhibitions have addressed architecture and environmental issues, architecture and social issues, architecture and technology, and each exhibition raises the question of the “point of view” from which we observe.
The Biennale has given growing importance to the Architecture Exhibition which is still young considering that the first Exhibition was held in 1975 and that the first edition that occupied the totality of the new spaces acquired by the Biennale at the Arsenale was held in 2000.
For this 13th Biennale we met David Chipperfield, well aware that he cultivates a very intense vision of architecture as practice. We felt it was important to look at architecture with a focus deep inside the discipline itself, to highlight the rich pattern of connections and associations, the intense dialogue between the architects of present and past generations, and their points of reference. This moment will be useful to reflect upon and represent architecture by concentrating our attention on it, in response to other visions that consider it almost as a brunch of other disciplines.
We believe architecture to be the art of organizing the space we share, and the expression “Common Ground” refers directly to this concept. Architecture is the tool for realizing the res publica, which is the place of individuals but belongs to everyone, it is the Artemis that metamorphoses private ownerships and desires into a public goods.
The present times and the events that have affected the world economy in recent years would also advise some reconsideration and reevaluation. We need only mention the interruption of many of the colossal projects announced in recent years, and architecture’s loss of momentum as an instrument that relies on technology to emphasize mainly the victories and achievements of the client. Perhaps the time has passed when architects were hired as demiurges for merely representative purposes, in contrast to civil and urban contexts and conditions that, in the meantime, were developing in contradictory directions.
In my conversations with David, I thought I detected a concern: a desire to recompose the identity of the architect in the face of the partially distorted use that has been made of his art, often with his complicity, and of the equally widespread mediocre and utilitarian use of non-architecture, not to speak of the squalid environments built in cities around much of our world.
To speak of architecture and its complexity, of its richness, of the questions it seeks to answer, can be useful to everyone,first and foremost because it may enhance a more qualified culture on the part of the clients, lacking which we are in danger of losing the meaning of things, of history and of real needs.
David Chipperfield will present an Exhibition with 66 projects by architects, photographers, artists, critics and scholars. Many of them responded to his invitation with original project and installations expressly created for this Biennale, involving in their projects other colleagues with whom they share a Common Ground. The participants are 118 overall.
Let me add that 55 Countries will be participating in this Biennale including 4 new entries: Angola, Republic of Kosovo, Kuwait, and Peru.
For the third year in a row we are presenting an initiative which we consider to be of the greatest importance. A Biennale lasts three months, and we know that a high percentage of visitors belongs to the world of architecture in one way or another; many of them are young. We would like to be the preferred destination for visits organized by universities, lasting 3 consecutive days and culminating in a study seminar. Basically we would like the visit to become part of the students’ curricular activities: this is the goal that we pursue in the program entitled Biennale Sessions. It is an ambitious project, but the Biennale di Venezia wishes to remain a center for research, in which to observe, develop thoughts and elaborate, and a further step in the educational process of the new generations. 53 universities have already signed up for Biennale Sessions, and we have not yet come to the end of the school year.
During the exhibition, the Biennale will organize a program of Conversations about the Architecture, meetings dedicated to specific themes, issues and architects, to be held during the months of October and November.
My thanks to the Ministry of Culture, which at a difficult time for public finances is maintaining its decisive support, the local institutions that in various ways support La Biennale, the City of Venice and the Regione del Veneto. I extend out thanks to the authorities that are in various ways involved and concerned with the buildings in which we hold our Exhibition, from the Ministry of Defence to the Venice Soprintendenze.
I would like to thank also David Chipperfield’s team and the Biennale staff that will make possible the realization of the Exhibition.
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