Curtain-raiser: 14th La Biennale di Venezia

By Marina Correa

Photography: Courtesy la Biennale di Venezia 

Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014  ©Rem Koolhaas

We bring you a lowdown on what you can expect during the most eagerly-awaited and global architectural event - La Biennale di Venezia…

In its 14^th edition, the exhibition is titled ‘Fundamentals’ and will take place from 7^th June to 23^rd  November 2014 at various venues across Venice. Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas who is the curator says “Fundamentals will be a Biennale about architecture, not architects.”

Headquarters of la Biennale di Venezia 2010  ©Giulio Squillacciotti

The exhibition proposes to break off all connections with contemporary architecture and instead focus on the progression of global architecture over the past 100 years. Through this colossal exercise, it seeks to find out how architecture finds itself in its current situation as well as speculate on its future; emphatically moving away from presenting objects and architects.

                          Stair_models at the Friedrich Mielke Institute of Scalology ©Rem Koolhaas                                                     

In today’s technologically-driven society, people retain less in their memories and more on their gadgets. The Biennale seeks to address this issue by resurrecting memories through installations that narrate a century’s history thereby showcasing a global overview of architecture’s evolution into a single, modern aesthetic.

Paolo Baratta - President of la Biennale di Venezia &                                                                                                                    

Ar. Rem Koolhaas - Curator of the 14^th International Architecture Exhibition                      © Giorgio Zucchiatti

Central Pavilion_model in progress  ©Rem Koolhaas   

At the same time, it seeks to expose distinct, country-specific architectural characteristics and typologies that continue to flourish within the larger global context even as international exchanges between countries develop and deepen.

Various venues of the Biennale    © Giorgio Zucchiatti & Giulio Squillacciotti

Besides several architectural workshops and seminars, co-lateral events such as film, dance, music and theatre is set to infuse life and humour into the exhibition that will run for almost six months.

Philip Johnson, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Phyllis Lambert in front of an  image of the 
model for the Seagram building,  New York, 1955. Photographer unknown © United Press International.

“Born as an ‘imitation’ of the Art Exhibition and developed to ‘invite’ architects to bring us their installations, this architectural exhibition has evolved into a major exhibition-research project,” says Paolo Baratta, president, La Biennale di Venezia. It thus consciously fosters an immersive relationship between the public and architecture.