Venice Biennale Official Catalogue – serie

“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.” - Hashim SarkisThe 17th International Architecture Exhibition, in Venice from 22 May to 21 November 2021, is titled How will we live together? As curator Hashim Sarkis explains, “the theme of the Biennale Architettura 2021 is its title”: organised into five different scales, the exhibition presents the participants who will compete for the Golden Lion and also includes a series of research stations developed by researchers from universities around the world. Volume I of the catalogue is dedicated to the International Exhibition, curated by Hashim Sarkis, and begins with an essay setting out the themes of the show and presenting its protagonists. Architects and studios therefore illustrate their projects with images and texts.Volume II of the catalogue presents the National Participations, a Special Project in collaboration with Victoria and Albert Museum and the Collateral Events of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition; lavishly illustrated, it includes texts that explore the various projects on display.The graphic design of the Biennale Architettura 2021 coordinated image and the layout of the volumes are by Omnivore, Inc.

“Architecture shapes the monuments, the memories, and the expressions of societies and groups, creating a common language with which they debate and communicate their experiences and cultures.” - Hashim SarkisFor the Biennale Architettura 2021, in addition to the Exhibition Catalogue and the Short Guide, the curatorial team has put together two distinct volumes, entitled Expansions and Cohabitats, in order to further elaborate on the theme of 'How will we live together?.' These books will appeal to a wide range of readers both from architecture and art communities and beyond, to include anyone who is interested in the role that creative practice can play in collectively answering the complex challenges posed by today’s unstable world.Conceived as a record that delves deeper into a special section of the exhibition, Cohabitats comprises essays and visual material that look to the theme of the Biennale Architettura 2021 from the lens of a specific geographic location. While the main exhibition is primarily organised in five parts that contemplate a new spatial contract at five scales - as diverse beings, as new households, as emerging communities, across borders, and as one planet - this volume as well as the section of the show it is associated with, present analytical examples that speak to all five of them at once. The essays examine past and current practices of coming together in and around Venice, as well as in Addis Ababa, Beirut, India, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, New York, Prishtina, and more.Also available: Expansions ISBN 9788836648610

“Architects today are rethinking their tools to address the complex problems at hand. They are also enlarging their table to include around it other professionals and citizens.” - Hashim SarkisExpansions, edited by Hashim Sarkis and Ala Tannir, gathers over 80 responses to the question posed by the Biennale Architettura 2021’s theme - How will we live together? These contributions act as an extension to the different thematics presented by participants in the galleries in Venice. Assembling the voices and views of authors from various fields associated with architecture - academics, curators, journalists, students, and more - this volume includes a collection of short essays that reveal recurring themes that are currently of interest to different architecture and design communities around the world.These include multispecies worlding, social and economic justice, the history of twentieth-century modern spatial practices, environmental concerns, public modes of transportation, as well as examinations and contestations of the digital/analog binary, among others.The graphic design and the layout of the volume are by Omnivore, Inc.Also available: Cohabitats ISBN 9788836648603

The 18th International Architecture Exhibition, in Venice from May 20th to November 26th, 2023, is entitled The Laboratory of the Future. Conceived as “a kind of workshop, a laboratory where architects and practitioners across an expanded field of creative disciplines draw out examples from their contemporary practices that chart a path for the audience — participants and visitors alike — to weave through, imagining for themselves what the future can hold” (Lesley Lokko). The Catalogue of the Biennale Architettura 2023 is divided into two volumes and follows the organisation of the Exhibition, accompanying visitors and architecture enthusiasts through the exhibition spaces of the Arsenale and the Giardini, and towards the other projects showing in various locations in the city of Venice and in Forte Marghera, in Mestre. Volume I of the Catalogue, divided into different sections, opens with statements from the President of La Biennale di Venezia, Roberto Cicutto, and the Artistic Director of the Architecture Department, Lesley Lokko. One section is dedicated to the events of Carnival, a cycle of lectures, debates, panel discussions and performances that explore the themes of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, followed by a section dedicated to Special Projects. The Volume then dedicates two sections to the International Exhibition, curated by Lesley Lokko, respectively titled Force Majeure and Dangerous Liaisons. Each project on display in the Exhibition is accompanied by a critical text and a rich iconography that completes the Participants’ work. A further section is dedicated to the first edition of the Biennale College Architettura, which will hold its workshop from June 25th to July 22nd, 2023, in Venice. Threaded throughout are a series of essays developing the themes of the Exhibition and a detailed record of the works on display. Volume II of the Catalogue presents the National Participations and the Collateral Events of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition. The volume includes a series of illustrated texts that delve deeper into the projects on exhibit in the Pavilions and the Collateral Events at the Giardini, at the Arsenale and in various locations across Venice from May 20th through November 26th, 2023. The graphic identity of the Biennale Architettura 2023 and the design of the publications are the work of Die Ateljee Fred Swart.

The 60th International Art Exhibition, curated by Adriano Pedrosa, which will be held from April 20th to November 24th 2024 in Venice, is titled Foreigners Everywhere. The exhibition takes its name from a series of artworks made in 2004 by the Claire Fontaine collective, and will be, as the Curator himself explained, "a celebration of the foreign, the distant, the outsider, the queer, as well as the indigenous". It "will focus on artists who are themselves foreigners, immigrants, expatriates, diasporic, émigrés, exiled, and refugees — especially those who have moved between the Global South and the Global North" (Adriano Pedrosa). The catalogue, published by Edizioni La Biennale di Venezia, is as always printed in two volumes, and follows the exhibition route to accompany visitors and art lovers through the exhibition spaces of the Giardini and the Arsenale. It also presents the other projects on display in various locations around the city of Venice and at Forte Marghera, in Mestre. Volume I of the catalogue is dedicated to the International Exhibition, curated by Adriano Pedrosa. The first pages of the book open with two short introductions by President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and President Roberto Cicutto, followed by an interview with Adriano Pedrosa by Julieta Gonzàlez.Part one of the book is dedicated to the critical essays and a number of “Conversations”, including interviews with Anna Maria Maiolino and Nil Yalter, Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement of the Biennale Arte 2024, and one with the Claire Fontaine collective. Part two is dedicated to the presentation of the artists on exhibit and is divided into two main sections: Nucleo Storico and Nucleo Contemporaneo. The catalogue includes essays by Jaider Esbell, Kobena Mercer, Luce Delire, Naine Terena, Ranajit Guha, Ticio Escobar and Walter Mignolo. Each artist is introduced by a critical essay that explores their work and is illustrated with a rich iconographic apparatus. The book ends with a detailed listing of the artworks on display.The National Participations and the Collateral Events participating in the 60th International Art Exhibition are gathered in Volume II, and are presented by texts illustrated with images that explore the works on exhibit in the Pavilions, the Giardini and the Arsenale, and the collateral events located in various venues throughout Venice.The graphic identity and design of the Biennale Arte 2024 publications is by: Estudio Campo (Paula Tinoco, Roderico Souza, Carolina Aboarrage), San Paolo.

The 19th International Architecture Exhibition, curated by Carlo Ratti, to be held from 10 May to 23 November 2025 in Venice, is titled Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. The Exhibition, as the Curator himself explains, “will search for a path forward, proposing that intelligent solutions to pressing problems can take many forms” and “will present a collection of design proposals and many other experiments, exploring a definition of ‘intelligence’ as an ability to adapt to the environment with limited resources, knowledge, or power” (Carlo Ratti).The Catalogue is printed in two volumes and follows the Exhibition itinerary accompanying visitors and art lovers through the exhibition spaces of the Giardini and the Arsenale and presenting other projects on display in various locations around the city of Venice and Forte Marghera, in Mestre.Volume I of the Catalogue is dedicated to the International Exhibition, curated by Carlo Ratti. The first pages of the volume open with the statement by President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and the presentation by the Artistic Director of the Architecture Department Carlo Ratti, and then presents the Circularity Manifesto. Volume I is then divided into two parts. Part one, titled Intelligens, is dedicated to presenting the sections of the International Exhibition, Natural Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, Collective Intelligence, and Out. Each project on display in the Exhibition is accompanied by a critical text and a rich apparatus of photographs. Part two of the volume, titled Venice as a Living Lab, presents “a number of special projects that will leverage Venice and the outdoor areas of the Biennale Exhibition venues as a Living Lab, merging interacting forms of intelligence”. The volume is enriched with a series of critical essays and interesting “Impossible Conversations” that explore the themes of the Exhibition in depth. Volume I ends with the biographies of the participants and a detailed register of the projects on exhibit.The National Participations and the Collateral Events participating in the 19th International Architecture Exhibition are gathered in Volume II and presented with illustrated texts that explore the projects proposed by the National Pavilions and the Collateral Events at the Giardini, the Arsenale and in various spaces throughout Venice.