Biennale of Architecture: “Reporting from the Front”

The main exhibition grounds of Biennale are the old building of the Venetian Arsenal (Arsenale) and public gardens (Giardini) with national pavilions. Other parts of the exhibition are taking place in various locations of Venice, and sometimes also on the islands of the Venetian lagoon. Each Biennale has a carefully selected curator, who creates the main topic for it, and it is assumed that all exhibitors should follow it in their works. In reality, the subject line, if we talk about the Biennale of architecture, remains quite sensitive field and each time cause a lot of discussions by both public and professional community.

FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE

The theme of the 15th Architecture Biennale 2016, which opened its doors on May 26 and will last until November 27 was chosen by curator of this year, Chilean architect and winner of the Pritzker Prize for architecture Alejandro Aravena “Reporting from the front”. Participants were asked to determine where to each of them personally or to their country passes the front line and after to tell how they are fighting in this war by architectural methods.

To better understand the choice of this year Biennale topic, it’s worth to make a small digression and at least briefly tell about the architect, his professional interests and goals. Alejandro Aravena and his ELEMENTAL bureau are known all around the world, primarily as professionals, working with social projects and their fame was received not for some commercial building, as it is often, but fora residential complex on the site of the Quinta Monroy slums in the Chilean city of Iquique. Government there was providing residents an amount insufficient to build a normal house, but that could be enough at the same time to realize a half of it that was as a result suggested by Aravena to do.