• Login / Join
  • About
  • •
  • Contact
  • •
  • Advertising
bustler logo
bustler logo
  • News
  • Competitions
  • Events
  • Bustler is powered by Archinect
  • Sign up for Bustler's Email Newsletters

  • Follow these Bustler feeds:

  • Search

    Search in

  • Submit

    What are you submitting?

    News Pitch
    Competition
    Event
  • Login / Join
  • News|Competitions|Events
  • Search
    | Submit
    | Follow
  • Search in

    What are you submitting?

    News Pitch
    Competition
    Event

    Follow these Bustler feeds:

  • About|Contact|Advertising
  • Login / Join

Biennale Architettura 2023: The Laboratory of the Future

Saturday, May 20, 20239 AM — Sunday, Nov 26, 20239 PMCEST

Venice, IT Venice, IT

Biennale Architettura 2023

The 18th International Architecture Exhibition, titled The Laboratory of the Future, will be open to the public from Saturday May 20 to Sunday November 26, 2023 at the Giardini and the Arsenale, and at Forte Marghera; it will be curated by Lesley Lokko and organised by La Biennale di Venezia. The pre-opening will take place on May 18 and 19, the awards ceremony and inauguration will be held on Saturday 20 May 2023.

The Laboratory of the Future

“What does it mean to be ‘an agent of change’? (…) Over the past nine months, in hundreds of conversations, text messages, Zoom calls and meetings - stated Lesley Lokko - the question of whether exhibitions of this scale — both in terms of carbon and cost — are justified, has surfaced time and again. In May last year, I referred to the exhibition several times as ‘a story’, a narrative unfolding in space. Today, my understanding has changed. An architecture exhibition is both a moment and a process. It borrows its structure and format from art exhibitions, but it differs from art in critical ways which often go unnoticed. Aside from the desire to tell a story, questions of production, resources and representation are central to the way an architecture exhibition comes into the world, yet are rarely acknowledged or discussed. From the outset, it was clear that the essential gesture of The Laboratory of the Future would be ‘change’”. 

“(…) For the first time ever, the spotlight has fallen on Africa and the African Diaspora, that fluid and enmeshed culture of people of African descent that now straddles the globe. What do we wish to say? How will what we say change anything? And, perhaps most importantly of all, how will what we say interact with and infuse what ‘others’ say, so that the exhibition is not a single story, but multiple stories that reflect the vexing, gorgeous kaleidoscope of ideas, contexts, aspirations, and meanings that is every voice responding to the issues of its time?” 

 “It is often said that culture is the sum total of the stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves. Whilst it is true, what is missing in the statement is any acknowledgement of who the ‘we’ in question is. In architecture particularly, the dominant voice has historically been a singular, exclusive voice, whose reach and power ignores huge swathes of humanity — financially, creatively, conceptually — as though we have been listening and speaking in one tongue only. The ‘story’ of architecture is therefore incomplete. Not wrong, but incomplete. It is in this context particularly that exhibitions matter”.

Exhibition Structure

“The Laboratory of the Future is an exhibition in six parts. It includes 89 Participants, over half of whom are from Africa or the African Diaspora. The gender balance is 50/50, and the average age of all Participants is 43, dropping to 37 in the Curator’s Special Projects, where the youngest is 24. 46% of participants count education as a form of practice, and, for the first time ever, nearly half of Participants are from sole or individual practices of five people or less. Across all the parts of The Laboratory of the Future, over 70% of exhibits are by practices run by an individual or a very small team. (…)” 

“Central to all the projects is the primacy and potency of one tool: the imagination - Lokko said. It is impossible to build a better world if one cannot first imagine it. The Laboratory of the Future begins in the Central Pavilion in the Giardini, where 16 practices who represent a distilled force majeure of African and Diasporic architectural production have been gathered. It moves to the Arsenale complex, where participants in the Dangerous Liaisons section – also represented in Forte Marghera in Mestre - rub shoulders with the Curator’s Special Projects, for the first time a category that is as large as the others. Threaded through and amongst the works in both venues are young African and Diasporan practitioners, our Guests from the Future, whose work engages directly with the twin themes of this exhibition, decolonisation and decarbonisation, providing a snapshot, a glimpse of future practices and ways of seeing and being in the world. (…) We have deliberately chosen to frame participants as ‘practitioners’ – the Curator stated – and not ‘architects’ and/or ‘urbanists’, ‘designers’, ‘landscape architects’, ‘engineers’ or ‘academics’ because it is our contention that the rich, complex conditions of both Africa and a rapidly hybridising world call for a different and broader understanding of the term ‘architect’.

More at La Biennale di Venezia

RELATED NEWS 'Force Majeure: a Conversation' kicks off events programming at the Venice Architecture Biennale
RELATED NEWS Qatar will show off its quintet of new cultural attractions at the Venice Biennale
RELATED NEWS Tropical Modernism gets the spotlight at the V&A's special Venice Biennale exhibition this May
RELATED NEWS Ahead of 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, the U.S. State Department issues call for applications
RELATED NEWS Canada Council for the Arts announces 2023 Venice Biennale of Architecture shortlist

Share

  • Follow

    0 Comments

  • Comment as :

Biennale Architettura 2023: The Laboratory of the Future

Sat, May 20 - Sun, Nov 26, 2023

Venice, IT

Tackling Water Insecurity in South Asia: The Case for Reviving Historic Water Management Systems

Wed, May 31

Online Event

[CANCELED] SMC NOMAS Lecture: Flora Lee - A Journey of Reuniting Nature and Architecture

Wed, May 31

Los Angeles, CA, US

Book Lauch: Dana Cuff presents...Architectures of Spatial Justice

Thu, Jun 1

Los Angeles, CA, US

Ecocity World Summit 2023

Tue, Jun 6 - Thu, Jun 8, 2023

London, GB

RUMBLE 2023

Mon, Jun 12

Los Angeles, CA, US

League Prize 2023 Night 1: Miles Gertler, Sarah Aziz & Lindsey Krug

Thu, Jun 15

Online Event

The Slow Lane: why quick fixes fail and how to achieve real change

Tue, Jun 20

London, GB

2023 Docomomo US National Symposium: Complexities of the Modern American City

Wed, Jun 21 - Sat, Jun 24, 2023

New Haven, CT, US

Sign up for Bustler's Email Newsletters

League Prize 2023 Night 2: Daisy Ames, Sean Canty

Thu, Jun 22

Online Event

Jerusalem Design Week 2023

Thu, Jun 22 - Thu, Jun 29, 2023

Jerusalem, IL

League Prize 2023 Night 3: Katie MacDonald & Kyle Schumann, Joseph Altshuler & Zack Morrison

Thu, Jun 29

Online Event

UIA 2023 World Congress of Architects Copenhagen

Sun, Jul 2 - Thu, Jul 6, 2023

Copenhagen, DK

Hello Wood Festival - Builder Summit

Thu, Jul 6 - Sat, Jul 15, 2023

Zalahaláp, HU

MEXTRÓPOLI 2023

Mon, Sep 25 - Fri, Sep 29, 2023

Mexico, MX

CTBUH 2023 International Conference: Humanizing High Density—People, Nature & the Urban Realm​

Mon, Oct 16 - Sat, Oct 21, 2023

Singapore & Kuala Lumpur

Next page » Loading

Biennale Architettura 2023: The Laboratory of the Future

Saturday, May 20, 20239 AM — Sunday, Nov 26, 20239 PMCEST

Venice, IT Venice, IT

Share

Related

venice biennale ● venice biennale 2023 ● venice ● italy

Biennale Architettura 2023

The 18th International Architecture Exhibition, titled The Laboratory of the Future, will be open to the public from Saturday May 20 to Sunday November 26, 2023 at the Giardini and the Arsenale, and at Forte Marghera; it will be curated by Lesley Lokko and organised by La Biennale di Venezia. The pre-opening will take place on May 18 and 19, the awards ceremony and inauguration will be held on Saturday 20 May 2023.

The Laboratory of the Future

“What does it mean to be ‘an agent of change’? (…) Over the past nine months, in hundreds of conversations, text messages, Zoom calls and meetings - stated Lesley Lokko - the question of whether exhibitions of this scale — both in terms of carbon and cost — are justified, has surfaced time and again. In May last year, I referred to the exhibition several times as ‘a story’, a narrative unfolding in space. Today, my understanding has changed. An architecture exhibition is both a moment and a process. It borrows its structure and format from art exhibitions, but it differs from art in critical ways which often go unnoticed. Aside from the desire to tell a story, questions of production, resources and representation are central to the way an architecture exhibition comes into the world, yet are rarely acknowledged or discussed. From the outset, it was clear that the essential gesture of The Laboratory of the Future would be ‘change’”. 

“(…) For the first time ever, the spotlight has fallen on Africa and the African Diaspora, that fluid and enmeshed culture of people of African descent that now straddles the globe. What do we wish to say? How will what we say change anything? And, perhaps most importantly of all, how will what we say interact with and infuse what ‘others’ say, so that the exhibition is not a single story, but multiple stories that reflect the vexing, gorgeous kaleidoscope of ideas, contexts, aspirations, and meanings that is every voice responding to the issues of its time?” 

 “It is often said that culture is the sum total of the stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves. Whilst it is true, what is missing in the statement is any acknowledgement of who the ‘we’ in question is. In architecture particularly, the dominant voice has historically been a singular, exclusive voice, whose reach and power ignores huge swathes of humanity — financially, creatively, conceptually — as though we have been listening and speaking in one tongue only. The ‘story’ of architecture is therefore incomplete. Not wrong, but incomplete. It is in this context particularly that exhibitions matter”.

Exhibition Structure

“The Laboratory of the Future is an exhibition in six parts. It includes 89 Participants, over half of whom are from Africa or the African Diaspora. The gender balance is 50/50, and the average age of all Participants is 43, dropping to 37 in the Curator’s Special Projects, where the youngest is 24. 46% of participants count education as a form of practice, and, for the first time ever, nearly half of Participants are from sole or individual practices of five people or less. Across all the parts of The Laboratory of the Future, over 70% of exhibits are by practices run by an individual or a very small team. (…)” 

“Central to all the projects is the primacy and potency of one tool: the imagination - Lokko said. It is impossible to build a better world if one cannot first imagine it. The Laboratory of the Future begins in the Central Pavilion in the Giardini, where 16 practices who represent a distilled force majeure of African and Diasporic architectural production have been gathered. It moves to the Arsenale complex, where participants in the Dangerous Liaisons section – also represented in Forte Marghera in Mestre - rub shoulders with the Curator’s Special Projects, for the first time a category that is as large as the others. Threaded through and amongst the works in both venues are young African and Diasporan practitioners, our Guests from the Future, whose work engages directly with the twin themes of this exhibition, decolonisation and decarbonisation, providing a snapshot, a glimpse of future practices and ways of seeing and being in the world. (…) We have deliberately chosen to frame participants as ‘practitioners’ – the Curator stated – and not ‘architects’ and/or ‘urbanists’, ‘designers’, ‘landscape architects’, ‘engineers’ or ‘academics’ because it is our contention that the rich, complex conditions of both Africa and a rapidly hybridising world call for a different and broader understanding of the term ‘architect’.

More at La Biennale di Venezia

RELATED NEWS 'Force Majeure: a Conversation' kicks off events programming at the Venice Architecture Biennale
RELATED NEWS Qatar will show off its quintet of new cultural attractions at the Venice Biennale
RELATED NEWS Tropical Modernism gets the spotlight at the V&A's special Venice Biennale exhibition this May
RELATED NEWS Ahead of 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, the U.S. State Department issues call for applications
RELATED NEWS Canada Council for the Arts announces 2023 Venice Biennale of Architecture shortlist

Share

  • Follow

    0 Comments

  • Comment as :

Promoted Events

Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty

May 05 - Jul 16, 2023

New York, NY, US

Students as Researchers: Creative Practice and University Education

May 18 - Nov 26, 2023

[CANCELED] SMC NOMAS Lecture: Flora Lee - A Journey of Reuniting Nature and Architecture

May 31, 2023

Los Angeles, CA, US

Norman Foster

May 10 - Aug 7, 2023

Paris, FR

RUMBLE 2023

Jun 12, 2023

Los Angeles, CA, US

Architecture Now: New York, New Publics

Feb 19 - Jul 29, 2023

New York, NY, US

/imagine: A Journey into The New Virtual

May 10 - Sep 10, 2023

Vienna, AT

Biennale Architettura 2023: The Laboratory of the Future

May 20 - Nov 26, 2023

Venice, IT

Minerva Parker Nichols: The Search for a Forgotten Architect

Mar 21 - Jun 17, 2023

Philadelphia, PA, US

Yinka Ilori

Sep 15 - Jun 25, 2023

London, GB

Never Alone: Video Games and Other Interactive Design

Sep 10 - Jul 16, 2023

New York, NY, US

Marina Tabassum Architects: In Bangladesh

Feb 08 - Jun 11, 2023

Munich, DE

AIANY Design Awards 2023

May 04 - Sep 2, 2023

New York, NY, US

Book Lauch: Dana Cuff presents...Architectures of Spatial Justice

Jun 1, 2023

Los Angeles, CA, US

Next page » Loading