'Force Majeure: a Conversation' kicks off events programming at the Venice Architecture Biennale

The six-month-long Carnival cycle of lectures, panel discussions, performances, and other events at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale will kick off next Saturday, May 20th, with a six-person conversation in league with the curatorial theme of The Laboratory of the Future.

David Adjaye, Mariam Kamara, Walter Hood, Christian Benimana, Issa Diabaté, and Felecia Davis will join the Biennale’s Architecture Exhibition curator Lesley Lokko for the event, which will take place from 5:00 to 6:30 PM in the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale.

The Biennale says: “'Force Majeure: a Conversation' is the title of a wide-ranging meeting, that explores the personal and professional passions and preoccupations that have shaped their practice and response to architecture in general, and their contributions to the Exhibition in particular.”

“Conceived as a space of liberation rather than a spectacle or entertainment, Carnival offers a space for communication in which words, views, perspectives, and opinions are traded, heard, analyzed, and remembered,” Lesley Lokko adds. “Politicians, policymakers, poets, filmmakers, documentary makers, writers, activists, community organizers and public intellectuals will share the stage with architects, academics, and students. Curating a public event program is increasingly a form of architectural practice that attempts to bridge the gulf between architects and the public.”

Registration information is available here. The event will also be translated live from English to Italian, with recordings made available online on the Biennale's website.