The New Image of the Venice Architectural Biennal

The 2008 edition of the Venice Architecture Biennial is about to start: from September 14 to November 23 the exhibition will showcase new architectural models and tendencies to the great public.

Aaron Betsky, Director of the Venice Architectural Biennal

The aim is to abandon the conventional approach to the subject which had characterized the past editions: "The challenge of the 11th exhibition is to bring together and encourage experimentation with ephemeral subjects, visions of other worlds, or tangible evidence of a better world", said Aaron Betsky, the event Director and also former head of the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam.

Thus, "This biennial will not feature buildings that already exist and that are used for everyday life. It will not propose abstract solutions to social problems. Instead it will try to see if architecture, experimenting in and with reality, can offer concrete alternative forms and seductive images'', he adds.

The festival, named ''Out There: Architecture Beyond Building'', will let the audience explore and discover new and different aspects of architecture,  conveniently shown in separate sections.

Among them the section "Installations", featuring about 20 works designed and created purposely for the event.''These installations will be extremely large and will be accompanied by manifestos for architecture that look beyond construction,'' explains Biennial President Paolo Baratta.

In other sections will be exposed experimental works by young architects and also six established "Masters of the Experiment". The "Uneternal City. Thirty Years of Uninterrupted Rome" is one of them: 12 visionary designs will induce the public to hypothesize a 'new Rome' as part of a major project aiming to explore different cities during each edition of the Biennial.

In the final section solutions to Italy's housing problem will be proposed.

''Overall, we want a festival that offers a view of architecture that has been liberated from the stricture of buildings, one that tackles key issues in our society,'' sais Betsky. '"At the end of all these different sections, we hope people will view the world with fresh eyes'", he finally adds.

(M.M.)