In two lectures delivered by Bart Lootsma, Professor and Head of Institute for Architectural Theory and History at the University of Innsbruck, the 2016 Venice Biennale—Reporting From the Front—is dissected, unpicked and evaluated through the national participations (pavilions) and Alejandro Aravena's central exhibitions. Lootsma, who has broadcast the lectures as publicly available resources on architecturaltheory.eu, is the co-curator of the 2016 Pavilion of Montenegro.
In Reporting from the Front #1 (~1:30), Lootsma gives an overview of the Biennale by introducing the director and Pritzker Prize-laureate Alejandro Aravena. In the second part of this episode he tours the international pavilions of the Giardini and clarifies some of the most important installations represented there.
In Reporting from the Front #2 (~1:50), Lootsma reports from Aravena’s exhibition in the Arsenale and discusses some of the national pavilions therein, ending with Project Solana Ulcinj – the Montenegrin Pavilion he curated with Katharina Weinberger.