The Board of La Biennale di Venezia, has appointed Ghanaian-Scottish architect, academic, and novelist Lesley Lokko as Curator of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. The 18th International Architecture Exhibition will be held from Saturday 20 May to Sunday 26 November, 2023.
The curators of the Biennale’s International Exhibitions have always tried, through the vision of the participants they invite, to afford us as comprehensive an overview as possible of the themes and projects which are suitable for dealing with future scenarios. The appointment of Lesley Lokko as curator of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition is a way of welcoming the gaze of an international personality who is able to interpret, through different roles, her own position in the contemporary debate on architecture and cities, which takes as its starting point her own experience immersed in a continent that is increasingly becoming a laboratory of experimentation and proposals for the whole contemporary world. -- Biennale President Roberto Cicutto
Founder of the Graduate School of Architecture in 2015 in Johannesburg and the Africa Future Institute, in 2021 in Accra, Lesley Lokko is a Ghanaian-Scottish architect who had several teaching positions and careers around the world, most notably in Johannesburg, London, Accra, and Edinburgh. Renowned educator, she was also part of the jury of the Golden Lions awards for the 2021 Venice Biennale.
A new world order is emerging, with new centres of knowledge production and control. New audiences are also emerging, hungry for different narratives, different tools and different languages of space, form, and place. After two of the most difficult and divisive years in living memory, architects have a unique opportunity to show the world what we do best: put forward ambitious and creative ideas that help us imagine a more equitable and optimistic future in common. Speaking to you from the world’s youngest continent, I would like to thank President Cicutto and the entire team of La Biennale di Venezia for this bold, brave choice. -- Lesley Lokko
ArchDaily had the chance to meet up with the architect at Berlin Questions, to discuss her talk “Africa as the lab for the future”, her visions for the future of architecture education and the future of big cities on a social, cultural and urban level.
More info on La Biennale di Venezia.
