On December 13th, the Directorate of Cultural Affairs of the Argentinian Foreign Ministry announced the winners of its open curatorial competition to select the country's entry for the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, which will take place next year from May 20th to November 26th.
'The Future of Water', presented by Diego Arraigada, was the project that won first place. "Argentina has a rich and privileged relationship with water, with very important worldwide resources of drinking water. The exhibition 'The Future of Water' highlights these relationships, making visible its multiple facets and scales throughout history, allowing us to understand the impact of urban and architectural disciplines on it and promoting reflection on future actions," says the statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
'The Laboratory of the Future', the theme and title proposed by curator Lesley Lokko for the upcoming international show in Venice, will consider the African continent as the protagonist of the future. "There is one place on this planet where all these issues of equity, race, hope, and fear converge and come together: Africa. On an anthropological level, we are all Africans. And what happens in Africa happens to all of us," he explains in his own words.
Other finalists in the Argentinian competition included 'Nostalgia for the Future' by Martín Benavídez and Federico Cairoli (2nd place) and 'Invisible Structures' by Ana Babaya, Juan Manuel Balsa, Leandro Castro, Rocío Crosetto Brizzio and Alejandro Puente Cevallos (3rd place).
