The 18th International Architecture Exhibition, curated by Ghanaian-Scottish architect, educator, and novelist Lesley Lokko – who is also Founder and Director of the African Futures Institute (AFI) based in Accra, Ghana – officially opened to the public on May 20th and is now on view through Nov. 26. Entitled The Laboratory of the Future, this year's Venice Architecture Biennale for the first time highlights the African continent as a leading force in shaping the world to come and Lokko's curatorial mission prompts entries to question traditional notions of what the future can hold and what architecture looks like.
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The 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale as a Healing Experience: In Conversation with Curator Lesley Lokko
Onsite, in Venice at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, ArchDaily had the chance to meet with the curator Lesley Lokko to discuss the first impressions and the main themes of this edition of the Biennale, following up on the previous interview recorded before the opening of the event. Featuring 63 National Pavilions, 89 Participants, and 9 collateral events in the city, the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale represents one of the most important international events for the architectural profession. The conversation addressed Lesley Lokko’s approach to curating the theme and focus of the event, understanding Africa as “The Laboratory of the Future,” the desire to bring both authenticity and empathy to the architectural discourse, while creating a space for voices not typically heard in global exhibitions.
Brazil Wins the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale
The Brazilian Pavilion titled Terra [Earth], curated by Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. Selected by a jury comprising Italian architect and curator Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli as president, Nora Akawi, Thelma Golden, Tau Tavengwa, and Izabela Wieczorek, the winning intervention at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale "proposes to rethink the past in order to design possible futures, bringing to the fore actors forgotten by the architectural canons, in dialogue with the curatorship of the edition, Laboratory of the Future".
Broadcasted live on the Biennale’s official page, the ceremony taking place at Ca’Giustinian, the headquarters of La Biennale di Venezia, also awarded the Golden Lion for Best Participant in the International Exhibition The Laboratory of the Future", to DAAR (Alessandro Petti + Sandi Hilal), while the Silver Lion for a promising young participant in the International Exhibition The Laboratory of the Future went to Olalekan Jeyifous. Other recognitions included a special mention to Thandi Loewenson, to Wolff Architects, Ilze Wolff, and Heinrich Wolff, to Twenty Nine Studio / Sammy Baloji, and to the national pavilion of Great Britain, titled "Dancing Before the Moon" curated by Jayden Ali, Joseph Henry, Meneesha Kellay, and Sumitra Upham.
Meet the Full List of the 63 National Pavilions at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale
Titled The Laboratory of the Future and curated by Lesley Lokko, the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale will be holding the 18° International Architecture Exhibition from May 20 to November 26, 2023.
The 2023 edition of the Biennale will include 63 national participants allocated in the Giardini, at the Arsenale, and in the historic city center of Venice, Italy. Additionally, the exhibition will welcome Niger for the first time, along with Panama, which will have its own pavilion. The Holy See will also return to the Biennale Architettura with a pavilion on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore.
Please find below the full list of national participants at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Modern Aquatic Architecture: 5 Homes Around the World that Make the Case for Living on Water
Following findings from a study published in the Nature Ecology & Evolution journal this April, it has become public knowledge that the phenomenon dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (an area of 620,000 square miles between California and Hawaii) is serving as host to an entire coastal ecosystem. Marine wildlife is using the massive area compiled of human plastic waste as a floating habitat, and scientists are shocked at the number of species that have managed to establish life in this otherwise hostile environment.
The news once again brings into sharp focus not only pressing issues of climate change and ocean pollution but also the question of environmentally-induced migration, even at a microbial level. Architecture is moving into more and more experimental realms when it comes to considering locations for the communities of our future – and rising sea levels have promoted water to the top of the list. But these deliberations are not as recent as one might think: floating cities have been around for centuries and individual homes on water are common in areas of Benin, Peru or Iraq, among others.