The rumours that have been circulating for months indicating David Chipperfield as curator of the 13th International Architecture exhibition from 29th August to 25th November 2012 (preview 27-28 August), have finally been confirmed.
The decision has been announced by the new Board of La Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta and composed of Giorgio Orsoni (Vice-President), Luca Zaia, Francesca Zaccariotto and Emmanuele Francesco Maria Emanuele, who officially appointed David Chipperfield.
At the end of the meeting, the President of the Biennale Paolo Baratta declared: “For Architecture, the Board of Administration was aware that David Chipperfield had already been contacted, and that he had shown great interest in being appointed as Director of the International Architecture Exhibition of the Biennale. We thank him for accepting and for having patiently awaited the official designation. Kazuyo Sejima’s appointment brought this Exhibition back into the hands of an architect, and Chipperfield’s pursues the same course. After a series of Exhibitions that have illustrated the many different ways of approaching the theme of architecture in the contemporary era (sociological, technological, urban), it appeared useful to turn to an architect who demonstrates great interest in architecture as a discipline and raises questions about the elements of which it is composed, about the objectives it pursues, about the constraints that affect it, about the tools that it uses to shape places, spaces, buildings. The next Architecture Exhibition will be characterized by the emphasis on a series of relationships that connect great architects and younger generations that refer to them. This Exhibition will represent a major opportunity to keep both the general public and the world of architecture informed of progress. This is also why it has already begun to organize the program involving Universities from all around the world, entitled Biennale Sessions, successfully tested during the last edition of the Exhibition”.
Chipperfield himself says of the project: “Participants will be encouraged through a declaration of affinities to make connections with other authors and other works. These dialogues and collaborations may involve a common proposal or a dialogue between projects even as a dialogue of provocation. In this way we wish to demonstrate the existence of a rich culture of architectural practice and research, stimulated by the work of other disciplines but defined by shared enthusiasms and concerns at a time when the singular works of architects are celebrated but the role of the profession and our place within society is continuously challenged.”
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