biennale 2004. 9th international architecture exhibition in venice, theme: methamorph .......................................................................................................
......................... shop .................. competitions .............. education ................ interviews ................... snapshots ................... history .......... contemporary 9th international architecture exhibition in venice, italy, 2004 9th international architecture exhibition in venice - this is part one of our report. part two will follow in a few days -
--- theme METAMORPH the exhibition explores the fundamental changes under way in contemporary architecture, both in the theoretical and practical design field, and in the use of new building technologies. architectural space is seen in terms of its capacity to live today's changes; the new materials receive and stress atmospheric effects, and the perception of architecture opens itself to a dynamic conception of time. public life in the buildings takes on characters that are more centred upon the evolution of the setting. the programme of METAMORPH is divided into two settings in the corderie in the venice arsenale works are shown that the curators state to have literally transformed the discipline of architecture since the 1970s (e.g. eisenman, gehry, rossi, and stirling) to the latest trends and projects built. the italian pavilion in the giardini of the biennale present installations commissioned from various designers, offering specific examples of how the various epochal changes have led to the recent transformations in architecture. --- we enjoyed and loved going, it is really worth it when you bring at least 3 days time to see the many, many sections of the exhibition. big shows are difficult to organize, and you aspect to see a broad variety of things that can signify many things to different people, a lot of things that mean ‘nothing’ to you... surprisingly we’ve seen alarge number of great architecture projects. but did the pretentious kafkanian theme, 'metamorph', actually mean anything? the curator's - mr. forster's - main challenge was to create a conceptual framework into which he could place some of the world's best designs. at its heart the biennale is a snapshot of current architecture. in fact on show are mostly projects which have widely been published before - rather than theory or unrevealed experimental ideas. several projects are midway through construction... what forster wanted to know was how architecture responded to a world that seems in constant flux. the answer, it appears, is with fancy shapes. this is the first biennale where clearly the architects are all into some form of what one would call 'newness'. almost every project in the show bears the look of buildings made possible by sophisticated computer technology. the computer has finally made possible forms that are different, at the same cost as the standard forms of old. a newness of very similar forms though, more sculptural than radical, buildings and structures with sensual folded, twisted and curving surfaces. it looks more like an international computer art festival... and the most important theme to come out of the biennale was the question of redundancy. --- see more info and snapshots of the many events --- curator see a portrait of kurt w. forster --- exhibition layout the exhibition layout, graphic design and three books/catalogues that explore the themes in greater depth, are the work of one of the most avant-garde teams in the field, the asymptote (hani rashid and lise anne couture) and omnivore team from new york. see the designboom preview with drawings of the layout --- kiesler prize see the kiesler prize --- partecipating countries see info and snapshots --- exhibitions in the old rope factory (corderie) and in the adjoining complex of naval buildings at the arsenale see info and snapshots METAEVENTS --- ‘the interbreeding field’ at the palazzo delle prigioni see the taiwanese presentation --- pierre restany book see the presentation --- ‘peggy and kiesler: the collector and the visionary’ see the exhibition --- ------- monthly designboom newsletter ------- ------- ? comments and contact us ? -------