Today, August 29, marks the official opening of the 13th International Venice Architecture Biennale. The overall theme of the Architecture Biennale, as determined by architect David Chipperfield, is “Common Ground.” (The U.S. Pavilion, curated by Cathy Lang Ho and covered extensively by Architect Magazine, builds on the overall theme with Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good.) On the main Biennale website, Chipperfield explains, in compelling terms, why he chose this year’s overall theme of “Common Ground”:
“To encourage my colleagues to react against the prevalent professional and cultural tendencies of our time that place such emphasis on individual and isolated actions. I encouraged them instead to demonstrate the importance of influence and of the continuity of cultural endeavour, to illustrate common and shared ideas that form the basis of an architectural culture…I was inspired to direct this Biennale towards concerns of continuity, context, and memory, towards shared influences and expectations, and to address the apparent lack of understanding that exists between the profession and society.”
Click here to learn more about the Common Ground theme of the 13th International Venice Architecture Biennale.
