‘We are not rebuilding but adapting Alemani’s legacy’
(ANSA) – VENICE, MAY 18 – The 18th Venice Architecture Biennale changes direction and does so with two important innovations compared to previous editions. It was the curator, Lesley Lokko, who highlighted them this morning during the opening conference at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale.
“We are not rebuilding a new exhibition – he said -, but we are adapting what we inherited from Cecilia Alemani, because the frame she left us is excellent. At the same time we asked the participants to touch the Corderie and the Central Pavilion as little as possible: while not carbon-free, the use of screens, films, projections and drawings sets a different tone.”
Lokko then underlined the importance of the dynamic force of culture and architecture: “It is what emerges from the work of many of this year’s participants: they go back in history, to find new and different ways of seeing and build new attitudes against waste and in favor of reuse”.
In terms of the participation of architects and their teams at the Biennale, many from Africa, the curator underlined how difficult it was to decide who to invite, and for this “I considered it essential that there were also artists whose work I knew personally “. Net of a “necessary” decision, the fact that “there was a choice, makes us understand how far we are compared to several years ago, when the list of participants would have been much shorter”.
The president of the Biennale, Roberto Cicutto, in his introductory speech, focused on the figure of Lokko: “I met her when she was a member of the jury at the Biennale curated by Sarkis – he underlined -. We also heard from other personalities for the role of curator, but after the first meeting, a seed was planted which then germinated. He is a tenacious and strong person, who makes architecture one of the fields of research for the development of humanity. Lesley told me it is important to transmit values and knowledge. And the Biennale – he concluded – really wants to be a laboratory where one can find the verification of the knowledge acquired during the year”. (HANDLE).
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