The Venice Biennale’s 17th International Architecture Exhibition will kick start from May 22 to November 21 for public view. The exhibition, titled “How will we live together?” , will be held at the Giardini, the Arsenale and Forte Marghera areas in line with COVID-19 prevention measures and rules.
The exhibition will be curated by a Lebanese educator and architect, Hashim Sarkis. Sarkis has been professor and dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT since 2015. He was named the curator of the 2020 Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2018, but this edition was canceled due to the pandemic. The curator said that the exhibition’s title was as much a “social and political” question as a spatial one.
The exhibition will feature 110 participants from 46 countries, with increased representation from Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Five countries are taking part in the Biennale Architettura 2021 for the first time: Iraq, Azerbaijan, Grenada, Iraq, and Uzbekistan.
The program includes pavilions from Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE. Saudi Arabia’s pavilion will be in the Arsenale and is called “Accommodations.” Its curators are Uzma Rizvi and Murtaza Vali. Hessa Al-Bader, Hussam Dakkak and Basmah Kaki will exhibit their works at the Venice Biennale.