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Architecture on Display: On the History of the Venice Biennale of Architecture

Van Alen Institute and Slought Foundation are pleased to host a public event featuring William Menking and Aaron Levy in conversation with Aaron Betsky, director of the 2008 Venice Biennale of Architecture, on Monday, April 12, 2010 at 6:30pm in the Van Alen Institute gallery. The event is the first public presentation of Architecture on display, an unprecedented series of interviews that William Menking and Aaron Levy are conducting with each of the living directors of the Venice Biennale for Architecture, including Vittorio Gregotti, Paolo Portoghesi, Francesco Dal Co, Kurt Foster, and Kazuyo Sejima, among others.

The origins of the Venice Biennale for Architecture are generally traced to the 1970s, when it emerged from under the umbrella of the larger Venice Biennale, which was itself established in 1895. Since then, it has become one of the most prestigious forums for architectural discourse today, and has served as a model for a range of international exhibitions. Yet, even today, the details surrounding its informal origins remain relatively unexplored and no English-language publications exist on this rich history. This forgotten history of the Biennale itself also offers an incipient understanding of the complex relationship between architectures of use and architectures of display. The exhibitions staged there navigate tensions between nation-state representation, economic tourism, and the complex site of Venice itself. Moreover, the public expectation for spectacular graphic and visual display competes at the Biennale with curatorial ambitions to represent the image architecture has of itself, but also the very meaning of architecture in the world in which we live. These conflicts and tensions serve as the framework for this public event with Aaron Betsky, as well as the larger series of conversations that comprise Architecture on display.

This event, free and open to the public, will take place at the Van Alen Institute, 30 W. 22nd Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10010. RSVP required by Friday, April 9 to rsvp@vanalen.org or (212) 924-7000.

BIOS

Aaron Betsky was the Director of the 11th International Architecture Biennale Venice, "Out There: Architecture Beyond Buildings." Trained as an architect at Yale University, Mr. Betsky worked for Frank O. Gehry and Hodgetts & Fung Design Associates before setting up his own office in Southern California. In 1995, he became Curator of Architecture and Design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and in 2001 Director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam. He is currently the Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum. Mr. Betsky is the author of a dozen books on architecture, including, False Flat: Why Dutch Design Is so Good; Landscrapers; and Architecture Must Burn. He is currently writing a book on modernism and is assembling his essays for publication. He blogs regularly for www.architectmagazine.com and www.wmagazine.com.

Architecture on display is a project organized by William Menking, Editor-in-chief of The Architect’s Newspaper, and Aaron Levy, Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Slought Foundation, who co-curated the United States Pavilion at the 2008 Venice Biennale. The exhibition, entitled Into the Open (http://labiennale.us), explored aspects of America’s history of architectural activism and provided international visibility to socially-minded architects, urban researchers, and community activists. The conversations presented in Architecture on display do not seek to recapitulate the exhibitions themselves but rather explore the questions that these exhibitions raise, with the hope of offering a model for future curatorial endeavors.

Slought Foundation ('Sl-aw-t') is a non-profit organization based in Philadelphia that engages the public in dialogue about cultural and socio-political change. We collaborate with a range of partners including artists, communities, universities, and governments to encourage cultural inclusiveness and social activism. Culture means more than preservation or presentation to us; it means the exchange of ideas, the creation of concepts. For more information, please visit www.slought.org.