The president of La Biennale di Venezia Roberto Cicutto and exhibition curator Lesley Lokko have jointly announced the theme for the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale.
“The Laboratory of the Future” will be the theme for the 18th edition of the exhibition, and for the first time in the biennale’s history, the African experience will take centre stage, with a focus on the dual imperatives of decolonization and decarbonization.
“In Europe we speak of minorities and diversity, but the truth is that the West’s minorities are the global majority,” said Lokko. “There is one place on this planet where all these questions of equity, race, hope, and fear converge and coalesce: Africa.”
President of La Biennale di Venezia Roberto Cicutto and exhibition curator Lesley Lokko
Image: Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia
Lokko is the founder and director of the African Futures Institute - a postgraduate architecture school and centre for research. She uses her unique expertise to create the workshop at the intersection of creative disciplines and cultural and racial identity.
The biennale will be an invitation, she said, to draw out examples from contemporary practices that “chart a path for the audience – participants and visitors alike – to weave through, imagining for themselves what the future can hold.”
The Australian Institute of Architects is calling for expressions of interest (EOI) for the role of creative director for the Australian exhibition at the Biennale.
The creative director will assist with the curation of the exhibition from the formal to operational management. Involvement provides the opportunity for Institute members to exhibit on a world stage among a cohort of international colleagues.
“This is a highly coveted professional development opportunity and I encourage you to consider your application to participate as the 2023 La Biennale Di Venezia Creative Director,” said Tony Giannone, the Institute’s immediate past national president.
The 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale will take place across various sites around the floating city, including in the Giardini and at the Arsenale, from 20 May until 26 November.
