The future of living together is the challenge of the next International Architecture Biennale
How will we live together? This is the message explicitly launched by the title of the 2020 Biennale, curated by the new director Hashim Sarkis.
“To imagine spaces in which we can live generously together,” explains the curator, “together as human beings who, despite increasing individuality, yearn to connect with one another and with other species across digital and real space; together as new households seeking more diverse and dignified spaces for habitation; together as emerging communities that demand equity, inclusion, and spatial identity; together across political borders to imagine new geographies of association; and together as a planet facing crises that require global action for us to continue living at all.”
The cornerstone of the next Biennale is the need for greater awareness and a vast, courageous vision for more inclusive social housing with shared spaces that concretely meet the need to form communities.
Meanwhile, those territories where these needs have already been addressed are asked to imagine spaces according to the rapid changes dictated by the “organization of work and exchange, societies, communities, and households,” as specified by the President of the Biennale, Paolo Baratta.
Vision 2020
According to the international research known as Vision2020, which follows the principles of the 2020 Architecture Biennale, the choices we make and the path we follow over the next decade as stewards of this planet will define the quality and balance of life for generations to come, affecting every man, woman, child, and species in every corner of the earth.
As we approach a wide range of tipping points, from atmospheric carbon levels and their projected impacts on climate change to unsustainable resource consumption and its impact on the natural world, the need to set and update crucial parameters and milestones from which we can track our progress becomes increasingly urgent.
It is with this sense of urgency that the Biennale of the future operates, as does the next edition of Venice Fashion Week, which will continue the discussion on sustainability in fashion during the event (from October 17 to 26, 2019, in Venice).
The Sustainable Fashion Day event is scheduled for the morning of Wednesday, October 23, at Ca’ Sagredo, and will feature the London College of Fashion-UAL and the British Consulate General – Department for International Trade. Speakers include Marina Spadafora from Fashion Revolution and designers Tiziano Guardini and Patrick McDowell.
Hashim Sarkis, architect and more
Architect Hashim Sarkis, born in Lebanon in 1964, owner of Hashim Sarkis Studios (HSS) and Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) since 2015, was appointed on July 16 by the President of the Venice Biennale, Paolo Baratta, as the curator of the next Architecture Biennale. Upon the appointment, the President stated:
“With Hashim Sarkis, the Biennale has a curator who is particularly sensitive to the themes and urgencies that society, in its various contrasting realities, poses for our living environment.”
In addition to being an architect and professor, Sarkis is a researcher and author of several books and articles on the history and theory of modern architecture. He has received various awards for his projects and works, including the United States Pavilion at the 2014 Architecture Biennale, the Albania Pavilion at the 2010 Architecture Biennale, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York; he was also a member of the international jury for the Architecture Biennale in 2016.
The dates of the 2020 Venice Biennale
The 17th International Architecture Exhibition will be open to the public from Saturday, May 23, until November 29, 2020, with the pre-opening from May 21 to 22, 2020. Keep following us, because we will definitely be there!
The photo of Hashim Sarkis and Paolo Baratta is by Jacopo Salvi, courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.
The photos of Biennale Arte 2019 were taken by Atmolex (Micromega), Liolaliola, and Settimo Cannatella (Martina Vidal) for Veneziadavivere.
