Venice Biennale 2016, Work in progress – Ph. by Washington Fajardo (Instagram @washfajardo).

Venice Biennale 2016 – From May 28, architects’ social conscience is on display at the  15th Venice Architecture Biennale themed Reporting From The Front. As curator of the 2016 edition, Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena invited professionals to reflect and show how architecture can improve people’s life and face the many social and environmental battles of our era.

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15th Venice Architecture Biennale – Photo by @La_Biennale (Instagram).

2016 Venice Biennale comprises the exhibition Reporting from the Front curated by Pritzker Prize winner Alejandro Aravena. 63 national pavilions at Giardini, Arsenale and several other venues in town host exhibitions that respond to the main theme. On show also three special events and a program of collateral events all over the city. 2016 The world’s most important architecture event will close on the 27th of November.

Ph. courtesy of Venice Biennale.

REPORTING FROM THE FRONT – The image-symbol of 2016 Venice Biennale is a old lady on top of a ladder gazing over a desert horizon. “The lady is Maria Reiche, a German archeologist who discovered how seemingly randomly-disposed stones in the mysterious Nazca desert in Peru, revealed  animals and plants shapes when looked from above” explained Aravena “Reporting from the front aims to offer a new point of view, an expanded eye, on how architecture can truly contributes to contemporary and future challenges” .

Werner Sobek – Beyond Form. Ephemeral Cube – Ph. courtesy of Venice Biennale.

ALEJANDRO ARAVENA’S EXHIBITION is on show at the Central Pavilion (Giardini) and the Arsenale. The Chilean architect invited 88 participants from 37 different countries. The star-studded list comprises works by SANAA, Shigeru Ban, Renzo Piano, Davi Chipperfield, Kengo Kuma, Rem Koolhaas, Norman Foster and Herzog & de Meuron. 50 practices participate for the first time while 33 architects are under the age of 40 – Here the complete list.

Tadao Ando Architect & Associates – Punta della Dogana – Ph. courtesy of Venice Biennale.

The projects on show share the work of architects dealing with contemporary issues ranging from segregation and inequalities to natural disasters and pollution, from migration to housing shortage but also criminality and housing shortage.

C+S ARCHITECTS: EDUcare – The studio care about education designing school buildings as community open structures for encounter and challenge. Ph. courtesy of Venice Biennale.

NATIONAL PAVILIONS – The 63 national pavilions respond to Aravena’s input with exhibitions on the refugee issue, environmental emergency, the social and urban aftermath of the crisis as well as war zones, alienation in the digital era and the new battlefront of technology research. Philippines, Nigeria, Seychelles and Yemen will be participating for the first time.

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Venice Biennale 2016, Work in Progress – Ph. by New Zealand Pavilion (Instagram @futureislands2016).

OTHER EVENTS – 2016 Venice Biennale comprises also three special event. The exhibition Reporting from Marghera and other waterfronts features significant projects for the urban regeneration of industrial ports. Victoria & Albert Museum in London will present A World of Fragile Parts at Sale d’Armi in the Arsenale while the London School of Economics will showcase Report from Cities: Conflicts of an Urban Age – with particular attention to the relationship between public spaces and private spaces.

Venice Biennale 2016, Work in Progress – Ph. by Kuwait Pavilion (Instagram @kwtpavilion2016).

A rich calendar of collateral events and ehibitions take over Venice including also a retrospective of late Zaha Hadid at Fondazione Berengo (Campo Santo Stefano), Gangcity that documents the phenomenon of urban clusters devoid of any kind of legal controls (Arsenale Nord, Spazio Thetis) and the Forest of Venice, a sustainable installation in XIX century green house that refers to rising sea levels threat (Serra dei Giardini, Castello, 1254).

The Forests of Venice by Kjellander + Sjöberg.

Hafenstrasse development (Hamburg 1989), all drawings by Zaha Hadid – Courtesy of Findazione Berengo.