Morocco and Republic of Rwanda at International Architecture Exhibition

The 12th International Architecture Exhibition, with the title of People meet in architecture, directed by Kazuyo Sejima and organized by la Biennale di Venezia under the presidency of Paolo Baratta will be open to the public from Sunday 29th August to Sunday 21st November 2010 in the Giardini, Arsenale and in various locations throughout Venice. The preview will take place on August, 26th, 27th, 28th 2010.

The exhibition People meet in architecture will be laid out in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni della Biennale (Giardini) and in the Arsenale, forming a single itinerary, with 43 participants: firms, architects, engineers and artists from around the world. The first-time national participations include Morocco and Republic of Rwanda. In addition numerous Collateral events have been proposed by international organizations and institutions, which will organize their own exhibitions and initiatives in Venice during the occasion.

With “Destination Biennale di Venezia. Universities meet in architecture”, the Biennale turns to universities and educational institutes, offering a visit to the Exhibition planned and organized by the institutions and representing a significant didactic and training experience. The project foresees the possibility of setting up specific agreements with the Universities for accrediting groups of at least 50 students, accompanied by lecturers, to transform the visit into university credits.

We have already got in touch with 30 Italian Universities, and 80 different architecture, engineering, design and communication faculties, and received favourable responses from 15 of them, 9 of which are ready to sign this convention. We have also proposed this initiative to more than 300 Universities and Advanced Training Institutes in different European, American, Asian and African countries, getting back 25 positive responses until today, and the first confirmations are to be formalized in the next few days.

The new Biennale is an exhibition that hosts foreign pavilions as participants, and different universities as visitors.

The inaugural and award ceremony of the 12th Exhibition will take place on Saturday, August 28th in the Giardini, with the awarding of the official awards assigned by the International Jury. The International Jury will be awarding the following prizes: Golden Lion for the best National Participation at the 12th Exhibition, Golden Lion for the best architect/artist of the Exhibition People meet in architecture, Silver Lion for most promising young architect of the Exhibition People meet in architecture.