WTI Magazine #37    2014 July, 2
Author : Enrico De Iulis      Translation by:

The title of the XIV edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale is "Fundamentals" and is curated by the always controversial Dutch architect Rem Koolhass. In contrast to previous editions, the main theme of the event wants to be just the self-retreat, the look at the immediate past to try to find a permanent peace with the thousand streams of a schizophrenic architecture that overflows in every place: thus, the curator says, the moment of extreme cultural crisis we are living.

So there will be no future in Venice this year, there will be no Archi-star that for at least five editions have been walking as stars on the red carpet, there will be no self-congratulation. Instead we will find a thousand stories, either of small spaces and of the most famous places, of the past that imposes to those who want to build on, of the pre-existing that shows and claims its value of essential root.

So the most used word of this edition will be "grafting": the graft and the mallet that today in Venice are cooler than ever, for reasons far from botany or architecture. The national pavilions can translate better the meaning of the main theme, the return to the primary, apparently less noble elements: perhaps frame or tile are no longer considered noble nowadays, but there was a time, not too far from now, when they were considered as fine craftsmanship and artistic nature.

The Italian pavilion is in theory well-conceived, with a review of many stories but not driven by a coherent thread: there is no cohesion if not for the fact that they all come from the same country, but it is really a conception too light to be able to create an organic vision of so many different situations. Its portal is Cino Zucchi's "Archimbuto", a combination of people and buildings that represents this maelstrom that mixes a thousand different conditions in the same place.

Beyond the institutional spaces of the gardens of the Biennale and of the Arsenale, as always a great show invades the lagoon city; happenings out of competition and other events are a prism of possibilities, a load of ideas and emotions that both in the editions dedicated to the art and in those dedicated to architecture can catalyze attention and create memories.

Some examples: at the Cini Foundation on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore there's a beautiful exhibition on the Tea House and its philosophy; the Fondazione Prada in Ca' Corner you will be immersed in a multitude of musical instruments, some of them really quirky and rare, hosted in "Art of Sound". The Zuecca Project Space will see the exposition of the "Yenikapi Project", the new museum that is about to be born from the findings occurred by chance in Istanbul, in the place where there was the harbor of Theodosius: during the digs for the new underground, 37 ships dating from 400 to 1000 have been brought to light.

Every year Venice is renewed and this is the secret of its eternal splendor, a city destined to spread the beauty and culture around the world.