Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, MinC and MRE Announce Brazil’s Official Participation in the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

Marcelo Maia Rosa, Laura Gonzalez Fierro, Sol Camacho, Gabriel Kozlowski, curadores da representação brasileira na 16a Mostra Internacional de Arquitetura. 20/10/2017 © Pedro Ivo Trasferetti / Fundação Bienal de São Paulo

33rd Bienal De São Paulo
September 7 – November 11, 2018
http://www.bienal.org.br

Brazil’s official participation in the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, opening in May 2018, will be curated by the architects Gabriel Kozlowski, Laura González Fierro, Marcelo Maia Rosa and Sol Camacho. The group, selected by the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, will present Muros de ar [Walls of Air], an exhibition that explores the interaction of material and immaterial spaces in Brazil and its architecture.

“The theme considers the wall as an element of Brazilian architecture, culture and identity and views the transposition of this element as an invitation to social and cultural multiplicity,” the architect-curators explain. “In this manner, it is set against the homogenization, intolerance and extremism that result from isolation and reclusion. It is a proposal that celebrates togetherness and not just coexistence.” The exhibition that will occupy the Brazilian Pavilion is a response by the curatorial committee of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, which in this edition proposes, under the title Freespace, a reflection on the spatial essence of architecture and its potential to mediate, through the use of empty space, the relationship between people and buildings.

Through this collective study, Muros de ar proposes to reveal forms of spatial and conceptual separation resulting from the processes of urbanization in Brazil. In addition to questioning the different types of walls built on different scales in Brazil, the proposal is intended as a rethinking of the frontiers of architecture itself in relation to other fields of endeavor.

The Pavilion will present the curatorial proposal Muros de ar [Walls of Air] on two exhibit design fronts. The first is a study conducted in partnership with a group of collaborators and institutions that will generate new content which will be represented as cartographic designs. The second is an open call for project by architects in Brazil, an unprecedented move for the Brazilian Pavilion. The call for projects will be announced at the end of December.

“In selecting the proposal Muros de ar to represent Brazil at the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo rearticulates, in an international sphere, some of the most current debates in Brazilian architecture, and reaffirms its commitment to the exchange of ideas and promotion of Brazilian culture,” says foundation president, João Carlos de Figueiredo Ferraz.

Since 1995, Brazil’s official participation in the Venice art and architecture biennials has been jointly organized by the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs – responsible for the promotion and dissemination of Brazilian culture nationally and internationally, and the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo – responsible for the choice of the curators and the organization of the exhibitions.